Beaver Creek Archives - Weary Wanderer

2023: A Year in Review

Published on January 5, 2024January 5, 2024 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

Not a bad way to spend the beginning of October <3

Another one bites the dust, my friends! So here we are, with 2023 in the rear view mirror, and what a year it was. Travelwise, it was simply stellar. Things in the world, of course, continue to throw me (and everyone paying attention) off kilter. With that always in my mind, I continue to be forever grateful for the opportunities I have with my family to explore and enjoy what’s beautiful about this great big earth we all live on.

So, without further adieu, here’s what we got up to in 2023!

January

Celebrating 10 years married (!) in New Zealand!

At the beginning of the year our family was still on the other side of the world. Chris and I rang in the New Year (ahead of everyone we know!) on our anniversary trip in New Zealand, then finished up our Australia visit with a trip to Chris’ families’ favorite beach, Forster. The girls got to check out the Sydney Harbor area for the first time, too!

The girls and dad at the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

Forster with the fam. We love you Auntie Sare-Bear!

Once we were back in the states, Emilia and I packed our bags (again) and turned around fairly quickly for a trip back east to meet my new twin baby niece and nephew!

February

In February we had a visit from some of our New York besties, so we did our best to show them the Colorado sites!

We also checked out Meow Wolf, which was so trippy!

March

In March we celebrated “spring break” with SO MUCH SNOW at Grand Lake! We stayed in a tiny cabin, walked on a lake, rode sleds off our roof and traipsed through Rocky Mountain National Park up to our knees in fluffy powder. It was a delightful (if somewhat cold) time!

April

April was a big month, what with ME TURNING 40 AND ALL! We celebrated with a tick off my bucket list: A trip to Glacier National Park in Montana. She was all that I could have hoped for and more. So stinkin’ beautiful!

You can’t go wrong with a hot tub in nature!

Polebridge Mercantile was an extra-special treat, especially with the puppies we played with outside!

Thanks for making my bday extra special, Montana. She was one I’ll never forget <3

June

The Museum of Natural History was such a highlight on our kick-off-the-summer trip to NYC!

Right when the girls got out of school we hit the road! We headed back to one of our favorite spots — New York! — but this time with a twist. We stayed in one of my bestie’s Brooklyn brownstone basement apartments and let our family come to us! We traipsed around the city and took in so many sites (blogged about here, here and here). It was the trip of a lifetime, and so much stinkin’ fun!

Meeting up with the fam in Cold Spring was a big perk <3

We love the Museum of Natural History whale!

But really … it was about being with our loves <3

July & August

I blogged about making the most of summer here (because we really, really did!), and our three amazing press trips (to Grand Colorado on Peak 8, the Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek and C Lazy U Ranch outside of Granby) all definitely helped!

Second baseball game for the girls! Seeing the Rockies play in Denver, this time.

Rode the gondola up to the mountain resort above our hotel.

August

Meeting up with my oldest friends from elementary school in Savannah Georgia!

To celebrate the big 4-0 for all of us, three of my besties from elementary school and I met up in Savannah, Georgia, for a weekend filled with fun and walks down memory lane! We had the best time catching up, checking out a new town, and just generally cheers-ing to life!

We took a historic tour and a nighttime haunted stories tour, both of which I would highly recommend!

September

For Labor Day weekend we headed back to New York (as I was fond of saying, New York was needy this year!). My little twinsies were baptized — and Chris & I were the godparents! — and we got to see all our fam again, which is always the best. I even went back to New York at the end of September — all my myself — for my cousin’s adorable and delightful wedding.

Always reminded of how very, incredibly blessed I am <3

Such a fun time watching my baby cousin get married in such a beautiful place!

October

Oh, October, how delightful were thee! I consider October to have been split into two EPIC events — the first was our trip to Disneyland with Grandpa! and the second was Chris’ 40th birthday adventures with ALL HIS IMMEDIATE FAMILY IN TOWN FROM AUSTRALIA!

Look. The joy I felt in Disney — watching the absolute love on my kids’ faces — was very, very real.

Thanks, Grandpa, for joining in on the fun/mayhem!

We were home from Disney for two days before Chris left for a work trip to Disney World, and then his parents arrived two days after that! Little did Chris know, though, that the rest of his siblings — all four of ’em — were also Colorado bound. It was so. much. fun!

Happy birthday babe — thanks for giving us another reason to all be together <3

December

We started our holiday season with a quick trip back to New York (yup, again!) for Grandpa’s surprise 60th and a delightful visit with our besties in the city for some holiday shenanigans!

The girls saw their first Rockette show!

Bryant Park is a delight during the holidays, even in the rain 😉

To close out our holiday season — and the year! — we took an EPIC European holiday trip to Germany and France, Switzerland, and Iceland with Chris’ parents. We visited Christmas markets, ate delicious food, soaked in a geothermal hot tub and just generally had the time of our lives.

Phew … what a year! And now, blink, it’s 2024. We can’t wait to see what unfolds.

Bis bald, friends. Thanks for being here 😉

Summer Weekends in the Mountains Part II: Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek

Published on November 16, 2023November 16, 2023 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

Beaver Creek is the sweetest little mountain town you ever will see.

Happy Thursday, friends! As I already mentioned, we were so lucky this summer because we got to go on THREE press trips that took us to awesome places in the mountains.

I blogged about our first trip here.

Our second was to the Park Hyatt in Beaver Creek. We had only been to Beaver Creek once before (when Lotte was itty bitty and I was pregnant with Grace!), but we had loved it so much that time, we were more than happy to get back.

There’s plenty to love about Beaver Creek — its quaint, safe feel, gorgeous views and friendly people, to name a few — but the Hyatt offered its own set of amenities to treasure.

The best location! The middle of the town is right outside the door, with tons of restaurants and shops, an ice skating rink in the winter and this huge play area in the summer.

And holy moly the food. So. Much. Good. Food.

That includes 24-hour-a-day room service.

You can also grab a s’mores kit from the front desk and make your own at their outdoor fire pits, surrounded by the glorious mountains.

You can catch the gondola or ski lift right outside the door and take it to the top of the mountain. There you’ll find a lodge with lots of fun games, tons of hiking trails, or plenty of spaces to just sit and sip and relax, if that’s your preferred mountain activity.

Our hike was cut short when Grace fell and skinned her knee, but until then it was glorious!

The town itself has tons of restaurants and shops, like I mentioned, plus a cute creek and, if you walk a short distance, a playground.

And obviously no trip of ours is complete without trying out the pool & hot tub situation. Both options at this hotel scored a 10/10 on our scale.

What better way to wake up the guests than with squeals of delight from the pool down below?!

And that was it in a nutshell, my friends. We love you Beaver Creek! My only wish is that this place is slightly closer (it’s two hours in good traffic). If it were, we’d be there much more often, I can promise you that 😉

Bis bald, friends! I’ll be back tomorrow with our third and final press trip of the summer — C Lazy U Ranch!

Your 2019 Colorado Summer Bucket List

Published on June 19, 2019August 21, 2019 by Cheryl LockLeave a comment

I mean … G is barely even in this photo, but you get the gist — Colorado is amazing in the summer, and summer is right around the corner! I mean, it’s pretty amazing all of the time, but the summer is a great time to check out the mountains, lakes, hikes, breweries … and everything in between.

To help you out if you happen to be in the hood, here are a few of our fave hangouts when the weather gets warmer:

Continue reading “Your 2019 Colorado Summer Bucket List” →

Final Summer Weekends in the Mountains

Published on August 28, 2017 by Cheryl Lock1 Comment

Hi friends,

I know, I know – there are still weeks left in summer, but to me, everything is already changing. The kids are back in school here. It’s chilly in the mornings. There’s lots of talk of snowboarding and skiing. I don’t know – it’s been a good summer, but I’m actually ready for the fall.

Late summer/early fall is one of my favorite times to visit the mountains, and we spent a lovely couple of days this past weekend in Beaver Creek and Frisco. We got a great deal to stay at the amazing Beaver Creek Lodge on Travelzoo, so we packed up the car and headed out. Even though we didn’t arrive until around 11 on Saturday, we packed it in. We checked out and had lunch (and gelato, of course) in the village, took a hike, Lotte & Chris swam in the pool (which they had all to themselves and Lotte was obsessed with!) and we went out to dinner. It was a really great day.

On Sunday we stopped at the Frisco Marina Park on our way home, took a little walk and grabbed lunch in town at Butterhorn Bakery & Cafe. All-in-all it was a great way to spend a weekend. Hope you guys had a good one, too, and are gearing up for some fun Labor Day plans! We’ll be getting ready for our trip to California next week (San Francisco, Sequoia and Yosemite! We’re so excited!), so it’ll be all packing and cleaning for us here. (Although we may try to at least take in the local parade.)

Have a great week, friends!

^^ My sister got Lotte this onesie before she was even born, and it’s by far the outfit she’s worn the most in her life!

^^ The ice skating rink behind this statue was closed during the day, but they actually opened it up at night when we came back for dinner. If I weren’t almost six month preggers I would have been all over that!

^^ Gelato — yum! We had sandwiches and dessert at Rimini Chocolate and Gelato in the town square, which were all delicious, if not very overpriced!

^^ While I’m sure Chris would have enjoyed a hike with more oomph, the 5 Senses Trail was just perfect for me in my current state 😉 It was also really cute for kids, with signs along the way about our five senses and how they relate to the wilderness.

^^ Always trying to get a good family shot with the self timer …

^^ And always failing!

^^ It’s mountain bike season, can you tell?!

^^ There were at least two weddings going on this weekend that we saw. Can you imagine a prettier backdrop?

^^ My little fam <3

^^ The pool!!!!! This was actually Lotte’s first pool experience, and since she loves, loves, loves bath time, we assumed she’d love the pool, too. We. Were. Right! She was obsessed! She kept kicking her legs and moving all around – it was the cutest thing. Swim lessons, here we come!

^^ All gussied up for dinner at Dusty Boot. (My shrimp tacos were seriously delicious, and we even ordered Lotte her own little salmon from the kids’ menu. Sigh. She’s getting so big.)

^^ Frisco Marina Park!

^^ And finishing up our trip with lunch (breakfast, actually) at Butterhorn Bakery & Cafe in the cute little town.

We sure do love you, mountains. Luckily my friend Lisa is coming to visit the first week in October and we’ve booked a quick night away in Vail, just the two of us, so I’ll back!

Bis bald, friends! And happy last week of August!