So, how does this relate to the sweepstakes? Well, we want to make all of this inspiration a reality. How does a trip to Key West, FL, Las Vegas, NV, Vail, CO or San Diego, CA sound? Or 700+ instant win travel-related prizes (digital cameras, luggage, gas cards, etc)?

Enter every day between now and December 20. Remember to come back daily and share with friends as you can get a total of 190 entries to win your dream trip (not to mention one of the great instant wins). Less than a week into it, we’ve already given away more than 116 prizes!

We hope the MapQuest Discover Never Bored Sweepstakes inspires YOU and your next adventure. Good luck!

Have the MapQuest app on iPhone or Android? Just click on “Directions,” enter your start and end locations, then click the “walking man” icon. MapQuest Mary talks you through each of your stops, and you can always use the business locator to grab a quick coffee or stop at a post office along the way. We’re here to help you with discovery along the way as well.

If you don’t have the app yet, download it for free in the App Store or Google Play. Or, if you don’t have a smartphone, walking directions are also available on m.mapquest.com while you’re on the go or mapquest.com before you head out the door.

Hope you take advantage of the Christopher Columbus Day, and like the “real deal,” get exploring!

As part of this effort, MapQuest Vibe will be rebranded as MapQuest Local, still offering Vibe rankings and scores, voting, rich neighborhood information and the complete local experience you’ve grown to love. You’ll see the new logos across the MapQuest products – from our websites to our free apps.

Watch for more exciting news soon. In the meantime, keep travelin’.

Check out our Developer Network today to sign up for a Community Edition license, get access to technical information, blog posts, forums and more.

We also offer our MapQuest Enterprise Edition for businesses that are looking for technical support, a service level agreement, geocoding only licenses and a whole bunch of other benefits. Call us (888-627-7837) or fill out our online form and one of our mapping gurus will reach out to discuss what might work best for you and your business. If you’re not sure whether Community or Enterprise is the best option for you, you can check out our Ts&Cs or just reach out to us and we can help you work thru that too.

p.s. Seriously, if you don’t love free, tweet hashtag #MapQuestTech – we’ll send the first 50 of you a free t-shirt to convince you.

Just go to sweeps.mapquest.com to enter.  It’s a 42-day sweepstakes with a new winner every day so come back daily.  We’re announcing the daily winners on the sweeps site, so keep a look out for your name!  Chris D. of Denver was our first winner – I can only assume he’s already having sweet dreams of riding his new Vespa through all the Mile High neighborhoods.

Here’s a hint: You can earn up to 24 extra entries per day (yes, that’s more than 1,000 extra entries in total).  After you enter, just look for the 2 options: click to go to mqVibe.com (it’s that easy) or share with friends so they can enter, too.

So, what neighborhoods would you explore on your new ride?

If you’re planning to attend BlogWorld as well, we’d love to see you. Just stop by our booth (#503). We’ll have a free t-shirt for you (while supplies last of course) and you’ll also have the chance to take a quick poll to enter to win a $500 VISA® Gift Card. The poll is meant to educate us – we want to know exactly what map and location-based services bloggers and publishers are truly looking for. We have some great tools available now for bloggers, publishers and more – check them out on our MapQuest tools site – but we want to continue to better these and also create new products. As an example, you can see a great use of our most recent tool, MapQuest Map Builder BETA, on AOL’s Monster Help Day website or see the embedded map below.

If you’re not attending the conference, we still want to hear your feedback. If you contribute to the blogosphere or editorial realm in anyway, take our poll now and you’ll have the chance to win too!

To get updates live from the show, follow us on @MapQuestTech.

MapQuest actually dedicates several days a year to contributing back to our local communities. For this year’s Monster Help Day, we’ve teamed up with Denver Mayor Guillermo (Bill) V. Vidal and the Mile High Million to plant 40 trees in downtown Denver.  He’s even proclaimed today, “AOL Monster Help Day”!  In Lancaster, we’ll be headed outdoors as well, cleaning up trails and planting flowers for Lancaster County Department of Parks and Rec.  We’re psyched to get our hands dirty (literally – have you seen the weather predictions?) and give back to our local community!  Stay tuned to our Flickr gallery for pictures of the event!

What better way to celebrate a birthday than a brand new office?  Our new 17,000-square-foot green office space in Lower Downtown Denver (LoDo) brings the best of both worlds with raw materials and contemporary design.  The open space, lack of actual offices and countless collaboration areas gives the space a start-up, inspiring vibe.  The energy is palpable.

IA Interior Architects worked with us to create the amazing new space.  The office combines green, raw materials with more modern elements like metal, glass and recycled materials from local resources. The end result is that of a highly sustainable, beautiful place to work.

Some of our favorite aspects of the new diggs include: the open environment, patio over-looking the 16th Street Mall (Denver’s pedestrian mall), poker and ping pong tables, huge windows, exposed concrete floors, countless flat screen tvs and just the overall energy that radiates from the space.

The ability to host community events is another great element of the new space.  The Denver-Boulder area is known as one of the fastest growing tech hubs and we can now host events to help foster this group.  After all, it wouldn’t be fair to keep this inspiring space to ourselves.

If you want to see more photos, head to our Flickr gallery.

Save Paper.  Go Mobile.
Next time you get directions on MapQuest.com, try sending directions to your mobile phone instead of printing.  When you use our Send To Mobile tool, we’ll send you a text message.  Just click the link and the directions you planned online will be available right there on your mobile.  It’s incredibly easy and you’ll save paper and ink.

If you’re already on the go, you can also choose to plan your entire trip from your mobile device.  MapQuest’s iPhone and Android app offers voice-guided directions (yes, it’s just like a GPS!) and it’s free.  If you’re on a different device, you can use our mobile website (http://m.mapquest.com).

Transit, Bike and Walking Directions
Hopping in the car is second nature to most of us, but why not try alternative transportation next time?  We can route you there based on the transportation mode you prefer – transit, bike or walking.  Just pick your mode of green transport and we’ll get you where you need to go.

Alternative Fuel Prices
With gas prices rising, many of you have been using our Gas Prices site to find the gas station near you with the cheapest gas prices, but did you know you can also use the tool to find stations with alternative fuel? Just click on the drop down and you can choose from Biodiesel, electric, hydrogen and many other fuel options.

Drive Less
Even if you drive a super-green hybrid, choosing the most efficient route saves extra time in the car.  MapQuest’s Route Planner tool lets you enter up to 26 locations and will reorder it based on the shortest or quickest route.

Hope these tools are helpful this Earth Day and the rest of the year!