Colorado.

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I don’t even know how to start this post.

Our trip to Colorado was incredible. amazing. Epic.

I love how active we all are, and I feel really lucky to have met someone who loves being outdoors as much as I do. This weekend was not about being pretty or pampered. It was all about getting out there and rocking the mountain.

You already heard about Vail, but we spent the majority of our weekend at Beaver Creek, which was an amazing choice. About 15 minutes from Vail, Beaver Creek is equally beautiful… but without the long lines. The entire weekend we didn’t wait in lift lines more than 5 minutes long.

Friday night we wanted to explore Beaver Creek Village and decided to dine at FoxNut. PhillyBoy was craving sushi, and since we all like sushi, we were down! FoxNut is not your standard sushi restaurant at all. Instead it is sushi meets rad snowboarder. The place was decorated in such a funky style!

Pros: close to hotel, personable service, funky decor
Cons: food was mediocre

Our heads hit our pillows by 10:30 PM. Traveling + snowboarding/skiing = a tired group!

Saturday we got up super early and hit the slopes by 9:15. Beaver Creek was a lot like Vail, but with much less catwalks. I wish I had known ahead of time that there are plenty of flat catwalks at these mountains and to only take those trails when you want to see different peaks. The early part of the day was spent at Grouse mountain, where Jake hit up some moguls and the rest of us took an easier trail. Then we decided to take the Larkspur Lift to head over to Bachelor Gulch. Big mistake. BIG MISTAKE!

The trail to Bachelor Gulch was basically flat. My calves and quads were completely on fire by the half way point, and PB was cursing. The signage wasn’t very clear and by this time it was nearing lunch so we decided to turn down one of the trails nearby. Unfortunately our options were a blue trail that headed to another base or a black diamond that had moguls we didn’t see. We made it over the hump and saw that the trail was reallllly bumpy. Beaver Creek got loads of snow all weekend (in fact the only day it stopped snowing was the day we left), making the moguls even more pronounced. PB and I glided to the right to a third trail that looked a bit less challenging and instructed Gina to do the same.

Some background.. This was Gina’s first full season skiing and PhillyBoy’s first full season snowboarding. They are not ready for moguls. At all. PB could plow through them, but that is a total waste of a run. Anyway, Gina did NOT like the moguls and ended up taking off her skis to walk over to the third trail where we were waiting. The snow was so deep and fluffy she kept falling in up to her waist! I don’t think she was a happy camper, but she totally rallied!

After that fiasco we were full and ready for drinks. At the base of the mountain was a fabulous restaurant, Beaver Creek Chop House. This was my favorite lunch of the weekend. We all ordered Sunshine Wheat beers with orange slices and had a little cheers.

We deserved it.

For lunch we shared some sweet potato fries and then I had the grilled chicken sandwich with a house salad instead of fries, add avocado and dressing on the side. The sandwich was so flavorful and the chicken was cooked perfectly. I was only able to eat half though. The salad was even better, especially after I removed the bacon and the cheese. All of the vegetables were very fresh and it felt good to have a nice salad.

I am used to the usual mediocre lodge food, so this was a true treat. I had another hot chocolate just because we were on vacation. I wish I hadn’t had it though because my craving had already been satisfied the previous day. We ended up lounging for about an hour before facing the mountain again.

I rarely drink beer but this weekend I had one almost every day!!

In the afternoon we stuck to some easier trails at the top of the Creek lift. We checked out Powell and Piney and Gold Dust. All the trails were really nice with just the right amount of slopes and bumps to please all of us who are at different levels.

The conditions at the mountain were unbelievable. It snowed the entire day and the fresh powder was amazing.

After riding the mountain all day we walked back to our hotel to change up and hit the shops. We stayed at the Beaver Creek Lodge, which is right in Beaver Creek Village. The hotel is really nice, with an outdoor hot tub and kitchenettes in every room, but I did find that there was no good meeting point. Most hotels have an area that many guests hang around, and this hotel did not have anything like that. I loved the location a lot as it was so close to the mountain (a 5 minute walk).

In Beaver Creek Village we checked out every ski shop, looking for a new snowboarding jacket for me. I have been using this Helly Hansen jacket since my mom bought it for me in 1998 or so.

It was definitely time for a new one! After exhausted all options we finally looked at the Christy Sports in the hotel, more as a last ditch effort than anything else. Can you believe that I found an amazing jacket??? They had the matching pants too. This is the Orage brand, and not only was it inexpensive, it was warm and fit me really well. I am so stoked!

By this time it was getting late but we knew we needed to eat dinner. We showered and headed over to D’Oro, a restaurant in another hotel further down in Beaver Creek Village.

The food was really good and the service even better! Our server was extremely knowledgeable and personable. I noticed that everyone in Colorado is so nice!

PB’s dish:

The dish Gina and I ordered:

And we hit our pillows before 11 PM again! Skiing and snowboarding in Colorado is so different from the East Coast in that you must engage all of your muscles! I can’t wait to tell you about Sunday and Monday, but it will have to wait until tomorrow! Until then…