IN any year, the best part of winter season is always in January and February for these are the coldest months of the year. This year is no different. In fact, the annual Sundance Film Festival near Salt Lake City is held during the first part of every year for the purpose. And having a vacation at this point is one of the most heroic things you can do. That’s no cliché though. If you will be bailing out your money at this stage, you can surely contribute saving the economy.

Remember that the United States is in the brink of recession. Our politicians can surely help out on that regard. After all, it’s election year. But we cannot rely on the politicians. Each American must do his and her part to help save the economy. And the easiest thing to do is spend – from buying toothpaste to gas, one little cent can already help make the economy stable. Imagine if the whole population in the United States of 303 million will do that, then there will surely be no recession. You can even help Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve Board chairman, lift some of his headache.

There are two great winter spots in the United States this year. One is Lake Tahoe. You may have known Lake Tahoe gracing the headlines last summer for its wildfires. Even though those wildfires have hit some resorts, they are surely no more in this 2007-2008 winter season. On the contrary, it may already be appealing to the tourists because they want to know how formidable and how resilient the resort investors here in Lake Tahoe are in beautifying their resorts even after a major shakedown like a fire. Even though insurance covers most of the cost, it still is heartbreaking for the investors to rebuild a very beautiful resort. But miraculously, they did in a season’s time and now visitors are back with only minimal trace of the fire evidently spotted. There are already new lake houses erected at this point replacing the ones which were earlier ravished by the great blaze. The new ones still have a commanding view of the lake. Cruising around the lake with frequent stops to small tributaries for fishing is still the in thing this season at Lake Tahoe. There are impressive luxury yachts used for this.

The other winter magnet in the United States is of course Sundance. In fact, they had just concluded the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Not all films screened at Sundance are to your liking though because most of the films are made by the directors to attract agents who can spot the crème de la crème of these upcoming filmmakers. Beyond that though, Sundance is a great spot to just merely unwind and relax by skiing all day long depending on how long you want. So be a hero and save your own economy by spending the rest of the season at either Sundance or Lake Tahoe.

IT is still the middle of winter in 2007 but chances are every resort in the world from Lake Tahoe and Sundance in the United States to the Swiss Alps and the Pyrenees in Europe and even the southern mountain ranges of Chile have already been booked. So let us now look into various winter vacation spots a few months from now in 2008. Climate and weather patterns anywhere in the world vary from year to year so it is important that one must know the five-day weather forecast if he or she is on winter vacation. Thus in the United States, the National Weather Service has provided a website for vacationing tourists, domestic or foreign, to check on the weather forecast for the next five days. This website is easily accessible to any place with Internet connection and all winter resorts in the United States are accessible to the Internet whether through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth or wired connection. But in some remote areas, winter resort billeting tends to be costly because there Internet connection there is accessible only via satellite and satellite Internet connection is expensive as compared to DSL or cable connection.

It is not only in the United States though that weather patterns vary from year to year. Last Christmas in such resorts as Tenerife and Palma de Mallorca in Europe and even in central London and certain parts of England, there was a heavy downpour that is why accurate weather information when one is on a winter vacation is a must. Imagine if you are in such skiing resorts as Sundance in Utah and you were enjoying your holiday and suddenly without warning, there was a snowstorm triggering an avalanche. It could be potentially dangerous that is why early weather warning systems are really important for tourists.

Here in the United States, there are two major winter resorts that are trooped by tourists not just coming from here or Canada but all over the world. One is Lake Tahoe which encompasses two states – Nevada and California. Lake Tahoe has a string of resorts which double not only as ski holiday areas but also as casinos and golf courses. There are also numerous skiing schools splashed there and there are also yachts for cruising the lake. If you want, you can rent a vacation spot with a splendid view of the lake similar to the scene in the movie The Lake House.

On the other hand, Sundance Resort was established by acclaimed Hollywood director Robert Redford in Utah way back in 1969 at the peak of the baby boomers era. Redford originally intended it as a haven for budding filmmakers as well as the staging venue for the Sundance film festival, convocation of indie films in North America to rival Cannes in Europe. However, the 500-hectare area has a ski potential so Redford converted part of the premises as a ski resort. So there you have it, one of the best winter resorts in the United States.