Well hello, there! It’s been a hot minute since I’ve published a post on this little blog. Before I get to posting about some updated personal things (all exciting stuff!), I wanted to share our trip experience to Steamboat Springs … back in February, lol. Plus, all of the Southern Charm episodes of them at Steamboat Springs has made me want to go back, so for now, I’ll just reminisce through this post 😉

If you’ve been following along, you know that we like to go on big ski/ride vacations out West once a year. We have done Jackson Hole, Telluride and Steamboat Springs together and RM has done many more before we became serious. Since we had just gone to France back in the fall (recaps are here and here), RM said we could only go on a ski trip if I found good deals.

I spent some time researching easy to get to mountains and realized that JetBlue started a non-stop flight service directly to Steamboat, which was perfect since we had enough JetBlue points to cover the trip! And, the mountain is only a 30ish minute drive from the airport so it was certainly a “quick and easy” type of travel experience. The only downside was that I booked us group travel to get from the airport to our AirBNB, which ended up being a TWO HOUR ordeal … next time? paying up for a private car service because time > money (in many situations).

Where We Stayed

Per usual, I did a ton on research on where to stay before booking anything. The nice thing about Steamboat is that the downtown area is only a 10-15 min ride from the mountain. That said, since we were not renting a car, we decided we would rather stay near the mountain since there were also plenty of restaurants in that area, too. I found a great AirBnB right at the base of the mountain – couldn’t have been in a better location for us since it was just a short 2 minute walk to the gondola and across the street from the little market. Also, there’s a free shuttle bus from the mountain to downtown that ran frequently so it was super easy to get into town.

It was clean and plenty spacious for us – we especially loved the gas fireplace and balcony to store our gear after a day on the mountain. We also used the kitchen a lot for breakfasts, packed lunched and snacks. The host was also super friendly and helpful – would definitely recommend staying there!

Where We Ate

Good food and good skiing seem to go hand in hand, at least on our trips! We had some really wonderful meals during our time in Steamboat – both mountainside and downtown!

• Back Door Grill – we felt like burgers on our first night and found this place in one of the local magazines left in the AirBnB. We had gone into town to see the fireworks and ski show (both were amazing) and were able to snag seats at the bar before it got too busy. Their menu was crazy – so many exotic burgers! We opted to keep it relatively simple and both of us fully enjoyed our meal. We also loved the laid back atmosphere (perfect considering we were all bundled up from being outside for the festivities!).

• Taco Beast Taco Truck – Near one of the popular lifts on the mountain (mid-mountain) was a pop-up taco truck. We stopped one afternoon and the tacos were SOOO good. As were the beers 😉

• Aurum – This restaurant came highly recommended by many of the locals we met throughout the trip… and it did not disappoint! We had the most delicious meal and drinks there and loved the atmosphere. They also have outdoor seating in the summer which over looks the mountain. fun fact: some of the Southern Charm crew also went there!

• Truffle Pig – We had gotten some bad news one of the days and I wasn’t feeling up to heading into town, but did want to go out to get my mind off things so we popped over to Truffle Pig, which was right at the base of the mountain. We had had apres ski drinks there previously and knew it was a good spot and the dinner did not disappoint! The craft cocktails were incredible and the steak was cooked to perfection. We were so happy with the whole experience!

We Apres’d at a few other spots, but by now I can’t remember the name 😦 But there are lots of great stuff mountainside and at the base – all with pretty good happy hour deals!

What We Did

Skied and snowboarded, duh! But in all seriousness, when we go on these trips, that’s pretty much what we focus on doing. It would’ve been neat to visit the hot springs, but unfortunately we were not there long enough to get the chance to take advantage of it. We spent most of our time on the right side of the mountain because we loved the wide trails there. One afternoon we went off the back side of the mountain which was a little scary because it was so steep, but we found some awesome trails in doing so, not to mention awesome views.

We did head into town one afternoon to shop, walk around and get drinks which was fun. The downtown is really cute! It was nice, too, because the big town festival had recently ended so it was still decorated for that.

We agreed that Steamboat was one of our favorite trips – it was easy to get to, the mountain had awesome trails for our level and we got pounded with snow one day – can’t ask for more than that!

Questions for you

Have you done any big ski/snowboard trips out west, to Canada or Europe? Where was your favorite? Suggestions on where to go next?