Spring Break in Steamboat - March 2018
We had a every type of weather during our ten days for
Spring Break to, from and in Steamboat, Colorado in March 2018. It was warm and clear when we left, it felt hot and sunny in the afternoons while we were there, but we also had snow, rain and ice during our time in Steamboat. It was a bit crazy, but that's mid-March spring skiing in Colorado.
We arrived from highway 80 from Laramie, Wyoming. This route from Iowa is flat until outside
of Laramie when we got to the foothills.
Then, we climbed the Rabbit Ears pass,
which is along the Continental Divide. Melting water on the left of the divide flows to the Pacific and water on the right flows to the Atlantic.
The ride into Steamboat is a long downhill.
We had three days of sun and warmth. On Wednesday, it
actually hit almost 60F at the bottom of the hill. The start of each day was
glorious with groomed slopes, few people and lovely open blue runs. By the end
of the day, the snow was soft, but it was still sunny and fun.
Here's the view from the gondola up to the main part of the mountain.
We also had a few afternoons of snow during our stay, which
limited our visibility occasionally, but made for great skiing afterwards.
We stayed at a close-in condo at The Lodge at Steamboat. We
loved the easy walk one block to the base of the gondola and ski school each
morning.
Overall, our condo was comfortable and in a great location
for a ski week at Steamboat. We would stay here again.
Here's our view on one snowy afternoon.
The boys did the Steamboat Resort ski week with the same instructor and a fun
group of kids. They went from barely remembering what it was like to be on skis and
skiing the green slopes to skiing with us on the blue slopes. They tend to bomb
straight down, but it’s great to see them feeling confident on skis. They had lots
of fun.
One night we met up with three other families from
the boys’ school. There were eight adults and about nine kids all under the age
of ten eating pizza at Cugino's, an Italian restaurant. They were very accommodating to our large group and luckily we ate early so hopefully we didn’t
bother too many other patrons. Afterwards, we walked around Steamboat Springs.
We tried one of the more famous Western shops in town, F & T Light with its
wall of boots. Apparently, this shop advertises a lot along the roads coming from the west into Steamboat, but we did not see advertising for it coming from the east (which was fine by us).
Our daughter joined us after her Winter term exams on Thursday and
skied the last three days of our seven day pass.
I caught an edge and took a
tumble on my third day out and so skied with her on her first day and then took
each boy for a day in Steamboat and to the hot springs or museums at the end of our week.
Here's a view of the Steamboat Resort in the clouds from downtown.
We visited Strawberry Park Hot Springs, a famous all
natural set of pools (on the left below) alongside the “cold plunge” river. The hot springs are
what gives Steamboat Springs its name and are part of its fame.
Steamboat is a nice combo of great skiing, relaxed hot
springs and a happening small town with good places to eat and shop.
We had a
winter wonderland on the mountain pass and the start of our drive home due to an icy snowfall the
night before.
As we descended in altitude the snow slowly disappeared as we headed home.
