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We recently got back from a Colorado Winter Vacation to Breckenridge and it was a great experience to travel to Colorado and the Rocky Mountains for the first time.  The kids haven’t seen snow since we moved to Texas from the PNW and snow was one of their wishes for Christmas. We loaded up the truck, kids and snow gear, and we were off on our first long road trip. 13+ hours to be exact.  Needless to say, I was beyond excited for snow, a cozy cabin, fires, and winter mountain vibes.

This trip, we headed to the ski town of Breckenridge, located at the base of the Tenmile Range, with an elevation of about 9,600 ft above sea level. Breckenridge is an authentic mountain town with tons of charm and attractions on Main St. which we were lucky enough to experience during Christmas.

 

Airbnb Cabin

We arrived to our Airbnb, and our cabin was just as charming and lovely as the pictures shown in the listing. The Swiss Chalet style a-frame cabin tucked high above the mountains has a spectacular view of Peak 8. The cabin was cozy, warm, inviting and decorated in vintage ski decor.

It was so nice to have a warm and cozy cabin with all the amenities to come back to after a day on the slopes. We enjoyed cooking some of our meals in the cabin’s fully stocked kitchen, and the kids enjoyed baking cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve night in anticipation of Santa’s arrival on Christmas morning.

View of Peak 8 from the deck

Breckenridge Nordic Center

On Christmas morning we went on a family snowshoe hike at the Breckenridge Nordic Center. The trails offer magnificent scenery of the Ten Mile Range and Breckenridge Ski Resort surrounded by beautiful spruce forests and spectacular views.  The Nordic Chalet at the trailhead area houses equipment rentals, retail, snacks, drinks, and a wood burning fireplace that is the perfect spot to warm up with a beverage after your snowshoe adventure.

John and I have loved snowshoeing since our first snowshoe adventure date in the Olympic National Park in 2006 and we’ve tried to continue snowshoe hikes every year as our schedules would allow. We wanted to share this snowshoeing experience with our family too and found it to be a great Christmas Day activity to enjoy the great outdoors and exercise.

Children’s igloo at the start of the trails

 

 

 

 

At the end of our hike, ready for a hot drink!

 

Peak views from Breckenridge Overlook

Outfit Details: Beanie: Rossignol, Jacket: SAM, Base layer and Pants: TopShop Sno, Boots: Danner from 2016
Get The Look: Ski Weekend Style Inspo

Breckenridge Ski Resort

The gondola ride was a highlight for the kids. You can ride up to Peaks 7 and 8 to dine at the restaurants and take in the mountain and town views.  Unfortunately Baron got altitude sickness halfway up on the Gondola after the photo above was taken. Mom tip: carry barf bags and extra wipes!

Ski School

Jonah had his first snowboard lesson here at Breckenridge Ski School. The staff were incredibly helpful, so friendly and passionate about what they do, and it shows!  The check-in process for ski school was smooth and well-organized. There are two places you can choose to have lessons – The Village and Peak 8. We chose Peak 8 since the location was convenient for us and we knew we would be dining on Peak 8 later in the day.

Jonah, happy and tired after a full day of learning and riding!

With this being our first time to Breckenridge, we had no idea just how huge and majestic this ski resort was. Breckenridge has 5 peaks, 187 trails, 2,908 acres and the highest lift-served terrain in North America – WOW!
The mountain stats are so impressive that they even have a new trail map created by trail map artist James Niehues.

Photo courtesy of Breckenridge Ski Resort

Dinner at Robbie’s Tavern

After a long day on the slopes or in the cold, there’s nothing better than hot comfort food. Robbie’s Tavern is conveniently located slope side on Peak 8 just a few minutes walk from Jonah’s snowboard lessons. The restaurant has a cool outdoor patio with heatlamps and fire pits for apres ski and drinks.  It started to snow so we opted to sit inside and after a full day or riding, Jonah did not want to be outdoors any longer.
I ordered the lamb gyro and it was perfect.
John got the chili cheese fries
I wish I would have gotten the hot chocolate! They look like this:

Photo by Robbie’s Tavern

Description: Robbie’s Peppermint Patty is a delicious beverage mixed with Peppermint Schnapps and a rich hot chocolate mix.  It’s topped with a mountain of whipped cream and a sprinkle of crushed peppermint candy.

 Main Street

Downtown Breckenridge’s Main Street is the quintessential mountain town filled with charming boutiques, shops and restaurants, with all the Christmas feels, like a scene from a Hallmark movie 😉

Main Street at night is like no other. Every single Victorian building home and business is beautifully lit in Christmas lights. This one was my favorite you can spot from miles away.

A family trip wouldn’t be complete if someone didn’t get sick.

Travel Tips: (for Colorado first-timers combatting altitude sickness)

  1. If you’re from a low-land region like us in Texas, you’ll need time to adjust to the altitude. We didn’t take the time to adjust and just went straight to 10,000+ ft above sea level and half of our family got altitude sickness during our trip. Don’t do it.
  2. Pack and drink a ton of water. More water than you normally drink at home.
  3. Eat lots of carbs. This helps with preventing altitude sickness and improves overall wellness.  This is the one time when you can eat carbs to your hearts desire and it is highly encouraged! Lots of carbs like kettle chips, bread, bagels, fries.
  4. Pack mini oxygen tanks.

 

Leaving Breck

Overall, despite the temporary altitude sickness, we enjoyed our winter vacation with our family and our kids had the most fun and made some amazing memories on our first visit to Colorado during Christmas. We would love to come back to this beautiful state and experience more ski towns and see the many other family-friendly ski resorts. What are your favorite family-friendly ski resorts you recommend in Colorado?