Sorry I missed last week. I meant to post from Breckenridge but we ended up skiing Sunday afternoon so I was pretty exhausted. But a good exhausted! In light of our trip for spring break this past week I thought rather than do my regular Six on Sunday I'd give you my Top 10 list for why we love Breckenridge, CO.
10. Road trip! OK, seriously. I totally don't love spending 10 hours in the car - BOTH WAYS. But I do love that it's close enough to allow us to drive. Flying anywhere as a family of six is rather cost prohibitive, so it's nice that we can drive.
And I have to admit, the girls are pretty darn good travelers. I think it helps that they have all grown up going on trips to visit grandparents, etc. so they are rather used to it now. And I know that it will continue to get easier and easier as #3 and #4 learn to read and grow even more self sufficient.
9. St. Patrick's Day! It seems as though we get to celebrate St. Pat's Day in the mountains quite often. This year the hubby was bound and determined to go out for a drink that night. I was ready. I had psyched myself up for it. I put the the little girls to bed and was ready to walk to a bar. But the hubby lost his mojo. We stayed in. We are losers.
But...my mom bought us all shirts. And considering our last name is McGrath, we wore these with pride!
P.S. Don't you love #4's stripes?! Yes, she picked that outfit out all by herself!
8. Beau Jo's pizza. Every year we stop in Idaho Springs for pizza on our way up the mountain. It's such an adorable town and the pizza is seriously delish. It was fun to be able to introduce my parents to it this year!
7. Eating out! Yes, I said it. I love being able to take a break from cooking every now and then. When we are in town we rarely eat out. As in, not even once a week. So, when we travel it's a real treat for me to be able to eat out! Of course I mentioned Beau Jo's in #8 above. This year we went to the Salt Creek Restaurant and Saloon for brunch again. It did not disappoint!
We also hit a great little breakfast place on Main Street, Xtreme Pizza, and a few others. So good.
6. Apres Ski. Oh yeah. The beer (or Bloody Mary or Colorado Bulldog) at the end of the day is divine. The girls know they get hot chocolate so they even enjoy it!
5. The mountains. Growing up in Eastern SD and now living in Eastern KS, we have NOTHING resembling mountains. I love them. I wish they were like, 10 hours closer, though.
4. The hot tub. I'm not kidding, we used the hot tub at least twice a day! It was the perfect temperature - not too hot, not too cold - which meant we could sit in there for a LONG time. And our view was the picture from #3 above. Beautiful.
3. The Town. For reals. We love everything about it. First, it's a real town and not just a resort. The views - mountains all around. The shopping - lot of cool art galleries, great T-shirt shops, and tons more! Ice Cream - enough said. The horse ride through town - an absolute highlight for #4! Skiing less than 10 minutes from your front door. I don't know if it could get any better?!
2. Skiing. Breck. Vail. A Basin. Everything is so close! Summit county rocks.
Sunday we took the big girls to A Basin for the afternoon. It was a great day, albeit fairly cold and windy.
Then Monday and Tuesday the three older girls went to ski school at Breckenridge while the hubby and I enjoyed the whole mountain - Peak 7 to Peak 10 and everything in between, including the T-bar and the Imperial Lift. So cool. We had originally signed #4 up for ski school but Sunday morning when I went to check her in I was told she would only get a one hour lesson and 30 minutes with the group. The rest of the day would be spent in daycare. Uh, come again?! So we decided to save over $300 and leave her with Gamma and Papa for the morning. (She was not happy to be left out of ski school.) But my dad brought her to the mountain for an hour lesson from yours truly both Monday and Tuesday. She still can't wedge but she loves to ski. And afterall, that is the most important part. She just needs to enjoy skiing enough to want to try again next year. Mission Accomplished.
Thursday we took #1 and headed over to Vail for a little back bowl action. I have to say, the powder was phenomenal but the blizzard conditions put a little damper on the skiing. Regardless, we were toughies and skied Blue Sky Basin and the front side, too. Unfortunately, what should have taken us 30 minutes to get back to Breckenridge actually took FOUR HOURS since I-70 ended up closed for several hours. Oh well. We had a great time. I doubt I'll see powder like that for another 10 years.
A-Basin:
Top of the T-Bar at Breckie:
Back bowl blizzard at Vail:
Powder at Vail - seriously a lot - this is a green run:
1. At the risk of sounding sappy (and those who know me know I am NOT the sentimental type), Family is the best part of Breckenridge. Duh. Getting to spend a week with each other just having fun and enjoying each other's company is the best part of vacation. Are we perfect? No way! I lose my patience and #4 whines too much. The other girls squabble but it's still fun. And this year my parents were able to make the trip out with us. All in all, it was a fantastic week and I can't wait to go back again next year!
And there you have it. My Top 10 list for Breckenridge, CO. I hope you enjoyed my little recap.
Have a great week!
I have to say, although our retirement is not really on the horizon yet (still haven't won the lottery), we are considering retiring in Breckenridge. It's awesome all year round! Love it.
Posted by: Suzanne | 03/26/2013 at 04:56 PM
That's why we retired to Breck! :) Loved your pics.
Posted by: sally owen | 03/26/2013 at 09:55 AM