Breckenridge, CO

May 13, 2012

By: Shayla Martin

I am a horrible person. I have not blogged in almost two months and I’m completely ashamed of myself. I refuse to say “I was busy” because honestly everyone is busy and when it comes down to it, we make time for what we make time for. Bottom line, I need to do better and I will try my hardest to do so.

Now, lets move on. Who wants to talk about skiing in May?!?! I dooooo! Remember when I went to Breckenridge at the end of February? No? Well let me tell you about it. After my less than 24 hours in Denver, I took an airport transfer ($60 via Summit Express) to the small skiing and former mining town of Breckenridge, Colorado. It was a scenic 2 hour drive and the company dropped me right at the door of where I was staying. Seriously could not have been easier. I arrived at Breck on a Saturday night and my lift tickets did not start until Monday morning so my intention was to spend Sunday exploring the town. I’ll be frank, I spent Sunday struggling to catch my breath. I know I whined about the altitude in Denver but to be honest with you, had my lift tickets started on Sunday I don’t think I would have had the strength/endurance to ski. All I could do was sleep! I have a hard time remembering if I even left the house on Sunday but I don’t think I did until that evening because I spent the day sucking down bottles of water and taking cat naps. That evening I walked down the hill where our house was located to Main Street (yes, its actual name) and explored the cute ski shops and cafes. Breckenridge is pretty much a one-horse town, but it’s so charming and the locals are so friendly that I was never bored when I was not skiing. All of the locals had such a carefree disposition that I often found myself daydreaming about leaving New York for small ski town living. I had no idea how all of the people I met seemed so relaxed, but I wanted what they had. Obviously, after a dramatic (on my part) “I’M LEAVING NEW YORK AND MOVING HERE” conversation with my Mom, who simply replied “no you’re not, you’d be so bored,” I concluded that she was right and decided to enjoy my vacation.

Monday kicked off my day of skiing. Our house was ski in, ski out so I snapped into my skis with my friends and we hit the lifts. One thing I want to mention here, if you’ve never stayed in a house that was ski in, ski out…you will be completely spoiled. It was unbelievably convenient. I had become accustomed to lugging my skis everywhere and now that I’ve stayed in a ski in, ski out property, I don’t think I can stay in anything else! Breckenridge has a wealth of ski runs. I saw everything from 3-year-old beginners to daredevils doing 360s and flips to experts skiing down the mountain from the highest peaks. I was having a bit of knee trouble so I stuck to the green and the blue runs. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. I could not stop taking pictures of the snow-capped mountains and the clear blue sky. I like to ski alone (and my friends are more advanced skiers then I am) so I spent my morning coasting down the easy trails and listening to myself breathe. Skiing is so relaxing. The gentle swishing of my skis as I glided down the mountain set everything in my body to an easy rhythm. It was so easy to clear my mind and feel like I could do absolutely anything.

There’s no need for me to recap every single day of skiing because they didn’t differ much but on Tuesday it snowed so I got to ski in a snowstorm! So fun! Slim to no visibility which made things interesting. There were fewer people on the slopes as well so I got to get up and down the mountain with more frequency. Over the course of the week I went out to dinner once to Briar Rose Chophouse and Saloon, a highly recommended local restaurant serving traditional American cuisine. As Colorado is a landlocked state, I decided to avoid my usual choice of seafood and sample the local cuisine. What might that be? Buffalo short ribs of course! After a long day of skiing, I was in the mood for red meat which I usually never eat and Buffalo is actually a lot healthier than beef. For anyone who has never tried it before, if you like steak, you’ll love buffalo. For your first time eating Buffalo, I suggest short ribs because they are super flavorful and tender.

Some pictures of my trip are below! I’ll probably do another post about Breckenridge because there’s too much to write about in one post!