We had taken Lillian and Stella to Colorado after Christmas in 2018. They were 2 and 18mos, respectively. They had never seen snow and still talk about how they built a snow man with their daddy. We knew once Ruby was old enough, we wanted to go back and let them try their hand at skiing. Spoiler, only one of them actually skied. It was an amazing trip; the girls will talk about it all year and we cannot wait to go back.
Why We Chose Vail
We fly almost exclusively Southwest as a family. We have a Southwest credit card and are able to get the companion pass between the card and our traveling. If you aren’t familiar, they have a program, if you earn enough points per year, you can deem someone as your “companion” and that person can fly for free anytime you fly. As a family of 5, this is fantastic.
With that being said, we knew we could get from New Orleans nonstop to Denver, so we would drive to our final destination from there. In 2018, we went to Crested Butte. It is a gorgeous little town, but we wanted something a little bigger this time. We have friends who go to Keystone every year and have heard amazing things about Breckenridge. However, we have friends that own a second home in Vail, and they had been telling us how amazing it was. Depending on weather and traffic, Vail is only a 2-hour drive from Denver, so that was what we choose.
Where We Stayed
We went at arguable one of the busiest weeks of the year in Vail, so there weren’t a ton of properties to choose from. We went with this house because of its location, bedrooms and the fact that it had a Peloton. Which I didn’t end up using! We went with one other family, so we had 4 adults and 4 kids. The house was plenty big that we definitely could’ve had another family join us. The house was about a 5-minute walk to the bus stop, which is the easiest way to get around in Vail. The bus is free and very easy to navigate. I was solo with Ruby and Stella the 2 extra days that they didn’t ski, and we rode the bus into town each day. It was about a 15-minute ride.
What We Did
We enrolled the 3 girls and our friends’ son in ski school for the first 2 days we were there. Ski school is crazy expensive and after looking at the prices we decided to go with a private lesson for the 4 of them. It came out to the same price as putting all 4 of them into a group lesson. I thought this was a great idea, but I wouldn’t do it again. Because of the girls’ ages they progressed differently, and we ended up pulling Stella and Ruby out the second day because they were holding back the older two. As well as fighting like crazy. In hindsight, I would split them up. I think the younger 2 would’ve done better in a group setting rather than just with their sisters.
Since we were with another couple and there for Matt’s birthday, we decided to get a sitter a couple of nights so we could go out to eat. We were able to find multiple sitters on care.com that were available the same night. This was the first time I had used the app and was a little nervous about leaving the girls with a stranger, but they did great, and the sitter was great. She showed up with an indoor bounce house and 2 bags of toys! The kids were thrilled. We even had her come back the next night. She also mentioned that she babysat for families during the day that wanted to ski but had younger kids or non-skiers. She also does ski lessons on the side. She said that a lot of the babysitters also teach lessons and are much cheaper than going thru the resort. I would’ve never thought to book an individual, so that is something I will definitely research the next time we go.
Of course, I couldn’t go on a vacation and not have a spa day. We spent one day at the Four Seasons spa followed by lunch and drinks at their bar. It was exactly what I wanted to do. Spent the morning in the spa and the afternoon outside by the fire watching the skiers come down the mountain. I cannot recommend this enough!
Other than the spa and skiing we spent our time walking around Vail Village and Lionshead Village. Both have shops, restaurants, coffee shops and bars. Vail is bigger than Lionshead, but both are great to fill an afternoon if you aren’t on the mountain. I feel like we barely dipped our toes in the water on what we could do in Vail, we will definitely be back.
What We Ate
Our friends had sent us a list of restaurants to try, but almost everything required a reservation, and I really hate planning my meals in advance on vacation. We didn’t have a reservation anywhere and were able to get tables the two nights we decided to go to dinner.
We had snacks and drinks again at the bar at the Four Seasons. The food and drinks are good, but I was very disappointed in the service. It was fine, but for a Four Seasons it was a complete disappointment. Unless I was visiting the spa, I wouldn’t go back.
We ended up at Deca + Bol for dinner and bowling. It was a blast. It is a high-end bowling alley and restaurant. The food was excellent, service was great, and I bowled better than Matt. So, it was a win all around!
The next night, I really wanted us to be able to eat at Sweet Basil. I had 3 people recommend it, but we didn’t have a reservation. We put our names on the list for a table, went to Elways for drinks and appetizers and by the time we were finishing up, Sweet Basil called and were able to squeeze us in. The food and atmosphere were amazing! If you are in Vail, this is a must visit. It’d be better with a reservation, but don’t be afraid of just putting your name on the list.
We had such an amazing trip, I already cannot wait to go back!
