Eavesdropping on a woman on a beach at Lido Key, Fla.: “What’s the point of going out and partying if you have to stay so sober that you can drive home?”

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Did you hear that I have a column, “Mile High Life,” in Colorado Community Media’s 17 weekly newspapers circling Denver? Be sure to like my Facebook page! Also, here’s where you go to get my column emailed to you Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. My email: penny@blacktie-llc.com.

From dancing farmers and hand-crafted local bitters to swimming snow geese and mushroom hunts, there are at least 12 reasons to revel in this holiday season in Colorado. Give the gift of a memorable experience in Colorado’s countryside to your true love with these agriculturally inspired 12 days of Christmas.

12 Drinkers Drinking – Colorado has paved the way for craft brewers, distillers and vintners to celebrate high-quality, local ingredients, often producing and controlling all products from grain to glass. From Woody Creek Distillers’ seed to sip potato vodka and Jack Rabbit Hill’s organic and biodynamic wines to Twisted Pine Brewing Company’s Farm to Foam series, Colorado embraces and highlights its local ingredients in its beer, wine and spirits.

11 Bitters Biting – The newly opened Bread Bar in Silver Plume has dual identities: during the week, the historic building that once housed Sopp & Truscott bakery operates as Dram Apothecary, and on the weekends it transforms into a hipster mountain bar. Dram Apothecary is committed to handcrafted teas and bitters using local wild herbs found in the nearby Rocky Mountain terrain.

10 Llamas Leaping – The Golden Fiber Arts Studio offers novices and experts alike a wide selection of fiber arts instructional classes, including traditional quilting, felting, sewing, silk and wool fusion, art quilting, fabric painting and more. The studio offers seasonal workshops and recurring classes year round, as well as classes and camps just for kids.

9 Farmers Dancing – Ring in the holiday season at May Farms’ Annual Christmas at the Farm on Dec. 13 in Byers. Guests will enjoy live Christmas music, dinner and dancing that all kicks off at 5 p.m. and lasts well into the night.

8 Maids a-Milking – During a stay at the Mountain Goat Lodge in Salida, guests can learn how to make their own cheese. The cheese making courses take participants through everything from how to milk a goat to how to make simple cheeses using fresh milk. The two-hour classes include instruction on goat husbandry and a hands-on workshop to make two of the following: chevre, fresh mozzarella, feta, paneer, or Greek-style yogurt.

7 Snow Geese Swimming – Celebrate birds, watchable wildlife and heritage in southeastern Colorado during the 12^th Annual High Plains Snow Goose Festival, Feb. 20-23 in Lamar. Attendees can expand their birding knowledge with the many seminars and workshops that are offered, as well as witness the more than 70 bird species during the guided birding tours and bird walks.

6 Chickens Laying – The fourth generation farmers on the 33-acre Dayspring Farm on Colorado’s Western Slope are devoted to sustainable, natural and organic farming practices that result in healthy eggs, meats, body care products and essential oils. Visitors will find truly charming body care items such as rose-infused honey, lavender essential oils, baby bum balm and more.

(Dayspringfarm.net photo)

5 Hand-made Goods – Crestone will feature its local artists and craftsmen during Winterfest Dec. 6 – 8. Wooden toys, special ornaments, handmade soaps, beadwork and antler jewelry, fine fibers and more can be found during the traditional Gift Bazaar at the Crestone Charter School.

4 Mushroom Hunts – Mushroom foraging excursions and experiences are on the rise in Colorado because of its abundant number of species and accessible season of mushrooms and fungi. The state is home to 2,000 to 3,000 varieties of mushrooms, which is the second largest concentration of mushrooms in the U.S. Mycotours offers group themed hunts and individually-tailored mushroom forays with experts who guide foragers to explore Colorado’s varied terrain and fungi offerings.

3 Sandhill Cranes – The Monte Vista Crane Festival, March 7-9, celebrates the San Luis Valley’s oldest visitors, who begin their annual journey from south to north by visiting the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge to energize before their trek. The 20,000 greater sandhill cranes put on a spectacle for the crane watchers who attend the festival, which also features wildlife experts, local naturalists and biologists who host educational workshops.

2 Rainbow Trout – The tail waters of Stagecoach Reservoir and Lake Catamount near Steamboat Springs offer stretches of river that run flush with trout 365 days a year. Visitors can snowshoe, snowbike or snowmobile the short distance to the public stretches of water below Stagecoach Reservoir. Rainbow, brown, brookie, whitefish and Cutthroat trout are known to feed midday during the winter months. No matter how much snow blankets the Yampa Valley, it’s still an angler’s paradise.

And a Chicken Mating on a Lek – Arena Dust Tours in Granada hosts private seasonal lesser prairie-chicken tours during peak mating season (March-May), offering birdwatchers the chance to see an age-old mating ritual. The lesser prairie-chicken has a natural habitat of sandy grassland areas, making southeast Colorado an ideal location, and has been listed as a threatened species since 1973. Arena Dust Tours also offers traditional chuck wagon meals and historic tours of the southeast region of Colorado.

Downtown Denver benefactor Manny Salzman has reached his 95th birthday and some people in the ‘hood are throwing a party for him.

Manny’s Bridge, the bridge down Wynkoop Street named for him, is the home of an interactive public light art installation by artist Virginia Folkestad.

The installation is being renovated and re-lit in conjunction with Salzman’s birthday and when complete will be on display nightly year-round.

Manny and Joanne Salzman pioneered LoDo when they moved there in 1980. They worked with the city of Denver to obtain a grant to preserve the historic railroad bridges over Cherry Creek in the mid-1990s converting them to save pedestrian paths.

In 2006, then Mayor John Hickenlooper dedicated the bridge to Manny, and a plaque describes that effort. The Salzmans were also instrumental in the designation of LoDo as a historic area and the formation of the St. Charles Neighborhood Group.

At 95, Manny still pedals his bike daily across the Platte and up the hill into the Highland neighborhood.

Manny Salzman on the bridge named for him in Lower Downtown. (Diane Huntress photo)

Project Angel Heart, a nonprofit organization that prepares and delivers nutritious meals to ailing women, men and children in the Denver metro area and Colorado Springs is pleased to announce a record-breaking year for the Pie in the Sky pie sale.

A total of 2,956 pies were sold generating net revenue of more than $75,000 and allowing the organization to provide more than 15,000 meals to Coloradans fighting cancer, kidney failure, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses.

All the pies were fresh-baked and generously donated by Bluepoint Bakery. Sponsors included Anthony’s Pizza & Pasta, ANB Banks in the Southern Colorado region, Andarko Petroleum Corporation, 5280 Magazine, OutFront Colorado, Colorado Label Co., team Packaging and Vollmer’s Bakery.

For more information on Project Angel Heart, go to www.projectangelheart.org or call 303-830-0202.

Denver’s major mall, Cherry Creek Shopping Center, has a list of holiday events aimed at rewarding the “nice” (not “naughty”) folks in your world.

* The annual “Santa Claws & Paws” event takes place from 7 to 10 p.m. Dec. 8 where pet owners can bring their four-legged friends to the mall to get their photos snapped with Santa.

* The annual “Signing Santa” event on Dec. 11 hosts students from area schools that serve the deaf and hard of hearing community who come visit the Santa who signs so the kids can let the big man know their Christmas wish lists.

* The Original Dickens Carolers will be caroling on weekends through Dec. 8 then every day from Dec. 14 through Christmas Eve.

(Cherry Creek Shopping Center photo)

Author, motivational speaker and former TV and radio sportscaster Mark McIntosh checking out shipping costs for his new book, “Life is a Roller Coaster: Tips for the Dips,” at Mail It! Pack It! Ship It! in Cherry Creek North on Friday, Nov. 22.

Eavesdropping on myself: “It’s my birthday and I’ll cry if I want to. You would cry too if it happened to you!”

We love our advertisers; they are what keeps this column running. Please support our wonderful advertisers — Seattle Fish Co., Colorado Oil & Gas Association, Epicurean Catering, EDGE Restaurant & Bar and our first advertiser, Tuscan Sun Wines — who keep this column running.

Want to advertise your business here? Contact Trisha at trilind@hotmail.com or call her at 720-985-6947 . And be sure to click on each ad to read more.

Did you hear that I have a column, “Mile High Life,” in Colorado Community Media’s 17 weekly newspapers circling Denver? Be sure to like my Facebook page! Also, here’s where you go to get my column emailed to you Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. My email: penny@blacktie-llc.com.