Best Coffee in Winter Park, Colorado

Best Cup of Joe in Winter Park, CO

Coffee, it seems to be every man’s early morning addiction. It makes the morning a little better, a little warmer and cleans the cobwebs out of the noggin’.  Well, we have a few caffeine dealers here in Winter Park, CO and we thought we would share Winter Park Lodging Company’s favorites place to get a steaming hot cup of coffee.

Sooo, here is the top three list of best places to get a cup of coffee in Winter Park, CO.  These are in no particular order:

Rocky Mountain Roastery is one of the local shops here in WP and is a favorite of the WPLCo girls.  The Roastery has two stores one in Winter Park and the other down the road in Fraser (this store is the locals choice).  Here is what the Roastery has to say about themselves:

Rocky Mountain Roastery and Coffee Company was founded in 1993 in Fraser, Colorado, near the famous Winter Park ski resort. Since then we have become known for our unique high mountain roasting process, which allows more flavor to develop in each bean we roast. Each batch is slow roasted by hand at 8,550 ft. to ensure that your coffee is the very best it can be. We are family owned and operated business and always strive to outperform your expectations. We guarantee that you will love this coffee, or simply return it for an exchange or full refund!

RMR offers a $1 cup of coffee if you bring your own cup.  Great deal but they do charge for wireless internet.

Mountain Grind is another local choice and they are headquartered in Winter Park at The Cooper Creek Square.  Serving great coffee, fudge and creamy Italian gelato.  Lots of food items and serving beer, liquor and wine.  Here is what Mountain Grind has to say about themselves:

Come see Mountain Grind for free unlimited wifi, breakfast, lunch, dessert, coffee, or catering and treat yourself to something special! Visit us fountainside at Cooper Creek Square. You’ll love Winter Park’s friendliest (and lots more) coffee shop!

Lastly we have Starbucks.  Two locations in the Winter Park/Fraser area.  One at the Winter Park Resort Village and the other at Safeway in Fraser.  I won’t go on as anyone who drinks coffee and most who don’t have been into a local Starbucks.

Wakeup! Have a cup of coffee.

Thanksgiving in Winter Park, CO

Winter Park Resort Thanksgiving

Looking to spend turkey day Thanksgiving,  up in the high country of Colorado?  Well look no further for in Winter Park, Colorado Thanksgiving is a dream come true.

A Thanksgiving getaway throws some vacationers and skiers off because there is a choice to be made between turkey, skiing and football.  Well, you can have it all ways at Winter Park Resort and Devil’s Thumb Ranch.

The best of both worlds is to dig into a turkey and the trimmings in ski country after a good day on the snow. Thanksgiving will fall just four days before a full moon, so if you dine someplace with a view and the sky is clear, you may get the bonus of silvery snow and mountain-scapes bathed in moonbeams.

Sunspot, pictured above with a full moon, offers a dazzling spread of all that is Thanksgiving.  Take a gondola ride up the Winter Park slopes and get million dollar views of the continental divide and the Fraser Valley.

At the Ranch House Restaurant just 10 min up the road  at Devil’s Thumb Ranch a traditional Thanksgiving dinner can be expected with a modern twist.  The Ranch House is a 1930 original homestead with stunning views of the Indian Peaks Wilderness.  The food here is exquisite and will be the talk of future Thanksgiving for years to come.

One option for visitors who can’t miss Thanksgiving Day football is to have dinner delivered to their condo.  Or make a trip to City Market or Safeway and make up your Thanksgiving meal as you would at home.

Whatever your desire for a Thanksgiving up in the Colorado Rockies is make sure to let Winter Park Lodging Company take care of your lodging needs.  WPLCo is offering a Thankgiving/Ski season kickoff sale trough August 2010:

Our Ski Season Kick-off Sale offers you 20% savings at any of our Winter Park vacation rentals, including at ski-in/ski-out condos, down town cabins & homes or any other vacation rental you desire. Get ready for the skiing and snowboarding fun to begin in Winter Park! The 2010/2011 ski season is fast approaching, come to Winter Park to help us celebrate.

Thanksgiving/Ski Season Kick-off Sale Details:

• Stay with Winter Park Lodging Company between Nov 16th and Dec 16th, 2010
• Enjoy 20% savings on your entire stay.
• Offer expires August 31st, 2010
• Call 877-328-1383 or email us to take advantage of these savings

Moose Class in Winter Park, CO

Moose at Winter Park Resort

My sister Anne-Marie and her husband Larry  celebrated their 27^th wedding anniversary with a ‘Moose Class’ through Ecoadventures, using room 2419 at the Zephyr as their home base. Anne took the class for credit for her career as a teacher, Larry opted for non-credit (wouldn’t do him much good as a flight simulator tech).

Using Zephyr Mountain Lodge 2419 as a base of operation was far superior to tent camping in the rain, which is what many of the class participants were doing. While others were slogging around their tents, Anne and Larry were high and dry, enjoying a glass of wine from their balcony.

The moose class taught reams of minutiae about moose and the class was successful in spotting 5 moose. Also, thanks to the tip from the maintenance man with whom Anne and Larry shared an elevator, Anne and Larry kept their eyes open at the base of Berthoud Pass and spotted 2 more moose on the way home!

All in all, a very memorable 27^th wedding anniversary.

Anne and Larry say thanks to Chris and Sarah at Winter Park Lodging Company.

The only regret was not being able to stick around for the CrankWorx bike extravaganza at Winter Park Base that weekend.

Come on up to Winter Park Resort and check out the moose.  Late summer and fall are the best times to see the moose.  In Rendezvous sub-division moose sighting are very very common and one big bull moose over there has been affectionately named Freddy the moose.

La Niña Weather Pattern for Winter Park in 2011

What Does La Niña mean for the Colorado Ski Resorts?

NOAA has issued a La Niña advisory through early 2011. What does this mean for the Colorado ski resorts and in particular our beloved Winter Park Resort?

Climate scientists say a La Niña weather pattern is developing and will persist at least through early 2011, as sea surface temperatures cooled dramatically in July across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean.

The forecast models are in disagreement over how strong the cyclical cooling will be. La Niña usually — but not always — delivers a wintry punch to the Colorado mountains.

The El Niño pattern of last winter was  neutral (La Nada), and now a La Niña  pattern will take over for the coming fall/ winter, through possibly the season following (through 2012). This usually bodes well for the northern Colorado ski resorts.  Lets keep our fingers crossed.

In the La Niña advisory issued Aug. 5, the federal Climate Prediction Center said temperature and precipitation impacts are generally weak during the summer and fall, but strengthen considerably in late fall and winter. La Niña can also contribute to increase hurricane activity in the Atlantic by decreasing vertical wind shear over the Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic. It could also bring some bonus moisture to some drought-stricken parts of Australia.

So this weather forecasting is all a bit of gobbly gook but here is hoping that the little lovely La Niña delivers a whopping blow of fluffy white snow right here on top of the Winter Park and Mark Jane Ski Resorts.

Winter Park, CO Breakfast

Sharky’s Grill Winter Park/Fraser, Colorado

I had a chance to finally get out on a weekend morning try the local eatery Sharky’s Grill after a early morning mountain bike ride.  I have been meaning to head over and try Sharky’s after several people had told me they have great green chili and a killer breakfast burrito. And I now whole heartedly agree.

I wrote a piece about Winter Park breakfasts and specifically breakfast burritos about a year ago.  There were a couple of comments on that blog about not including Sharky’s on the five best list and I said I would check them out.  Well about nine months later I have finally had a breakfast at a restaurant in the area (2 year old twins seem to make restaurant trips not so fun).

Anywho, after a day biking with Ed Raegner, Mike Ayers and Dr. Steve up on the Broken Thumb and Twisted Ankle trails back behind old Idlewild ski area Ed and I were able to have a bite at Sharky’s.  I had the special, a chorizo breakfast burrito, and Ed had corn beef and hash.  Ed’s looked very good and my burrito was just awesome.  Big, spicy and topped with fresh avocado, sour cream and a great green chili sauce.  We sat outside at a nice little two top and service was efficient.  Food took a tad long but it was a Sunday at brunch time and there was a wait for tables.

Overall the food was great, probably the best breakfast I’ve had in Grand County, and the service and atmosphere were commendable also.

Give Sharky’s a try for a truly great breakfast burrito. You can check out their Sharky’s Facebook Page or find them on their Google maps page.

Winter Park Resort Trail Maps

Ski Winter Park, Colorado

I was looking for some old vintage trail maps for Winter Park Resort and I came across this old trail map from 1980.  And boy does it show just how much bigger and better that Winter Park/Mary Jane has become.

The trail map for the coming 2010/2011 season should look very similar to the 2009/2010 version as there have been no on mountain improvements for the last couple of years.  That can be understood with the economy being in the tank the last few years. Mr.  Garry DeFrange, Winter Park Resort President, has been saying that more development is coming to the Winter Park Base Village in the form of town-homes and a hotel.  When that will be remains to be seen.  There still lots of vacant retail spaces in the Winter Park Village but Mr. De Frange is saying that there are tenants waiting to sign on.  We are hoping that the large restaurant space is taken for this coming ski season but at this point it is not looking likely to be open for this ski season.

On mountain expansion is hopefully coming soon to the resort with lots of area to expand skiing on to adjacent mountains of the Winter Park/Mary Jane Resort.  Again probably not going to happen in the next few years as the economy has put a wobble in the ski resorts walk.

Anywho, I liked the above ski trail map and thought I would share.  Below is an even older trail map of the original Mary Jane side of the ski area from 1976 that is pretty cool.

Ski Mary Jane

Summer season is coming to an end so lets get ready for this coming ski season: tune the boards, buy the ski pass and book your lodging with Winter Park Lodging Company for the best deals in WP.

US Alpine Ski Championships Return to Colorado at Winter Park Resort

US Alpine Ski Championships 2011

Winter Park Resort will bring the US Alpine Ski Championships back to Colorado for the first time since 1994 this spring 2011.

The four-day series opens Thursday, March 31, with mens giant slalom, followed by womens GS on April 1, mens and womens super G on April 2 and finally slalom on April 3. The U.S. downhill championship will be held earlier in the winter in conjunction with the NorAm stop at Aspen, on Feb. 16, in order to ensure solid winter snow conditions.

Winter Park hosted a string of championships from 1992-94 and has been an integral host to early season technical races on the NorAm circuit for over a decade. The U.S. Alpine Championships opens the weekend following the Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships, a culmination of the largest recreational ski and snowboard race program in the world.

Expected to race at the championships is Lindsey Vonn, pictured above.  And in addition to top local ski racers, celebrity athletes expected to compete besides Olympic medalists Lindsey Vonn of Vail are Julia Mancuso of Olympic Valley, Calif., Ted Ligety of Park City, Utah and Andrew Weibrecht of Lake Placid, N.Y.

2011 U.S. Alpine Championships at Winter Park Resort Colorado

Wednesday, Feb. 16: Men’s and Women’s downhill*
Thursday, March 31: Men’s giant slalom
Friday, April 1: Women’s giant slalom
Saturday, April 2: Men’s and Women’s super G
Sunday, April 3: Men’s and Women’s slalom
*The U.S. downhill championships will take place at Aspen

The last few years the snow has been great in late March and April. Now is the time to plan your ski trip and take in the US Alpine Ski Championships.

Crankworx Colorado at Winter Park Resort

Crankworks Colorado

Crankworx is here at Winter Park Resort this week starting Thursday the 29th.  This is the premier downhill bike festival in the United States and if you have not had a chance to check it out, you are missing out.

Crankworx Winter Park Colorado

Check out the above link to get an idea of what the downhill course is like at Trestle Bike Park that the athletes will be riding.  We here at Winter Park Lodging Company had a chance last week to give Trestle Bike Park a ride and it is a rush and those that are professional in this sport are amazing athletes.

Here is the schedule of events for Crankworks Colorado 2010:

Thursday, July 29

Dual Slalom

Slopestyle Qualifiers

Friday, July 30

Super Downhill

Best Trick

Saturday, July 31

Cross Country

Slopestyle Finals

Sunday, August 1

UCI/PRO GRT Downhill

This is one of the coolest festivals of the year with a great feel, live music, great athletes and Trestle Bike Park is open so you can give the downhill bike a try and see what all the rage is about.

While the temperatures are hitting the high 90′s down in Denver and Boulder here in Winter Park we are in the 70′s and 80′s with nice cool night temps of 50 or so and surrounded by the beautiful Rocky Mountains.  Lots to do up here this time of year. If you have any appreciation of bicycles at all you do not want to miss Crankworx.  This is the bike festival of the year!

Winter Park July Recipe of the Month

It’s sunny and warm in Grand County this month but most likely a lot cooler than wherever you are if you’re not here. Come on up and stay in one of our properties with big outdoor porches and grill up some marinated flank steak, summer-fresh aspargus, and mashed potatoes with garlic.  Here is my mama’s recipe for the flank steak marinade. Probably my favorite thing to eat. Don’t tell ma that I published it on the internet!

Grillin' in WP!

In a bowl, mix:

- 1 & 1/2 cup salad oil

- 3/4 cup soy sauce

- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

- 2 T. dry mustard

2 & 1/4 tsp salt

1 T. course, freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup white or red wine vinegar

1 & 1/2 tsp. dried parsley flakes (i skip that sometimes)

2 crushed garlic cloves, if you aren’t a vampire (can leave out if so)

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

In a casserole dish, lay out flank steak. cover with the marinade and put in the fridge. Turn at least once so both sides get good and tasty.  Best if you leave overnight.  My mom says you can reuse the marinade a second time but that sounds a little gross to me.

Now you have to book your lodging so you can grill out without sweating to death.  We even had our fleeces on this week after dinner!

Grand Lake Lodge Re-opening in Grand Lake, CO

The Lodge in Grand Lake Opening on a Limited Basis for Next 8 Weeks

Yes!, the Rumors are true the Grand Lake Lodge will be opening for six to eight weeks this summer on a limited basis.

They will be serving up lunch with a limited menu and through the evening.  Does that mean they will be serving dinner?  I’m not sure.  Come “set a spell” on the front porch, book a wedding, take in the gift shop or play in the pool. Noon, July 22, is the big date.

Grand Lake Lodge has been for sale the last few years by the Ted L. James Family and has been closed for operations while the property was being marketed.  With the downturn in the economy there have been no takers on the lodge and the surrounding 54 acres that sit at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Here is the real estate listing info if you have some heavy duty walking around cash: