It’s funny how life happens. A long time ago, in a desert far far away, David grew up in New Mexico and had a best friend named Alex. Ten plus years, two weddings, two dogs, two-and-a-half rounds of law school, and a lot of vacations later, David and wifey (oh hai!) and Alex and wifey are both living in Colorado…
and taking a BFF getaway to Breckenridge!
Thanks to our shared home base, love of travel, and serious addiction to Disney Land, we quickly became co-dependent vacationers in all the good ways possible. (Huzzah to sharing a dog sitter, sunscreen, and tissue packs.) Now, if we could only limit our Disney trips to once (let’s be honest: twice) a year, then we could actually fit in some other travel.
Like a weekend ski trip to Breckenridge Resort! We packed up the Ford and headed from 60 degree Denver into the 30 degree snowy Rocky Mountains, with necessary provisions aka oatmeal cookies on my lap.
Oh and ignore Alex’s ugly mug in this first picture. You can see his truly charming smile in the pictures farther down.
The Village at Breckenridge Resort
I have been introduced to the magical world of ski in ski out condos by The Village at Breckenridge Resort, and I am in love! We were lucky enough to stay in their Shavano building, which directly overlooked the Peak 9 base. That picture below that shows the Quicksilver Superchair? That would be from our balcony! Only a minor freak-out dance session occurred when I took a peak through our curtains and saw just how close we were.
Our two bedroom, two bathroom condo was perfectly cozy, with a wood fireplace, fully-equipped kitchen, and gorgeous mountain views. We played Heads-Up and ate oatmeal cookies. Made fools of ourselves in a game of charades and laughed until our sides hurt. We stayed up late and slept in late. We pretended not to feel our age as we sunk gratefully into steaming hot tubs after a day on the slopes. (Except Alli. Who was born in the 90’s and still has her beautiful, beautiful youth. But we love her anyway.)
The Village at Breckenridge Resort was our bubble to which we escaped from all of the everyday hullabaloo. And we are already counting down the days until we are back.
The Skiing at Breckenridge Resort
Not gonna lie. It had been a while since we were on skis. I worked at a ski shop in college–a job I almost convinced myself I would be 100% happy doing the rest of my life. I loved meeting people from all over the world and helping little kids try on their first pair of ski boots. But college was six years ago, and whoo-ee! Those skiing muscles do not automatically reappear.
The lovely staff at Breckenridge Resort arranged a couple days on the mountain for us, and the edge of the snow reached within FEET of our condo. A walk down the stairs and a short jaunt to the lift and we were flying up the mountain. The four of us were very happy to find that our skillz came back faster than we predicted. We skipped the bunny tow rope and headed straight for the fun stuff. There were only a couple very minor biffs, some powder in the face, and one Sasquatch sighting. (No joke. Check my insta.)
Breckenridge Ski Resort is STUNNING. At the top of every lift and trail, is a gorgeous view of the town and the mountain range. Despite it being early in the season, Breckenridge had fresh snow right before we arrived and the slopes were A-mazing. Plenty of easy-to-intermediate trails for us to warm up on. David and I are already considering the Epic Ski Pass so we can start making vacations out of all their incredible skiing destinations. But the best part about skiing in Colorado? Sunny days. Lots of them. Highly recommended.
Hanging Out (and Eating!) in Breckenridge
The other perk of staying at the Village at Breckenridge Resort? We were one street over from Main Street, one block from a fabulous local coffee shop, and walking distance to all the noms!
I highly recommend the used bookshop on Main Street. It’s exactly what used book stores should look like with that book store smell. There were stacks and stacks of books on the floor and on chairs. There were books shoved into the space above the books on the shelves. And the cookbook section? Properly stocked with community church cookbooks and paperback cookbooks held together with staples.
Oh! Oh! And the food! I cannot say any more words about the fabulous food in Breckenridge, without mentioning the CREPES. Crepes a la Cart. This is an absolute MUST on every foodie’s visit to Breckenridge. They have sweet crepes and savory crepes, and they are seriously the BEST. Are there enough capitalized words in this paragraph to make you go, yet? We only went FOUR times. FOUR. In the span of three days. #noregrets.
Here are our recommendations for the best food in Breckenridge–all of which are walking distance from The Village:
- Crepes a la Cart (For savory: the Parisian or the Monte Cristo; For sweet: the strawberry/chocolate and the Funky French Monkey)
- Flip Side Burgers (BBQ Brisket Beef Fries & Baby Grand Burger with melty melty brie cheese)
- Fiesta Jalisco (the Carne Asada… and plan on either sharing with your true love or taking home lots of leftovers)
- The Cheese Shop of Breckenridge (the Smokey Bird sandwich, Zapp’s voodoo chips, and Dram Alpine Berry Switchel Drinking Vinegar)
- Mountain Top Cookie Shop (best molasses cookie. ever.)
- Coffee Depot (perfectly spiced chai lattes and london fogs necessary for warming up!)
Packing Recommendations
Last but not least, I include our packing list and top outfits for each of our vacations:
- ski coat & ski pants
- layers for skiing so you an adapt to the weather (e.g., tight long sleeve top, down vest, and thick hoodie)
- ski mittens/gloves + walking around gloves
- scarf
- hat or earmuffs
- padded ski socks for reducing any bruises!
- boots with good traction for walking around
- swimsuit for soaking those skiing muscles in the heated pool
- slip on shoes for hot tubbing!
- going out sweaters (Athleta & Nordstrom Rack are great places to find some!)
- going out pants (we rocked jeans half the time and rocked athleisure the rest of the time)
- comfies for crashing at the condo
- chapstick with SPF (a must!)
- sunscreen (hello high altitude)
- lotion (I’ve fallen utterly in love with this chemical-free ginger clementine lotion)
- travel tissue packs
- games for the condo! (Personal faves: Heads-Up app, Harry Potter trivia, Scattegories, & Bananagrams)
Belinda Joy says
Mikaela says
Tara says
Mikaela says
Romain says
Mikaela says
amit says
Mikaela says
Exploring Curiously says
Mikaela says
Tara Twyman says
Mikaela says
Judy Kay says
Mikaela says
Angela @ Tread Lightly Retire Early says
Mikaela says
Hillary @ 918 Plate says
Mikaela says
Jody says
Mikaela says
Jamie | A Sassy Spoon says
Mikaela says
Rosa says
Mikaela says