With Thanksgiving in the past, it may be time to begin planning your Christmas adventure. These six destinations offer the scenery and activity that would make for a memorable Christmas.
To really embrace the Christmas season in all its glory, travelers should have Beaver Creek, Colorado on their list. Located west of the major ski town, Vail, Colorado, Beaver Creek offers just as much fresh powder with half of the foot traffic. At Beaver Creek, travelers can enjoy the best parts of Colorado without the hassle offered by Vail, Breckenridge, or Silverthorne.
Here, guests can ski, snowboard, or relax; all while being surrounded by endless natural beauty, especially in the winter season. Beaver Creek also holds ceremonial tree lightings to brighten up the town and surrounding businesses.
Park City offers some of the best skiing in Utah, and although you may be surrounded by more people than you wish, it is neatly tucked away from Utah's busy capital city.
In the summer season, Park City is home to the Sundance Film Festival, but in the winter, the most passionate skiiers and powder hogs occupy the town streets. Apart from the life-changing snow, Park City offers a wide range of Christmas activity from shopping to eating. Main Street is packed full of local shops and restaurants, as well as interactive Christmas activity.
Just a short drive from Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole offers a unique Wyoming experience. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort offers skiing and snowboarding suitable for all ages, and the views alone would pull you to the top of those slopes.
After you've had your breath taken away on the slopes, Jackson Hole is the perfect place to see old Western culture mix with modern culture. The main town of Jackson is home to local cuisine, six different ski areas, and the kind of scenery that pulls you back every year.
Although this particular North Pole isn't home to THE Santa Claus, it is home to an enormous Santa statue that stands 50 feet high. North Pole, AK has Christmas vacation potential that is off the charts. The town keeps its Christmas decorations up year-round, so for the Christmas enthusiasts, this place will meet all of your expectations.
The street lights look like candycanes, the reindeer are real, and the Alaskan sky is as vast as ever. With all that this town has to offer, a Christmas adventure here would be a great success.
The holiday train ride that makes its way around Lake Superior should be enough to convince anyone to visit Duluth. Along with the unique transportation, this town houses a most impressive Christmas light display called Bentleyville. Over 5 million lights will shine in your eyes as you make your way through this great northern town.
To keep on theme with Christmas train rides, this final destination is home to a historic steam train that transforms into the Polar Express every Christmas. The train ride shows passengers the ins and outs of Santa's busy schedule, as well as some of the most breathtaking scenery southern Colorado has to offer.
Durango is also close to Wolf Creek Ski Area, a ski area that averages 435 inches of natural snow every season.
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Wins and losses in the preseason don't matter, but the Buffalo Bills had to be thrilled to get a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after their 38-0 loss to the Chicago Bears the week before. Buffalo's opening drive covered 80 yards on 12 plays, with running back Frank Gore Jr. scoring a touchdown from one yard out. That set the tone as they won 23-19, giving themselves confidence heading into the regular season. With this game in the books, let's look at who stood out as both winners and losers in the preseason finale. Winner: Deone Walker, DT Fourth-round pick Deone Walker has been a standout throughout the preseason, something that continued on Saturday night. Walker was consistently pushing the pocket, even recording a half-sack when he and A.J. Epenesa brought down Kyle Trask in the backfield. The 6-foot-7, 331-pound Walker looks the part of a run-stuffing nose tackle, but his ability to rush the passer could make him a star. Winner: Zach Davidson, TE Punter Brad Robbins was under the weather on Saturday, so he missed the preseason finale. With him out, the Bills turned to tight end Zach Davidson as their emergency punter. His first punt was late in the first quarter, and he looked like a natural, casually booting it 62 yards. His second was impressive as well, going 42 yards. Davidson also had some positive moments on offense. He caught both passes thrown his way, going for 27 yards with a long of 20. Loser: Dane Jackson, CB Saturday wasn't the best showing for Dane Jackson, but that's not the reason he makes this list in Week 3. Instead, it's the fact that he was on the field late in the third quarter. Jackson started his career in Buffalo, spending four years with the franchise. He returned this offseason after playing for the Carolina Panthers in 2024 and was expected to have a key role following injuries suffered by Maxwell Hairston and Tre'Davious White. Seeing him on the field so far into the finale doesn't bode well for his chances of making the team. Winner: Tyrell Shavers, WR Tyrell Shavers has to make the 53-man roster. The third-year pro has been making one highlight-reel play after another this offseason, but saved his best for the finale. During the second quarter, Shavers hauled in a one-handed touchdown from 11 yards out, giving Buffalo a 14-3 lead. He finished with two receptions for 24 yards, giving him six receptions for 123 yards in three preseason games. Loser: Elijah Moore, WR Elijah Moore is going to have a tough time making the roster thanks to Shavers. While the former undrafted free agent turned heads with his touchdown catch, Moore finished with eight yards on three receptions. Moore has been used primarily on screen passes and was able to turn just one into a decent gain on Saturday. That nine-yard gain showed why he had a shot at making the roster, but his inability to make an impact downfield could be his undoing. Winner: Shane Buechele, QB Buffalo gave the keys to Shane Buechele on Saturday and he drove the offense to success all night. The former Kansas City Chiefs backup made a case for moving up the depth chart with a strong performance. He made quick and decisive throws, completing 25-of-30 passes for 278 yards with one touchdown. Buechele was easily the biggest winner for Buffalo, doing enough to ask whether or not he should be in the QB2 conversation. More Buffalo Bills News: Bills' GM offers cautiously worded Tre'Davious White injury update Bills 'lucky to have' ex-Panthers' first-round linebacker trying to revive career 3 Bills' stars from 'Hard Knocks' Episode 3 including new guy who was cut Wednesday Bills' QB Josh Allen and familiar free-agent WR 'haven't stopped being in contact' Former Bills' All-Pro jestfully kicks Dolphins while they're down
The New York Mets announced that Frankie Montas has been placed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to Aug. 22) due to a UCL-related injury in his right elbow. Right-hander Huascar Brazoban has been called up from Triple-A to take Montas’ spot on the active roster. Manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters that Montas’ UCL injury is “pretty significant,” via Mike Puma of the New York Post. Mendoza went on to confirm that Montas will not pitch again in 2025. It’s the latest setback in what was been a brutal inaugural season for Montas in Queens. The right-hander signed a $34M guarantee with the Mets during the winter but has produced just 38 2/3 innings of work for the team so far. A lat strain suffered at the outset of Spring Training left Montas to open the season on the injured list and he did not make his season debut until June 24. After throwing five scoreless innings in his first start of the year, Montas pitched to a ghastly 7.85 ERA over his next six starts with an 18.2% strikeout rate and a whopping seven home runs allowed. Those brutal results led the Mets to move Montas to the bullpen earlier this month, where he’s surrendered four runs (two earned) on four walks and six hits (including a home run) while striking out just three. Altogether, Montas has posted a 6.28 ERA and a 5.31 FIP during his time with the Mets with an 18.0% strikeout rate and a 7.9% walk rate. It’s a deeply disappointing outcome, and now it’s an open question when Montas will next be available to pitch. The Mets have made no announcements about the right-hander’s timeline for return, nor offered any indications about the severity of the injury. Of course, many fans will wonder about the possibility of Tommy John surgery, which is often required to repair a pitcher’s UCL once damaged. Such a procedure (or even a less invasive internal brace procedure) would likely cost Montas not only the remainder of this year but also the entire 2026 season. With that being said, some UCL injuries are possible to address via rehab. That’s a path that Braves hurler Grant Holmes opted to take earlier this month as he deals with a partial UCL tear, though even Holmes’s rehab process has brought his 2025 campaign to an abrupt end. While the details of Montas’ prognosis and timeline for return won’t be clear until the Mets make an announcement offering more information, the club will be without the right-hander for at least the immediate future. Given the fact that Montas’ performance was poor enough that he was bumped from the rotation earlier this month, perhaps that’s not too massive of a blow. Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga, David Peterson and Clay Holmes remain in the club’s rotation and have recently been joined by top prospect Nolan McLean. Brandon Waddell and Justin Hagenman remain in the minors already on the 40-man roster as potential depth options behind that group, and well-regarded prospect Brandon Sproat has a 4.24 ERA in 24 starts at Triple-A this year. Replacing Montas on the roster is Brazoban, who began his career in the majors with Miami back in 2022 but has served as an up-and-down relief arm for the Mets this year. It’s a role he’s performed quite well in, with a 3.83 ERA and 4.14 FIP across 51 2/3 innings of work spread between 3 starts and 41 relief outings. Brazoban figures to take up Montas' mantle as the club’s long reliever going forward.
The 2025 college football regular season kicked off on Saturday, headlined by a ranked Big 12 matchup across the pond in Ireland. With Week 0 in the books, here are our winners and losers from the first weekend of the college football season. Winner: Going for it on fourth down with a chance to win the game Arguably, two fourth-down decisions were the most consequential in Associated Press No. 22 Iowa State Cyclones' 24-21 win over Big 12 rival No. 17 Kansas State Wildcats. Let's start with the good. With 2:26 remaining in the fourth and facing a fourth-and-3 from Kansas State's 16-yard line, Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell elected to keep his offense on the field instead of kicking a field goal and taking a six-point lead. The decision was correct on multiple fronts. By settling for a field-goal attempt, Campbell would have given Kansas State, which had no timeouts, over two minutes to score a possible winning touchdown. The risk of failing to convert was offset by allowing Kansas State the ability to extend the game with a field goal as opposed to needing a touchdown to win. And again, if the Wildcats got in the end zone, would it really have mattered if Iowa State lost by one instead of four points? The Cyclones didn't have to worry about that. Instead, quarterback Rocco Becht found running back Carson Hansen, who picked up the first down, allowing Iowa State to run out the clock. Loser: Going for it on fourth from your own 30-yard line in a three-point game Conversely, Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman's fourth-down call from his own 30-yard line with 8:19 remaining was much less excusable. While his defense had just allowed two long scoring drives, putting them on the field with only 30 yards to defend was setting the unit up to fail. As much of a rhythm as Iowa State's offense may have found, it also had three three-and-outs and two fumbles to that point, so we're not exactly talking about 2019 LSU here. Rather than forcing the Cyclones to drive the field, Klieman handed them a golden scoring opportunity. Winner: Kansas State defensive end Tobi Osunsanmi It wasn't all bad for the Wildcats. Osunsanmi, a junior edge-rusher, established himself as a name to watch in the Big 12 with two first-quarter sacks. The class of 2022 recruit had 3.5 sacks all of last season and could eclipse that early in 2025. Loser: Dan Mullen trading the studio for the sideline The former Mississippi State and Florida head coach returned to the sideline on Saturday for his first game leading the UNLV Rebels. While he notched a win against FCS Idaho State, it didn't come easily. UNLV trailed, 31-24, in the fourth, before scoring 14 unanswered points in a 38-31 win. For someone who most recently spent his Saturdays in the fall watching games as an ESPN analyst, his new job is already exceptionally more pressure-inducing. Just wait until the Rebels play FBS competition. Winner: Kansas Jayhawks quarterback Jalon Daniels This is the Daniels that was promised. After breaking through in 2022 when Kansas snapped a 13-year bowl drought, Daniels was limited to three games in 2023 due to injury. Last season, he was healthy for the Jayhawks' disappointing 5-7 campaign and threw a Big 12-high 12 interceptions. He was outstanding in a 31-7 win over Fresno State, going 18-of-20 for 176 yards and three touchdowns while adding 47 yards rushing. If this is the Daniels that Kansas gets all season, it could make serious noise. Loser: Refs' judging of Clay Patterson's dance moves Stanford defensive lineman Clay Patterson celebrated a 12-yard sack late in the first half against Hawai'i by breaking out a TikTok dance, which officials apparently weren't fond of, hitting him with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, resulting in an automatic first down. It's another reminder that no one despises fun more than college football referees. But until they discover a sense of humor, it would be best for Patterson to save his moves for TikTok.
MILWAUKEE, WI — Giannis Antetokounmpo will remain in Milwaukee. Reliable NBA insider AryReport reported that, according to his sources, the two-time MVP has decided not to request a trade. After several meetings with his inner circle, he reaffirmed his desire to stay with the Bucks. The decision settles months of speculation about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s future on the Bucks. Rivals have been watching closely, sensing uncertainty in Milwaukee. Yet for now, the franchise cornerstone wants to finish his career where it began. SOURCES: Giannis Antetokounmpo Has Made Decision On His Bucks Future A Mixed Track Record Since winning the 2021 title, Milwaukee has struggled in the postseason. They have won only one playoff series in four years. The lack of deep runs put pressure squarely on GM Jon Horst and the front office. Giannis wants to win. His patience has limits. The Bucks’ leadership responded with a flurry of moves this offseason. They reshaped the roster while making a difficult financial call on Damian Lillard. The Lillard Decision The Bucks stunned the league when they waived Lillard. The move left $112.5 million in dead money over five years. It also freed Milwaukee to move below tax aprons and gain flexibility. Lillard, recovering from a torn Achilles, embraced the decision. He returned to Portland in free agency, prioritizing family and comfort. For the Bucks, the parting opened space to pursue new pieces. Turner Arrives, Others Depart The headline signing was Myles Turner. The big man joined on a four-year, $108.8 million deal after leaving Indiana. His rim protection and three-point shooting fill a glaring need. Still, the cost was real. Brook Lopez, a 2021 champion, departed for the Clippers. Pat Connaughton left in a salary dump. Bobby Portis, Gary Trent Jr., and Taurean Prince re-signed, but the roster feels transformed. Turner’s arrival raises a question: does he lift the Bucks enough? He is younger than Lopez and more versatile. Yet Milwaukee’s slide in the East was not just about talent, but cohesion and consistency. What’s Next for Giannis Antetokounmpo on the Bucks Giannis has chosen stability over speculation. According to league sources, he will remain in Milwaukee, valuing continuity and family comfort above chasing another ring elsewhere. Having seen firsthand how a superstar’s ring chase unraveled, he understands the grass is not always greener. For Giannis, the Bucks still represent home, legacy, and the clearest path to fulfillment.