A Steamboat Springs Vaction – Pt. 1

I don’t know about you, but to me, the Summer of 2020 – Summer of Lockdown- was reminiscent of a horror film.  The term cabin fever took on a whole new meaning.  Caught up in the confusion/responsibility of trying to protect our family and those around us; we, like pretty much everyone, else had become Zoom zombies.  Master and commanders of the living room couch, and raiders of the snack pantry every five minutes!  The family was literally home, all the time. It was not uncommon to find myself barricaded in the bathroom for 15 min of alone time with my thoughts.  How the hell did a national toilet paper shortage come of a pandemic?  Time for an all American summer road trip, and a Steamboat Springs vacation was the destination!

We could not take playing one more game of cornhole or talking to the garden tomatoes morning, noon, and night.  Seriously, Alyssa was giving more TLC to those tomatoes than I saw during our honeymoon week!  With the world still gripped by a real-life scene from the movie Outbreak, we decided to break out!  Steamboat Springs was the destination in our sights and disappoint it did not.  We packed up all the outdoor gear and all the hand sanitizers, finally escaping our humble three day abode.  Located 160 miles Northwest of Denver, we found an absolute gem of a town. It was an escape in nature, and proved itself as an all-out family favorite.

‘The Boat’ is definitely off the beaten path from the other I70 Colorado Ski Towns.  The rustic charm of this community of over 800 ranches provided the perfect escape.  Steamboat sits in the cradle of the Yampa Valley and transports your imagination into a scene from Jurassic Park. 

Arriving:

Pulling into Steamboat around noon, with the roar of our boy’s growling stomachs, the first stop was the Yampa Sandwich company.  Can you ever fill the garbage pit knows as a growing boy’s stomach?  Yampa had a plethora of homemade deli offerings that provided the perfect fill up before we hit our first hike. We hiked the famous, Fish Creek Falls, just a short drive from downtown.  Novice hikers by Colorado standards, the trail had a bit of everything. It included a beautiful path filled with water features, aspen forests, and boys yelling “how much more”?  

Staying at the base of the ski village, at the Steamboat Grand hotel, provided walking distance to a liquor store (parental necessity), a plethora of restaurants, including our favorite outdoor restaurant with a giant open space. This allowed the boys to go frolic and left us to our wine. There was also easy access to daily hikes at the base of the ski village.  The next few days were filled with excursions, followed by nightly gorging at one of the many great restaurants around town.

Things to To:

A two-hour horseback ride was probably the family highlight of the trip.  So far, our family’s relationship with animals can be summed up in two species – amazingly, resilient mutant fish and our newly adopted guinea pigs, Simon and Garfunkel. (Who knew guinea pigs can poop ten times their weight every day!) Saddleback Ranch was perfect for this rookie horseback riding clan. The family owned outfit did an excellent job guiding us over their beautiful ranch of rolling green hills and through there large cattle herds.

Strawberry Springs was up next on our nature quest. The all-natural springs, set off a dirt road around 20 min outside of downtown, was a totally unique experience.  The historic site with hot AND cold spring pools made for a great experience.  The springs offered a heated changing room and rustic lodging onsite as well.  We got pretty lucky though with the reservation system, book in advance!

Things to Eat:

Steamboat has a plethora of culinary delights to tantalize your tastebuds but our favorite find was local hotspot Besame. Now if you’re looking for your All-American burger joint just keep on strolling down Lincoln Ave. If you looking for a global cuisine-inspired eatery with a true neighborhood feeling, this is spot is your jam. Chef Hannah Hopkins creates a very diverse TAPAS style inspired menu. The Camarones ala Plancha (prawns the size of Pluto!), Iberico Chorizo Stuffed Dates, and Glazed Beef Short Rib transported us back to the magical streets of Barcelona during our honeymoon and will definitely spice up your night!

It’s probably pretty obvious to see by now that Steamboat was the not so hidden gem right in our own backyard. After having canceled several attempts at summer vacation, we begrudgingly booked this trip, facing the music, that a local trip would be all we could muster. Little did we know that this trip would be so great, that we came home for a few days and packed it all up again for ‘The Boat – Part 2’ the very next weekend! Spoiler alert – there’s so much to do in Steamboat that we had a whole new list of excursions!

Looking for other great Colorado Vacations in the winter? Crested Butte is also amazing!