I admit it, I hate being cold, although I love everything winter. Snow, fireplaces, hot chocolate, big fluffy sweaters, and boots, you can’t forget the boots! So, when my husband the awesome snowboarder said we are going to Colorado for winter break, I got super excited, but then I remembered I don’t ski, don’t want to ski, and will never ski, neither will my 10-year-old son.
Getting There
After researching ski resorts and towns in Colorado, we ended up booking a condo in Steamboat. We flew into Denver and then had a 2-and-a-half-hour drive to our resort. We were all a little perturbed when we discovered Daddy didn’t book the flight that could have taken us right to Steamboat but got over it fast when we started viewing the scenery out the windshield. We were on the look out for bison, elk and moose. The snowy mountains, gold mines, tiny towns and skiers we saw along the side of the road made for great and new conversations with our son and 8-year-old daughter. There is an option to hire a shuttle to take you from the Denver airport to the mountain, however we like to always have a rent a car on vacation.
We arrived at the Lodge at Steamboat just in time for sunset, after stocking up on groceries and adult beverages for the week. Our condo was the perfect size for a family of four but could have fit six. The kids had their own room and bathroom. A stone fireplace and lots of windows made it a perfect cozy cabin feel to watch snow fall and hallmark movies for this non-skier.
First things first, get organized!
My daughter follows in her dad’s footsteps or tracks I should say and loves to ski. This is where it gets tricky for me. How do I get her skis? Where does she get her lift ticket? When does ski school start? What are the drop off and pick up times? She won’t be cold, right? What do you mean she needs special boots and googles? As the questions couldn’t form fast enough in my mouth my husband just shook his head and said, “follow me.” We took a 6-minute walk to Gondola Square and found base camp. Inside this customer service area, I found all my answers. In a matter of 10 minutes my daughter was signed up for ski camp and was super excited about it. Skiing, crafts, and participating in a parade were some of the things she would be doing with the same group of kids her age, and bonus with the same instructor for the week, so who wouldn’t be stoked!
One kid handled, now what to do with the boy? He obviously wasn’t going to enjoy watching me read, nap and binge watch real housewives of any city, plus how can I limit his screen time if I was playing candy crush? It was time for this mom to start researching. Usually I have a game plan on vacations but this time I didn’t, I chose to get there and see what we wanted to do before planning and then canceling like I always do when kids or parents get too tired.
Now it was time to get aquatinted with our home for the next 7 days. While the skier and boarder went on their merry way, we discovered our own fun. We were thrilled when we found out the Lodge had a free shuttle, that would not only take you to the ski area, but also all around the town of Steamboat. It wasn’t on a schedule, all you had to do was call and it would show up, it was like having a personal uber at your beckon call! We went to the movies, twice, don’t judge one day it was a high of 5 degrees! Although we did have the rent a car it was nice to not have to drive on icy roads or rely on google to get me to where we were going. We just had to hop on and hop off!
After visiting the lobby and gathering all the pamphlets I could find for non-ski activities we made a list of things we would like to do. Guess what, we didn’t complete the list! There is a ton to do in Colorado ski resorts if you are not into the sport.
Winter Wonderland Fun
We went ice rink bumper boating, yep not a typo, one of the funniest things we’ve ever done. The shuttle dropped us off at the local ice-skating rink, and after a quick instruction, we hit the ice and each other for a half hour of laughs. Another favorite thing we did was horse back riding in the snow. We have never done any type of horse riding before and this was amazing. It gave my son and I memories and stories to tell dad and sister while we listened to their slope stories. We reserved online the day before and the owner of the ranch came and picked us up the next morning to take us to the farm. This cowboy was so nice and shared his Colorado knowledge with us during ½ hour van trip. We learned that children in Colorado do not get snow days, they will only have a day canceled if it hits negative 29 degrees, that had this Florida mom shaking her head!
The next thing we did has to be one of the coolest things for anyone to do. We visited a natural hot spring. I was so leery of being in a swimsuit in 10-degree weather, I really thought I would chicken out of going. Even when I saw the other visitors walking around just in their suits and towels, I thought no way. But I put on a brave face and threw my clothes down and ran for the spring. The water was so hot, hotter than any hot tub I was ever in! There were 4 pools, a super-hot pool, a hot pool, a warm pool, and a cool pool. We only did the hot pool and warm pool. After being in the hot pool for 15 minutes we all needed a cool down and the warm pool was perfect for that. The cool pool was about 60 degrees and had a few brave swimmers in it. Shuttles are available to take you to the springs; however, we chose to drive ourselves. Be aware you need a 4 wheel or all wheel drive vehicle to get to them in the winter.
Just because we don’t ski, didn’t mean we couldn’t have fun on Steamboat mountain. We purchased gondola lift tickets, so we could ride up to the mountain and have lunch one day. The views were spectacular and getting to see skiers and snowboarders doing their thing was fun. When I purchased the lift tickets, we also received a coupon for money off lunch to be used at the restaurant at the top, so that was a nice surprise.
Steamboat is home to the longest coaster in North America. The Outlaw Mountain Coaster is located right at the bottom of the slopes, we walked to it one afternoon. I am not a daredevil at all, so I will admit I was a little scared watching my son take off in his own car in front of mine. It was a blast, you control your own speed, and I was happy to hear there is an automatic braking system, if my son the daredevil did decide to floor it. The coaster runs in the afternoon and night, and even though we were told the night is more fun we opted to go during the day. We were happy we made that choice after seeing a long line one night, we were able to walk right on at 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
Inside fun, too!
However, if being outside and cold is not your thing, Steamboat had a wide variety of indoor activities too. Something the kids have always wanted to do was an escape room, so what better time than vacation and in below freezing temps, right? We booked the day of online and had a fun firefighter themed room where we had to save pets from a burning home. It wasn’t scary and had our family working and laughing together for an hour.
Steamboat has a multitude of restaurants and most are kid friendly. We visited a steakhouse where you got to grill your own dinner, we dined in the oldest building in Steamboat, enjoyed a German beer garden with the kids that included free board games, and ate bison for the first time.
We planned an activity every day and still had plenty of relaxation time for Hallmark and You Tube, my son’s favorite pastime. We ended off our week with snow tubing, sledding, watching my daughter’s torch parade, and fireworks.
Now it was time for the drive back, we weren’t as excited looking out the windows this time. An ice castle with multiple rooms and ice slides made for the perfect pit stop half way down the mountain, in Dillon. Because our flight was super early out of Denver, we opted to stay the night at the new Gaylord of the Rockies resort in Aurora. It had a huge indoor and outdoor pool with waterslides and a lazy river, plus was still beautifully decorated for the season.
Colorado and snow sports are something my husband and I did not have in common when we got married. Now I am happy to say I love Colorado and will visit again soon, I hope, but maybe next time in the summer to see what new activities we can find.
If you go:
Steamboat Ski Resort
https://www.ski.com/Steamboat/Resort
Bumper Cars on Ice
Bumper-Car-On-Ice rides are 20 minutes for
$12.
Bumper-Car-On-Ice rides plus ice skating, including skate rental is $19.
Call 970-871-7033 for scheduled times and reservations: payment due at time of
reservation.
Del’s Triangle 3 Ranch – Steamboat Horses