Weekend Recap, Vol. 9

Good evening, friends! While weekends here in Boulder haven’t been quite as adventurous as they were in the beginning of last semester, we did do a bit of vacationing in Breckenridge over the winter break. And boy was it magical!

I spent most of my winter break at home in Tulsa, Oklahoma with family. But with a week remaining of break, my parents, Allen and I made the 10 hour drive back to Boulder, Colorado for one last vacation adventure.

The night before leaving for Breck, we met up with Allen’s family in Boulder for a gourmet burger and chocolate malt from one of our favorites on Pearl Street, Reuben’s Burger Bistro. Afterwards we strolled along Pearl Street, still wrapped in twinkling Christmas lights, and did a bit of window shopping before calling it a night.

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Early the next morning we woke up and officially started our ski vacation with a nice, hearty breakfast at The Buff. My go-to breakfast has always been scrambled eggs with lots of veggies, cheese, and salsa mixed in. But since moving to Colorado and experiencing some of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had (here and here), I now try to venture out of my comfort zone to find new favorites flavors.

This particular morning, I chose breakfast tacos with avocado. There’s just something so right about Mexican-inspired flavors at the breakfast table, don’t you think? Also, if you do venture over to The Buff, you have to get an extra plate of their seasoned potatoes. So Good.

Afterwards, we packed up all our gear and headed straight for the cozy town of Breckenridge. As soon as we arrived, we just couldn’t wait to bundle ourselves up and explore the winter wonderland that is downtown Breckenridge.

We ended up getting into Breck a littler later in the evening. So late in fact that we almost missed any restaurants being open! Luckily for us, mine and Allen’s favorite little Italian shop, Giampietro, was open and we had the pleasure of introducing my parents to the best Alfredo and spaghetti in town.

Afterwards we headed back to the Beaver Run condo we were staying at (<– it was awesome if you need a recommendation!) and headed to bed early in anticipation of our first ski day of the season.

P.S. – The Beaver Run Superchair on Peak 9 was right outside the very window you see in the back of the picture above. It was so, so convenient to hit the slopes right from our back door. Literally.

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The next morning felt like almost Christmas to me. I was not only super stoked to be hitting the slopes for the first time since March of last year, but I would be doing so in my brand new boots and skis! I still can’t believe how incredibly lucky I am to have my very own pair now. Just look how gorgeous they are! I’m still so giddy about the purchase.

The first day of skiing did not disappoint. The skies were blue and the snow was almost perfect—not too crunchy but also not too powdery. Just look at these views!

Allen and I were obviously so stoked to be in the mountains again. Just look at him here doing a little trick off the fallen tree. 

I love my family and I love Tulsa (the town I grew up in)…but boy have I sure fallen in love with Colorado. Fallin’ so hard.

The first day we jumped around between Peaks 9, 8, 7, and 6. The photo below was taken on a little backcountry route we took getting over to Peak 6 (one of my absolute favorite peaks at Breck).

Later that evening we took the Beaver Run Shuttle over to the local grocery store and bought supplies for meals throughout the week. Beaver Run was really great in that it had a full kitchen within the condo, fully stocked with pots, pans, and dishes—making meal prep throughout the week a no-brainer. Don’t get me wrong, there are some fantastic places for breakfast and dinner in Breck, but there’s also something to be said about having home-cooked meals after a long day on the slopes. And with all the recent New Years celebrations and parties, it was a nice break to have food cooked in the comfort of a home.

We decided that to break up the cooking/cleaning workload and amp up the creativity in the kitchen, each of us would be responsible for cooking one dinner during the week. Dinner the first night was tacos by my mom. Ground beef, crunchy taco shells, and all the fixin’s you can imagine. I love it when my parents cook because all the extra little details us poor grad students seem to skimp on (like enchilada sauce, and diced tomatoes, and fresh lettuce), always seem to find their way into the meal—making something as simple as tacos feel luxurious and like special treat.

On the way out of town (Boulder, that is), we were looking for gas and ended up stumbling upon a Nothing Bundt Cakes shop. Naturally, we got a dozen of the cutest bundtinis and brought them up to Breck to enjoy throughout the week night. My new favorite is the white chocolate raspberry if you haven’t tried it yet.

And another confession: me and my mom both snuck an extra sample in at the store (that’s two, I repeat TWO samples, ladies and gentleman). Now I know where I get my sweet tooth from!

Needless to say we went to sleep that night with our hearts and tummies sweet teeth full.

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The next day was our second day of skiing and we were just as excited and ready to be out on the slopes as ever. Since Galen, Allen’s brother, was in town but leaving the next day, we decided to only ski a half day on the slopes of Breck and spend the other half exploring the downtown area with Galen.

Here’s me and Allen cheesin’ hard on the chair lift up to Peak 10.

We mainly stayed to Peaks 9 and 10 on our second day. I love that Breck is so big that you can literally ski different peaks each day and feel like you’re at a completely different mountain from day-to-day.

Can’t get over how much I love my new ski gear! Aren’t my skis just perfect?! So bright and colorful (AND functional of course!).

For lunch we went to the Breckenridge Brewery. I had an absolutely succulent burger, stacked tall with pepperjack cheese, sautéed onions, and grilled mushrooms that paired perfectly with an aromatic raspberry beer. I’d definitely recommend going there if you are in the mood for burger and a beer after a day of skiing!

Walking around downtown Breck, I saw some of the prettiest and most colorful shops. Here are a few of my favorites.

I mean…this purple trim, though! So good.

And we found the most colorful mural, so naturally I had to take a quick picture in front of it.

After walking around downtown for an hour or so, we decided to head back to the condo. Allen and Galen decided to go soaking in the hot tub while I took a quick cat nap upstairs. I actually had a pretty terrible fall out of the bus earlier that day and bruised the daylight out of my hip and ribs. So the nap was good for my recovery. (P.S. I would fall and seriously injure myself not on the slopes….)

Later that evening, Allen was in charge of making Italian sausage and marinara pasta. He sautéed up some peppers and onions and mixed it all in with spicy sausage and a fragrant basil tomato sauce. The combination was superb.

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The next day, Allen and Galen went skiing at Cooper Mountain while me and my parents went exploring at Beaver Creek. It was our first time there and let me just say….it is gorgeous and we couldn’t have picked a better day to go. The snow flurries were in full swing, making for the most magical backdrop.

Here’s a quick shot I took looking back at the lodging and shops in Beaver Creek.

The snow at Beaver Creek was so fresh and powdery. It was truly magical.

Me and my mom smiling for the camera during the snow storm.

My dad capturing a magical moment of me completely riveted by the falling snow.

And the prettiest snow-covered trees. I could ski here all day and every day.

After a day full of skiing, we stuck around a bit longer to explore the shops at Beaver Creek. One of my favorite parts was discovering all the intricately carved ice sculptures around the square. The penguins were my favorites!

With Christmas being my favorite season, the giant Christmas tree lit in the town center tickled me in all the right places. It lit up the ice skating rink and town so beautifully it looked almost magical. The perfect Christmas winter wonderland.

After walking around the shops for a bit, we stopped into a café to get some hot cocoa before hitting the road for Breckenridge again.

My friend Conor drove in to meet us for skiing in Breck the next day, so he was able to join us for dinner in the eveing. My dad was in charge of meal prep and fixed a Teriyaki stir-fry with rice, fresh peppers, and crispy snap peas. It was a treat, indeed!

Allen, Conor, and I stayed up late watching Blue Bloods and chit-chatting and having a great time together, enjoying the last moments of break.

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Friday morning we woke up early and hit the slopes for our last day of skiing. The snow-covered trees from the previous night’s snow made for the perfect scenery on our way up to the top.

We spent most of Friday skiing on Peak 7 but took a short break to show my parents Peak 6 as well.

Last light of the day as we took our final run down the mountain. No place I’d rather be, Colorado. (Maybe this post should be called Love Letter to Colorado…)

After a wonderful last day of skiing, we finally called it a day and headed back to the condo for warm showers and snuggles before getting some food.

For dinner, we decided to go out for pizza at Fatty’s, which has a really fun vibe. Conveniently, it was my night to cook. 😉 I’d like to say I actually planned to cook a dinner for everyone, but the grocery receipt says otherwise! Oh well! We had a blast going out on the town in Breck for our last dinner together. 

One of my favorite pictures from the trip, Allen looks so utterly happy. I love it!

We ended up getting a meat lover’s pizza as well as a ½ veggie + ½ Hawaiian pizza. Both were fantastic!!

Gang’s all here! My favorite people.

And no trip to Breckenridge is complete without a trip to Mary’s Mountain Cookies (aka “The Cookie Store” to us). My favorite is the Mint Chocolate cookie—it’s so gooey on the inside!

We strolled along downtown for one last time before heading back to the condo and packing up our bags for the trip home in the morning.

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Ending the trip as we began it, we stopped in town for a big, hearty breakfast at the Blue Moose, our favorite Breckfast place (<–did you see what I did there?). Their veggie omlette with avocados is perfection.

After breakfast we all packed into the car and headed back to Boulder. Overall, we had a fantastic (x10) time in Breckenridge and Beaver Creek and I can’t wait for our next skiing adventures in the coming weeks. 

What about you? Did you do anything extra fun over the winter break? I’d love to know!

In case you are interested, here is my last weekend recap. As always, feel free to leave comments below! If you’re interested in getting posts sent straight to your inbox, subscribe in the sidebar with your email. Or follow along on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Bloglovin’.