Not Skiing in Steamboat
Hi, friends! This year, I tagged along Rex on one of his “solo” ski trips. Usually I stay home but I figured I can work from home some of the days so why not! Rex wanted to go to Steamboat per a couple of his friend’s recommendations so we flew into Denver then to Yampa Valley Regional Airport from there. It was my first time at a regional airport ever, and I’m kind of obsessed?! For example, boarding/departing plane from the tarmac in the open air was so fun!!
For the first day, we didn’t make any plans or itinerary since air travel took up most of the day and we wanted to allow ourselves to rest if we felt like it. We stayed at Steamboat Grand near the ski resort. They had a free shuttle you could take around town so we did manage to go downtown for an early dinner and a stroll. Based on a quick Internet search, we ended up at Back Door Grill for some delicious (and very extra) burgers.
One of my favorite things to do while traveling is visiting independent bookstores (and needlepoint stores where available; not in Steamboat Springs!) and buying a book as a souvenir (otherwise, I’m mostly a library book gal). Off the Beaten Path was both a bookstore and a coffeehouse. There were a ton of staff recommendations throughout the store (accompanied by photos of them aka the staff members), and it looked to be a lovely third space for the community.
Rex got me a copy of the latest Hunger Games book, Sunrise on the Reaping, as a gift since I had been waiting on my library book hold. Naturally, I had to start reading it immediately and finished it in three days (but really within 48 hours). And yes, I cried.
On our first full day in Steamboat Springs, Rex went skiing and I worked “from home.” Multiple people asked me why I didn’t ski with Rex, and my answers are 1) Rex has unlimited PTO unlike myself and 2) I went skiing once, and I never want to go skiing again.
I stuck to working East Coast hours though and signed off mid-afternoon, right around when Rex was done skiing. We spent the rest of the afternoon at T Bar, one of the bars at the base of the ski resort, where we shared a few beers and some potato skins. (I read Sunrise on the Reaping obviously).
The second full day was our “adventure” day! Rex took a break from skiing, and I took a day off of work. The main event of the day was a visit to Strawberry Park Hot Springs. We booked a reservation with The Hot Springs Shuttle ahead of time. $50 per person covered the shuttle pickup from our hotel as well as the entry into the Hot Springs for just shy of two hours. It was my first time at a hot spring ever, and I didn’t know what to expect but it was just lovely to hang out in the pools! Rex has been to quite a few hot springs and said Strawberry Park was the nicest one he’s been to.
On our Lyft ride into Steamboat Springs the very first day, we passed by Tahk Omakase, which piqued our interest. Since we were in vacation mode, we decided to book an omakase dinner for post-hot springs. They offer omakases on Thursdays and Fridays at two different time slots. We went for the earlier slot (we weren’t sure if our stomachs would’ve adjusted to the Mountain Time by then) and were actually the only ones there (it was their last weekend open for the “season”) so we had a very intimate omakase dinner.
To be candid, it was not the best omakase we’ve experienced. I’m only saying that since I saw some reviews saying that Tahk Omakase was better than the ones you can find in NYC, and we didn’t find that to be the case. The meal was still delicious though, and there were some standouts like the ocean trout nigiri and yellowtail shot(?) at the beginning! Pictured here is the wagyu nigiri.
Our last full day was another working day for me, but I actually took the gondola up to wrap up the workday at the Thunderhead Lodge halfway up the mountain. I did have some moments on the ride up because I’m actually afraid of the heights… but look at this cute photo of me and Rex! You’d never know.
The food court options at the Lodge were limited, but we were actually very impressed with the Elk Sausage Banh Mi and the Dragon Fries. What you see in the picture added up to be $50 basically so not cheap, of course but yummy!
Pictured above is the outdoor patio at the Thunderhead Lodge. We did have to move a couple of times while out there because again, I’m afraid of the heights… but how cool are those snowy mountains?!
I’m realizing I didn’t take enough photos on this trip somehow?! We went to Mountain Top Brewery twice during our visit but this is one of the only photos I have from there. The first time, we were looking for a brewery to try some local beers and kill time. Then we saw their food menu and their wood fired pizza oven so we had to come back for dinner. We shared the beer cheese dip, made with Mountain Macaroon coconut brown ale, and the Calabrese pizza, which was nice and spicy. The service here was SO good, honestly better than table service at most restaurants.
All in all, a successful first non-skiing trip in a ski town, and I’m looking forward to joining (read: crashing) many more of Rex’s solo ski trips in the future (though for more immediate future, I’m very relieved to be home for a little while)!
