I was off today! Easter Sunday, shop is closed. So what did I do? I went for a ridiculously long run, of course. A couple laps up Lookout, home to shower and load up the car, and we were off!

The drive to Steamboat is actually pretty easy, just over two and a half hours and nothing crazy to deal with – as long as there’s no snow over Rabbit Ears. There was one time… But that’s another story for another day. 

We checked in and then talked to the concierge, who threw enough free shit (7 night free stay at any Wyndham, $100 Amex gift card, AND a bottle of wine) that we agreed to do one of their 90 minute marketing talks… We’ll see how THAT goes. 

We walked into our condo and were quite happy to find that we got the nice big floor plan like the first time we stayed here. The second time was this weird long hallway with doors to the  bedroom and the bathroom off of it and then the living room and kitchen at the end – it felt like some weird dungeon. This one is nice and open and makes a lot more sense. 

We dropped our stuff and went to find some dinner. We tried the Old Town Pub, but it was closed (dammit, Easter), and then one other place whose name has changed and I can’t remember what it is now, and finally I looked up “burgers near me” and wound up at the Back Door Grill. 

I had a mushroom and swiss burger and a Storm Peak IPA, Matt had fish tacos and a Corona, and we were both quite satisfied. 

We went back to the condo and hit the hot tub. That felt kind of amazing on my tired legs and body… Then back inside and to bed.

The next morning, I didn’t wake up TOO stupid early at least. I made coffee and hung out on the couch for a while. 

We made breakfast and worked on videos – totally anticlimactic morning. Somewhere in there we went to the Wyndham presentation we got roped into yesterday, which was way less hateful than we feared. 

Afterwards, more video editing. Ahhh, the life of a wannabe content creator.

Eventually, FINALLY, we finished editing and uploading the video due out tomorrow.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day, and we went out for a walk for a while. We wandered towards the resort, and came upon the Arnold Barn, a cool old building the had been moved to its current location to be a sort of little museum. Pretty cool!

We wandered around a bit longer, then got back to the condo,showered, and headed out for happy hour and dinner. 

We’d decided on Besame, a Spanish tapas place whose happy hour seemed unreal. We ordered sangria and lime drops and ceviche and a charcuterie board and more sangria and a glass of wine and croquetas de jamón and sweet plantains… And somehow, our bill came to just under $100. Holy SHIT, that was a good deal!

We decided on our way back to the condo that we’d just go to the hot springs tonight, so we grabbed our bathing suits and towels and went over. 

We hung out at Old Town Hot Springs for a while, randomly trying to climb the wall – Matt was successful, I was not – and Matt sticking his head in the (new) cold plunge pool…

When we’d had enough, we packed ourselves up and went back to the condo. We poured some of the wine we’d gotten for going to the presentation earlier, and watched Denver lose game two of the playoffs…

The next morning, we had another somewhat lazy morning… Coffee… Then eggs and toast for breakfast…

We went snowshoeing. Well, we brought snowshoes. We headed up Rabbit Ears Pass to the West Summit Loop 1A (wow, that’s a mouthful!), and for some reason decided not to wear our snowshoes. Hiking boots seemed just fine…

They were, for the most part. This was a trail we’ve done once or twice before. It seemed okay in just boots for the first bit, so we took our chances. 

We hiked and stopped a couple times to take time lapses. Such is the life of a wannabe creator. Hanging out for 25 minutes at a time, waiting for the requisite 210 shots for the 7 second time lapse… It was entertaining, anyway. Took us almost two hours to go the first 1.25 miles. Ugh. 

The second half went faster, but we definitely were falling in the snow more often. At this point, we wished we’d brought the damned snowshoes…

When we got back to the car, we decided a beer was in order. We went to Storm Peak Brewing and had a pint. Then back to the condo for showers before dinner. 

We went to Aurum for happy hour and dinner. They had really good deals – $9 margaritas and half price entrees. The margs were delicious and so was my shrimp and grits! Matt’s pork mole was pretty good too. 

Then we wandered around town for a little bit before heading back to the condo. Then it was hot tub time, and chill time by the fire and bed.

The next morning – our last, sniff, sniff – we chilled a bit and gathered our stuff. We checked out, and then headed to Emerald Mountain to do a hike before heading home.

We headed up the hill. There was supposed to be a pretty view of town from the top, and we wanted to see it. The trail conditions weren’t too bad, dry at the bottom, but then a bit of snow towards the top. Thankfully, it wasn’t too muddy anywhere, and we were able to avoid what little there was by walking on the snow.

On our way to the top, we passed the trail called “Lane of Pain,” which brought back some crazy memories of when I was running the Run Rabbit Run 100… That trail was part of the course, and it came well after mile 50, when I had a huge cramp in one of my quads… I came around a corner, saw the trail, and it goes STRAIGHT UP. Ugh. I made it up that hill during the race, and then the rest didn’t go so well… But that’s another story for another day.

We finally made it to the top, and the view, and it sure was pretty. It’s always cool to see the snow still up on the mountain while the valley below is starting to turn green. We took a few photos and videos, turned around, and headed back to the car.

We headed home, stopping in Georgetown at Cabin Creek Brewing for pizza and beer… What a great little mud season adventure!

Here’s the video: