A Fall Head of Steamboat

For the last several years, I've spent a winter week up in Steamboat Springs, skiing and enjoying board games with friends. But here's a change of pace: this past weekend, my husband and I went up there with two friends for a fall weekend getaway. And it turned out there was plenty to do there, even without the snow.

We headed up Friday afternoon, stopping about halfway for pizza in Frisco at HighSide Brewing. Though it hasn't been open all that long, HighSide has already become a favorite stop on the way back from skiing. It delivered again, with a delicious blood orange and vanilla Berliner Weisse that I enjoyed with a great white pizza.

We arrived in Steamboat just past sundown, setting up at the condo we'd rented for the weekend. It was in a perfect location in the center of town, with almost everything we wanted to do in easy walking distance. We made use of that right away, trying the whiskey at Steamboat Whiskey Company (not great), and then chasing that taste away with appetizers and drinks at a bar and restaurant called Laundry.

Before bed, the four of us completed the final game of Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 campaign, which we've been slowing working at for more than a year. It was a nice, memorable setting for that final momentous game. (As for the game itself? Well, I suppose I'll have a blog post about that in the not-too-distant future.)

The morning brought more gaming (after breakfast at Creekside Cafe), and then a return trip to the Crooked Key escape room. It's been a favorite stop of ours on every ski trip; we've been back again and again. They're now running a new game that's more scavenger hunt than escape room, Key to the City: S.K.I. This game sends you out into Steamboat Springs itself, carrying a backpack loaded with combination-locked goodies, and armed with an app on your smartphone. You have to hike around the city, solving clues to lead you to actual locations, and learning a bit of Steamboat history along the way. We enjoyed the hunt (and finishing with the third best score/time out of 100+ teams to play it so far was icing on the cake). The only downside? We've now done every room/game that The Crooked Key has to offer, so we won't be able to go back during this next winter's ski getaway.

We'd picked the right September weekend to be in town, because that afternoon we were able to go to Steamboat's OktoberWest event. At the ski resort, right at the base of the gondola, dozens of breweries were pouring a huge variety of beers. A Beef Cook-Off event was part of the fun too, with several delicious options from tacos to stroganoff to fancier presentations than you'd ever expect to see at a beer fest. And all of it was sprawled around a beautiful landscaped creek that had secretly been hiding there under the snow every time we'd been there to ski for the past several years. Great fun, and oh so tasty.

After returning to our condo, we'd planned to get in another game before dinner, but were rudely interrupted halfway through by a citywide blackout! A blown transformer literally took out everything, but fortunately our next evening plan was both outside town and didn't require electricity: a visit to Strawberry Park Hot Springs. I've written before about this nice place to relax and soak away your aches. It's maybe not quite as satisfying if you don't have post-ski pains to work out, but it's still a lovely spot to stargaze (even with a full moon spoiling half the sky).

Sunday morning began with some sweets from Powder Day Donuts. Then, after checking out of our condo, we played a round of disc golf. Thunderhead Disc Golf Course is a 19-hole course right on the very same mountain as the skiing. It begins right next to a closed-down-for-summer ski lift, and takes you over a mile all around the area, through very long and challenging holes. We were all exhausted by the end of it, but we'd had a great time. And despite it being only the second time I've gone disc golfing this season -- for the first season in years -- I posted a score I could be fairly proud of. (Better than I averaged back when I was going regularly!)

Our last stop was at our favorite Steamboat brewery, Mountain Tap. Delicious garlic knots and pizza, a passionfruit beer my husband loves, and a solid saison for me (extra refreshing after the long hike of disc golfing) was a nice capper to the weekend before starting our drive back down to Denver.

In turned out there was just as much fun to be had in Steamboat Springs even without the skiing. It was a great short getaway right as summer is coming to a close.