Magnolia Mamas : Colorado

Showing posts with label Colorado. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Aspen, Colorado {Where to Stay, Where to Eat, What I Wore}

If you missed the first part of our Aspen vacation yesterday you can find it HERE. Today is all about where we stayed, where we ate and what I wore in Aspen.

We stayed at the beautiful Hotel Jerome. It was located in the heart of the town and we could walk to almost anywhere we wanted. Shops, restaurants, bars, etc. were all very close.

From their website:

Hotel Jerome has been the social hub of Aspen since its opening in 1889 at the height of the town’s silver boom, known as the place where all great stories were born and are told. As the only Aspen hotel to survive the silver crash, the long pre-ski-resort winters, and the Depression, we’ve seen cowboys ride through our doors, 10th Mountain Division soldiers gather round over pints after training on the slopes, and Hunter S. Thompson holding court during his run for sheriff. You can’t experience Aspen, without experiencing Jerome.

There are still so many touches from those days including the famous J-Bar.

The hotel lobby is gorgeous and everywhere I turned I was amazed by the decor and detail.

Our room was incredibly spacious with a large desk area and plenty of room to hang up ski stuff and store boots.

I just loved all of the little touches.

I mentioned yesterday that there was a nice gym and near that was also a game room. My kids would have loved to hang out in here!

They have a large heated pool and two smaller hot-tubs we took advantage of.

This was the spa lounge where I sat waiting for my massage and it was so peaceful and serene.

Across the street from the hotel were cute little houses that had been turned into antique shops and coffee shops with a view of the mountains behind them.

I loved our hotel at night because, like many other areas of town, it was lit up with Christmas lights!

We ate at some really amazing restaurants and didn't have a bad meal once. One of our favorites was Ellina. It was a Italin-American restaurant with a delicious wine menu! I loved this cozy little fire pit area outside of the restaurant where you could eat.

Another favorite was Pinons. They had delicious cocktails, I had the best chicken I have ever eaten and just when I thought I couldn't eat another bite we had the yummiest homemade ice cream for dessert.

If you are even in the Aspen area I would highly recommend either of these two!

While Aspen is known for it's posh atmosphere, surprisingly most of the restaurants are not overly dressy. I guess they figure that everyone has to bundle up and it's hard to be too dressed up. I was told that jeans or leggings and a blouse or sweater would be great for all occasions and that was the case.

On our day there I wore my favorite Spanx leggings, floral top, cardigan and my comfy new blush pink sneakers!

Each night for dinner I either wore my favorite black jeans, my favorite gray jeans, or my Spanx leggings. All of my tops are old so I can't link them, but my trusty Toms wedges got put to good use every night!

During the day I wore my trusty classic Ugg boots that I have had for probably 10 years when walking around town and stayed plenty warm. I bought this jacket and it served me well the entire trip! It as great for skiing, but also good for just wearing to dinners at night. I wanted to purchase something that I knew I could wear for more than just skiing so that I would get a lot of use out of it!

coat//jeans//earrings//similar boots

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

X-Games in Aspen, Colorado

Last week the Mr. and I got to sneak away for a fun little trip to Aspen, Colorado and had the best time! It was my first time to Aspen and it was gorgeous!

The X-Games were being held there and that is the main reason we went, but we had the opportunity to do a lot of other really fun things, too.

On our first full day we went skiing at Aspen Highlands. The terrain was pretty steep and a little more advanced, but we had so much fun.

It was really cold on this day so I was happy to learn we would be having lunch on top of the mountain at Cloud Nine.

They are known for their champagne and fondue lunches and knowing that was waiting for me got me through the cold morning!

It was just what I needed to warm up and have a little break from the cold.

The sun came out during our afternoon skiing and we saw some beautiful views!

I loved walking around town at night because everything was lit up so beautiful! It made me want to live in a place that was acceptable to have Christmas lights up year round.

On our second full day we went on a snow mobile tour through the White River National Forest.

You could wear your own ski gear or use their snowsuits, so the Mr. decided to go for the full experience and wear the snowsuit! He looked like he was straight out of the 80's.

It was a sunny day and we had so much fun. We saw beautiful scenery and even saw a moose from afar.

I've actually been snowmobiling twice before this, but had the best experience here. The guides were so knowledgeable about the National Forest and shared so many fun tidbits of information.

Lunch was at the top of the mountain in this neat little lodge!

We also got to see Pyramid Peak which is rumored to be the mountain that Paramount Pictures modeled their logo after.

On our third day in Aspen the Mr. went skiing again and I opted for a relaxing day at the hotel. I worked out in the fun gym, got a massage, and just chilled. It was so nice! That night we finally made our way over to Buttermilk Mountain where the X-Games were being held!

Thankfully we were able to watch from a heated tent and had such a great view of the events going on that night.

It was AMAZING to watch the athletes compete. The things they can do on skis and snowboards was so impressive.

After watching for a while we walked over to The Chainsmokers concert and oh my goodness, I've never felt so old in my life! We were surrounded by lots of millennials and they seemed to be having a much better than than we were.

So instead of staying there and freezing we decided to make our way to the private party for our group. We got to ride the gondola to the top of the mountain and the view of the city all lit up was so gorgeous!

By the looks of this picture you can tell we had so much fun. We danced the night away and was sad that our time in Aspen had come to a close.

It was such a great trip and we met some really fun people. It was so nice to get away and be waited on hand and foot for a few days, but I was excited to get back home to my kiddos! Be sure to check back tomorrow because I am sharing all the details about the amazing hotel we stayed it, the great restaurants we ate at and what I wore while I was there!

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Family Ski Trip {Breckenridge - Part 3}

If you missed part one and two of our ski trip recap you can find them here and here.

By day three of skiing my kids were getting braver and braver. Trying little jumps, going in and out of the trees, and following in their adventurous father's footsteps. That also led to a few "epic" wipe outs and Boo-Boo likes to call them.

We spent most of the day near Peak 9, which is mine and the kids' favorite at Breckenridge.

Each day we would have lunch on the mountain or just at the base of the mountain. Some people with ski in/ski out condos choose to go back to their place for lunch, but since we were staying in a hotel we ate right on the mountain.

I know for one if we had gone back it would have gotten hard to get motivated to go back out to ski more. The food on the mountain is expensive, but it helps you to get back to skiing as quickly as possible and also sort of adds to the fun experience of being on the mountain.

The morning was clear, but around lunchtime it started snowing again.

We were determined to make the most of our last day though!

The kids continued to amaze me with their skill and proved to us just how much they love skiing and how happy we are that we taught them at an early age.

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This little guy was always the first down the mountain and he whispered his secrets to me. "Mommy, you just have to not do big turns and go straight down instead. Also, bend down low like this and then you'll be the winner." :-)

The kids each got trail maps that they had fun marking off during the week. They highlighted the runs we had completed and it was fun to see just how much of the resort we covered in three short days!

I think 3 days was the perfect amount of time to ski with the kids. I wished we had stayed an extra day or two to do some of the other things Breckenridge has to offer though. They have an amazing Recreation Center complete with pool, water slides, rock climbing, basketball courts and more. If we had been around an extra day we would have had time to visit there!

Also they have a ton of art classes and activities for kids that we just couldn't squeeze in this trip, but hope to in the future!

For dinner that night the kids had been begging to go to Downstairs at Eric's which is basically a pizza place with a ton of arcade games to play while you wait. The only problem is there is always a super long wait. Like 2-3 hours sometimes. We promised them we would stop in and see, but the wait was 1.5 hours and we were hungry! So, we let them each play a quick video game and then we grabbed a bite somewhere faster.

We got up early the next morning to head to the airport and come home. It was really such a great trip and honestly gets easier every year. There is a lot involved with a ski trip. A lot of clothing required, a lot of gear, and a lot of work, but it is so worth it to us and as at the kids get a little older it is becoming easier and easier. It is also usually the one trip we take that is just the 5 of us, so that has been a fun tradition also! Now that we got that in, we're ready for spring and warm weather!

Magnolia Mamas

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