Well, friends, it was a mountain kind of weekend, and we fell in love with a brand new one. Granby Ranch is less than two hours from us, but it’s a tiny little mountain town that, to be honest, we had never heard of before. We were looking for a mountain adventure to go on with Kate, though, and a quick search on Travelzoo found some pretty cheap lift tickets ($65 for the day! That’s unheard here in Colorado … ), so we thought we’d jump on it and explore a new place.

And I can’t overstate this enough: We loved it!

Granby is about 20 minutes from Winter Park, which provides you with a much larger mountain, but for us, Granby was just perfect. Look, if I’m being honest, even after living in Colorado for four years now (which I still cannot believe and is a blog post for another time), I still feel wobbly on the snowboard at times. That’s why Granby was so great, though. The greens were super fun to ride, which is always good, but more importantly (for me at least), there was no one there!  I mean I’m sure that it gets busier at other times of year, but since it’s such a small town, I can’t really see it ever getting as busy as a Breckenridge or Keystone. And honestly, that’s all I want out of life — a mountain all to myself 😉

Chris even loved it, even though he prefers harder trails. Plus, the condo we stayed in — Sasquatch’s Kicking Horse Lodge — had a lift right outside our window that we could ski to, which made everything even easier. Of course having Kate there was amazing, too. Chris and I even got out for not one but two drinks, without the kids. I mean … that hasn’t happened since we’ve had kids.

So all-in-all, it was a pretty fantastic weekend, one in which we found our brand new favorite mountain. The other great thing is that this is a great mountain to teach kids on, so you just know we’ll be heading back next season to get little Lotte out on those skis!

^^ This little one didn’t wake up until 9 a.m. on Saturday! She really knows how to vacation it up 😉

^^ One of her favorite spots for the weekend was sitting at this window with her milk and some blueberries, watching people get on the lift right outside.

^^ I mean, she’s a natural, right?

^^ Sticking your kid in the snow to get the good picture — that’s always a good idea, right?!

^^ Chris & Kate skied/snowboarded all day on Saturday, and then on Sunday, Kate watched the girls in the morning so Chris & I could snowboard, which was amazing. I haven’t been out in two years (hello, having babies), but it felt so good … once I got the hang of it again 😉

^^ We did a couple runs on the hill right outside our condo so the girls could watch, and they were riveted! They especially loved watching Chris jump over a hill. They’re daredevils, I tell ya.

^^ I turned around at one point and Lotte was bending her knees and sticking her arms out like she trying to snowboard. I can’t. My heart just bursts with these girls.

^^ Happy faces after a happy weekend.

I think it’s safe to say we’ll be back, Granby Ranch. (I kinda feel like I say that a lot … but I always mean it!)

Bis bald, friends! And three cheers to empty mountains!