When we vacation with our daughters, we are typically seeking new experiences with few “repeats” since they are so young and there is so much of the world to see. One exception: our timeshare through the Starwood (now Marriott) family of hotels. We bought in to an every-other-year, one-week stay, two-bedroom property at the Westin Nanea on Maui in 2018. And no, timeshare naysayers, I don’t regret it one minute so far. We use it during odd years, so the first time was 2019 and luckily we “skipped” 2020. I have to book one year to the date we want to stay at the Maui property because it’s a popular one. BUT, the first time I called Vistana Group to book Maui, it was suggested I split my timeshare in two: one week in Maui in a one bedroom and 5 days at the Sheraton Steamboat in a two bedroom. The points work out in such a way that this is an even trade for my two bedroom Maui share. With small kids, the one bedroom, one bathroom with a kitchen, living room and pull out couch is all we really need in Maui.
So, in 2019 we began the tradition we are now carrying into 2021: 5 day Super Bowl weekend Sheraton Steamboat stay in February and a 7 day Westin Nanea stay in Maui over the 4th of July. 2 guaranteed snow and sun vacations every odd year is OK by me!
How do we get to Steamboat is typically the first question asked. We do NOT fly to Denver, rent a car and drive 3-4 hours with little kids. No thanks. The Steamboat local airport is Hayden. United has direct flights (even during Covid) to Hayden from LAX a couple times most days of the week. The Go Alpine, www.goalpine.com, shuttle can be booked ahead of time and takes about 30 minutes to travel from airport to the mountain hotels. Both times we’ve been, the shuttle is on time, the driver is friendly and full of “fun facts” about Steamboat and the vehicle is clean and safe. Masks were required.
Just like in November 2020 for our Cancun flight out of LAX, the airport was not crowded at all and many restaurants in our terminal were closed. Our flight was so empty that we were all upgraded to First Class based on our Platinum and Gold status. Mask-wearing was enforced, of course and snacks were served in plastic bags. No frills.
When Go Alpine dropped us off at the Sheraton Steamboat, we realized it had been completely renovated since our last stay. 100% improvement. The project was finished December 2019. We particularly appreciated the boutique grocery store in the lobby where we picked up cereal and yogurt and snacks for our room. The lobby restaurant, Saddles, has an outdoor dining space with fire pits. While the public lunch tables were typically crowded during the day, we could always find a place to sit at the less trafficked lobby dining outdoors. The quality of the hotel food was much better than pre-renovation Feb 2019!
The Sheraton is ski in, ski out and VERY conveniently located near ski school. Ski/snowboard rentals are in the basement of the hotel and equipment storage is right outside the hotel, at the base of the mountain. It was so easy to pick up breakfast and a latte in the hotel lobby, grab our skis, drop the kids off at ski school and head up the gondola or Christie Peak Express lift to ski. Ski school drop off is less than a city block away from ski storage.
Our 4th floor room was on the corner and had a direct view of the mountain. Beautiful. We could check the lift lines in the morning for Christie’s chair and the gondola lines from the comfort of our room. Being on a lower floor was a bonus during Covid…they’re “socially distancing” elevators, meaning that only family units can ride up or down together, no mixing. You can imagine the line and the wait times for the elevators in the morning and end of day: miserable. We found ourselves taking the 4 flights of stairs up or down. Our kids are resilient! There are 8 floors in the hotel though…not sure we could have made it up that high after a long day of skiing.
Ski school at Steamboat had different protocols than Mammoth and was less expensive. For the latest ski school updates, go to www.steamboat.com. During our Feb 2021 vacation, group lessons were available starting at 5 yrs old and lift tickets were included, but equipment rentals were a separate fee. We booked in advance and said our 4 ½ year old was 5 and they never asked for proof. Both of our “5” year old daughters had lessons, masks on, with a couple other kids from 8:30am-3:30pm, with an hour break for lunch with us from 11:30-12:30PM. The coaches were excellent and the girls progressed in their skiing abilities to the point where the actual 5 yr old can now parallel ski with control, hockey stick stop and navigate blue runs well.
Steamboat has an abundance of groomed blue and green runs…my husband and I particularly liked runs off the Sundown, Sunshine and Elkhead Express chairs. My favorite run is Heavenly Daze to See Me…blue to black, steep and fast. There are plenty of double black and black diamond runs and a couple bowls too. The mountain is very diversified!
Sunday was crowded with lift lines often hitting 20-30 minutes wait time. And, we didn’t go over a holiday weekend this time. Steamboat is the only local mountain to Denver that allows passholders to ski without reservations and we were told that means weekends are typically crowded with local Coloradans. We had little to no lines on Monday and Tuesday.
We ordered take out from Talay Thai, www.talaythaimenu.com, twice because it was that good! And a short walk from the Sheraton. We also ate at Apres Burger Bistro, www.apresburgerbistro, indoors for dinner one night. Not a short walk from the Sheraton despite what we were told, but worth the longer trek. Large portions. Our kids split a kids’ meal. We did take out at Timber and Torch, www.timberandtorch.com, right next to the Sheraton for a couple lunches. We kept meals pretty low key and easy because the kids were tired after all day ski school…easier to just go to the room, bathe them, feed them and put them to bed.
There is a downtown Steamboat Springs and typically a Sheraton shuttle that takes you there, but during Covid, they aren’t running the shuttle. There are buses and probably Uber, but we didn’t make it there this time. In 2019, we took the shuttle down (it’s a 5 minute ride), went to the Howelsen Ice Arena and did bumper cars on ice with the girls then had dinner downtown and shuttled back. There are also hot spring spas downtown and cool shops. Too complicated this year! We just stuck to the places near our hotel.
We left Wednesday morning and, since our direct flight from Hayden to LAX was cancelled, had to go Hayden to Denver to LAX on United. It was fine…just an hour layover in Denver. Airplanes were not crowded at all and neither were the airports. We made it home by 4PM to decompress, unpack and get ready for school and work!
We Don’t Sit Still 