Happy, Happy New Year, my sweet friends! I hope you’re having a nice start to the new year. I am kicking off the year by sharing all about our winter vacation in Colorado. On this blog post, I break down activities, places to check out, and more. Hopefully you find this guide useful for your future travels to the beautiful state of Colorado.

Dillon, Colorado

Our Airbnb

The Airbnb we stayed at exceeded our expectations. (After looking at several beautiful homes in the area, we fell in love with so many but they fell out of our price range. Therefore, it kind of felt like we settled for the next best thing.) Anyway, boy, oh boy, we were in for a surprise. A great surprise. The house was spacious, cozy, and on our last day, we had THE coolest visitors. Two mooses. It was incredible to see them up-close (in their own environment) from the comfort of the breakfast nook.

The Airbnb had five bedrooms, which was important because we each needed our own bed, space, and bathroom. The house also included a washer and dryer, which came in handy during our stay. Not to mention the views, my goodness, the views were impeccable. I loved that the house was located near a trail, which gave us the opportunity to climb up the backyard hill and explore. (Good thing we didn’t come across any moose during our hike – yikes! I learned they can be aggressive.)

Last, but not least, the Airbnb met our budget. If you ever visit Colorado during Christmastime, you can expect higher Airbnb rates. Whenever we discovered this sweet home, and price, we knew we couldn’t pass up the opportunity! If you are interested in the Airbnb we stayed at, I’ll link it here. It’s located in Dillon, Colorado, in Keystone Ranch, which ended up being a great centerpoint.

Dillon Ice Castles

The Dillon Ice Castles was a mystical experience because they’re large ice sculptures with tunnels and slides that are illuminated by a variety of colors. The ice sculptures were carved by artists, which is crazy to think about considering the different sizes of the ice castles. If you get lucky, you might experience snow during your self-guided tour. This happened to us while we were visiting and I would be lying if I said it wasn’t cool.

The ice castles are typically open from December to February, and the ticket price for adults is $22. Reservations are required.

Dillon Dam Overlook

If you are familiar with old travel blog posts, you know I am a huge fan of pit stops. I love unplanned destinations, especially if it involves taking a moment to pause, breathe, and be still. If you are onboard, then you will not regret your time at the Dillon Dam Overlook. It was a scenic spot we encountered in Summit County on I-70. In fact, you’ll come across a few pit stops along I-70, well worth stopping for, if you ask me.

Frisco, Colorado

Frisco Adventure Park

If you have an ounce of your inner child, please do yourself a favor and book reservations for all of the activities available at the Frisco Adventure Park. I promise you will have a grand time and enjoy the activities the park has to offer.

The family took part in the sleigh ride, which was the only reservation we were able to book, and we truly enjoyed the experience. It was something our parents felt comfortable participating in, and the sunny weather definitely helped in making the experience an enjoyable one. According to our guide, they do not cancel any tours due to weather. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to ride any kind of sleigh in wintry mix. I would much rather be at home next to the fireplace sipping on my hot cocoa, which reminds me, our Airbnb had a nice wood fireplace. HUGE PLUS.

Breckenridge, Colorado

Main Street

Around Christmastime, a lot of people were tagging each other in a video of a charming old-looking town that had the streets filled with inches of snow and glowed beautifully with Christmas lights. Well, this my friend, ended up being a video of Main St. in Breckenridge, Colorado. As soon as we knew this fact, we were convinced where we wanted to spend our Christmas. Lo and behold, it fulfilled every vision we had prior to the trip. It was magical winter experience. If you can afford to stay in Breckenridge, even better. Do it. It’s a ski town as well so you cannot go wrong with booking your stay near a lot of fun, restaurants, and shops! (Definitely book a reservation at Giampietro Pasta & Pizzeria for an Italian fix. The chicken alfredo was DELISH.)

Parking is quite easy around the Breckenridge – Main St. area, however, if you need an idea, we paid to park at the BreckConnect Gondola parking lot. The address is 170 Watson Avenue, Breckenridge, CO 80424.

Gondola Ride

You can find a few activities that are free for the family in, or near, Breckenridge. Two of those free activities include the gondola ride and sledding hill located at Carter Park. Due to limited time, we were only able to ride the gondola, which was a neat experience! After all, it was free and we had pretty cool views of the entire town.

Loveland Pass, A High Mountain Pass in Colorado

Do you love and appreciate adventurous pit stops? If you answered yes, I highly encourage you to add Loveland Pass to your agenda.

Loveland Pass was located about 30 minutes northeast of the Airbnb, which wasn’t a bad drive since we stopped at a different location first. Apparently, the road leading up to Loveland Pass is a dangerous one, especially during the winter. Thankfully, we didn’t know any better so my anxiety was NOT at an all-time high, lol.

The panoramic snowy views were something I hadn’t seen before. If you love a good thrill, take your sleds because you will find a few perfect hills for sledding. Us, kids, had a lot of fun sledding in this area. (One particular hill was friendlier than the other.)

Having said all of this, please do your own research and determine if Loveland Pass should be apart of your Colorado winter vacation.

Well, that is a wrap, my sweet friends. If you want to scratch ‘A White Christmas’ off your bucket list, and experience a beautiful winter vacation, Colorado will not disappoint. For any questions about things to do, places to visit, etc., please don’t hesitate on reaching out by emailing me at sonia@mrsprofresh.com or by sending a direct message on Instagram.

Ps. For bits and pieces of our Colorado winter vacation, head over to my Instagram highlights section. You’ll find Parts 1 and 2.