Taking the Kids: A different way to have some fun in the snow
There's nothing like starting the year by checking something off your vacation bucket list.
For Kacy Yerger, 24, that meant seeing snow for the first time. She grew up in Florida and now lives in Southern California, she explained.
"That was the impetus for this trip," said her boyfriend Michael Swenson, whose mom Karen Bransten was treating the young couple to the trip that wouldn't put the onus on her to organize. "I didn't want to think about what to do or where to eat," Bransten explained
For horse-loving Paige Skibba, 19, and her mom, both from Wisconsin, it was experiencing a dude ranch in winter, complete with horse rides in the snow and riding clinics in the indoor arena rather than a Mexico resort. "Sitting in the hot tub on the porch with the snow coming down watching the horses was the best," said Jenny Skibba.
And for my niece, Allison Jonez and her mom, Tracy Yemma, it's been learning a new sport -- cross-country skiing -- stepping out of their comfort zone with nearly two feet of snow in two days. (L.L.Bean is a good bet for gearing up for outdoor adventures.)
Welcome to Vista Verde Ranch, about a half-hour from Steamboat Springs, Colorado; and it couldn't be more different than a traditional vacation in snowy country. For one thing, there are no crowds here -- just, at maximum, 52 guests staying in 15 deluxe cabins and three lodge rooms on 540 acres at the edge of national forest.
There is a staff of more than 40 to take care of everyone -- from stocking the cabins with favorite beverages to serving the always excellent meals (the homemade mac and cheese got special raves for lunch, as did the hors d'oeuvres dinner with everything from salmon atop cucumbers to Asian tenderloin skewers and empanadas and duck wellington.
Guides and gear are all included as part of the package, whether you want to go back-country ski touring, fat biking in the snow, cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing in pristine meadows, ice fishing or even snoga (think yoga in a homesteaders cabin heated by a wood-fired stove that you reach by snowshoes or cross-country skis).
The ranch is now owned by Laura and Chris Jones, who live in the western Chicago suburbs with their eight kids. They didn't buy it, Chris Jones explained, as a money-making investment. "We wanted to be able to impact people's lives in a positive way," he explained. "People leave here refreshed and relaxed and doing better than before they came ... mission accomplished."
The family had long been coming to Steamboat Springs to downhill ski. But at Vista Verde -- where incidentally there is a children's program some holiday weeks and over the summer -- families can spend time together without the tumult of a big snow resort, standing in lift lines or fighting for a table at lunch, Jones said.
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