Cheap Flights to Denver and Winter Park, CO

Southwest Airlines is doing another Click-n-Save sale until April 5th, with some pretty decent fares to Denver, including some as low as $65 each way. The sale fares are good for travel dates starting April 17, making it perfect for those of you who want to come to Winter Park’s famous Spring Splash celebration on closing day weekend (April 20-22).

Catch a few more runs before the lifts close! We just got snow today and April receives an average snowfall of 35 inches each year (we got 70 two winters ago). Take a look at our list of flight deals to Denver, below, and if you don’t see your city listed, just go to www.airfarewatchdog.com to find your fares.

April Airfare Deals as of 4/3/12:

Be sure to check with WPLCo for availability at a vacation rental in Winter Park, CO for your dates first, then book your flights! Search Winter Park Lodging Company now to see what options await you.

Just take a look at these mouth-watering bites of goodness. What a treat! This month’s recipe is not for the diet-conscious, but everyone deserves a gooey, sticky treat once in a while. We promise the end-result is well worth the effort. We got this recipe from BonAppetit, where you can find tips, step-by-step photos and more.

Ingredients:

Dough

• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 5 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (from one 1/4-ounce envelope)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, room temperature, plus 1/2 tablespoon, melted

Topping

• 1 3/4 cups chopped pecans (about 8 ounces)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest (optional)

Buns

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• All-purpose flour (for dusting)
•  1 large egg
• Coarse sea salt (such as Maldon)

Special Equipment:

An 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan

Dough preparation

• Heat milk in a small saucepan over medium heat or in a microwave until an instant-read thermometer registers 110°–115°. Transfer milk to a 2-cup measuring cup; stir in 1 Tbsp. sugar. Sprinkle yeast over milk and whisk to blend. Let sit until yeast is foamy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs; whisk until smooth. Combine remaining 4 Tbsp. sugar, flour, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add milk mixture. With mixer running, add 1/2 cup room-temperature butter, 1 piece at a time, blending well between additions. Mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Knead on medium-high speed until dough is soft and silky, about 5 minutes.
• If you don’t have a stand mixer, fit your food processor with the standard chopping or dough blade. Combine remaining 4 Tbsp. sugar, flour, and salt in food processor. Pulse to blend. Add milk mixture; process until combined. With processor running, add 1/2 cup room-temperature butter, 1 piece at a time, blending well between additions. Process until dough is soft and silky, 2–3 minutes longer. Dough will be sticky but should not be greasy. If it is greasy, process for an additional 1–2 minutes.
• Brush a medium bowl with some melted butter; place dough in bowl. Brush top of dough with remaining melted butter; cover with plastic wrap. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic; chill.
• Let dough rise in a warm, draft-free area until doubled in size, 1–1 1/2 hours (or 2–2 1/2 hours if dough has been refrigerated).
• Chill dough for 2 hours.

Topping preparation

• Preheat oven to 350°. Spread out nuts on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast until fragrant and slightly darkened, 10–12 minutes. Let cool completely. Set 1 1/4 cups nuts aside for buns.
• Melt butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, cream, honey, salt, and orange zest, if using. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until glaze is golden brown and glossy, 3–4 minutes. Pour 1 cup of glaze into baking pan, tilting to coat bottom and sides. Set aside remaining glaze. Sprinkle 1/2 cup toasted pecans over bottom of baking pan and let cool.

Bun preparation

• Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and kosher salt in a medium bowl until light and fluffy, 2–3 minutes. Set filling aside.
• Punch down dough; transfer to a floured work surface. Lightly dust top with flour. Follow BonAppetit’s step-by-step guide for assembling buns with filling and 3/4 cup pecans.

DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill buns and remaining glaze separately. Store remaining pecans airtight at room temperature.

• Loosely cover pan with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Let buns rise in a warm, draft-free area until doubled in size, 45 minutes to 1 hour, or 1 1/2–2 hours if dough has been chilled overnight.
• Arrange a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 350°. Whisk egg with 1/2 tsp. water in a small bowl. Brush tops of buns with egg wash. Bake, rotating pan halfway through and tenting with foil if browning too quickly, until buns are golden brown, filling is bubbling, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of buns registers 185°, about 50 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. Spoon remaining glaze over. Sprinkle 1/2 cup pecans over. Let cool in pan on a wire rack.
• Lightly sprinkle sea salt over. Serve buns warm or at room temperature.

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/04/the-ultimate-sticky-buns#ixzz1qziMjVv1

♦ The Last Blast Pass – deal of the season: Of course the biggest and best change for April is the $99 Last Blast pass sale, for unlimited skiing and riding at Winter Park Resort from April 9-22. Yes, unlimited skiing for all of those days for only $99. If you ski every day of that time frame, it’s just under $8 per day. Sweet deal, eh?

♦ New Lift Hours of Operation – starting April 9th: With daylight savings on our side, Winter Park Resort has moved the lift hours of operation one hour forward beginning on April 9th. One more hour to allow the overnight freeze to thaw and one more hour in the afternoon to enjoy the awesome April sunlight. Check out the full details.

♦ Changes to Group Lessons:  Also starting on April 9th, the full-day group lessons at the Winter Park Ski School are no longer available every day. The full-day lessons will still be offered and available for advance booking online on Saturdays and Sundays, but the rest of the week, only the Max-Four lessons are available, which are half-day lessons available only for walk-up reservation. For more details, click here or call 970-726-1564 for the Resort’s info hotline.

♦ Transportation – New Shuttle Schedule:  On April 2nd, the free Lift shuttle buses will be on a different schedule and will change again on April 9th to reflect the later lift operations at the ski resort.

On April 2nd, all buses will be on the hourly pick-up times instead of every 30 minutes, except for the Black line, which will continue to run on the 30-minute schedule, and the Green line, which operates on a continual basis from 7:30am to 5:30pm. Click here to see the schedule online, bearing in mind that only the times shown in bold are the stop times (example: Winter Park Resort  :30 / :00)

On April 9th, all buses will start running one hour later than the start times shown on the schedule to reflect the new lift hours at the ski resort, except for the Black line, which will continue to start at the same time of 7:20am.

♦ Village Cabriolet & Shuttle Changes: More changes? Yes. Also starting on April 2nd, the Village Cabriolet will run from 7:30am to 5:30pm, at which time the Village Night shuttle will do its rounds from 5:30 to 10pm. But after April 9th, we’re not sure how late the Village Night shuttle bus will operate, as that is still to be determined. We’ll let you know or just call 970-726-4163 to talk to the shuttle company.

Photo courtesy of Scott Hefel.

Ty’s best Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats

One of our favorite return guests surprised us by bringing us some delicious peanut butter rice krispy treats when he was in town in February. We loved them so much we want to share them with you. Thank you to Ty from Georgia for sharing!

Ingredients:

6 Cups of Rice Krispies
8 oz Corn Syrup
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup of Peanut Butter

Preparation:

- Mix the corn syrup with sugar
- Pre-measure the peanut butter and rice krispies
- Microwave corn syrup and sugar for approximately 60 sec.
- Add the peanut butter to the syrup and sugar mixture
- Pour the full mixture over the rice krispies
- After mixed, pour into a non-stick baking dish or line with wax paper
- Last, but not least, ENJOY!!!

Cheap Flights to Denver and Winter Park, CO

Want to fly to Denver cheap? We’re here to help. Southwest is celebrating Leap Year with a 3 day sale through March 1st. Book a flight by 11:59 Pacific time to get deals starting at $69 one way to Denver. Plus, we found some more excellent bargains, including a flight from Oklahoma City for $119 RT, a flight from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for $120 RT and one from Billingham, Washinton for $180 RT. To get in on these and other deals, just click on the fares next to each city below, or go to www.airfarewatchdog.com to search for a flight from your city.

March Airfare Deals as of 2/29/12:

Be sure to check with WPLCo for availability at a vacation rental in Winter Park, CO for your dates first, then book your flights! Search Winter Park Lodging Company now to see what options await you.

We can help you with lodging. We can help you with lift tickets, and ski rentals. We can even book your transportation from the Denver International Airport. The only service that isn’t included in Winter Park Lodging Company’s EasySki service is airline tickets.  So, here’s the best guide we have found for the best deals out there to Denver.

Winter Park just just a hop, skip and a jump from Denver – closest resort of all of the major ski resorts in Colorado.  And, you get to skip all of the traffic on I-70 that clogs Summit County. Take Exit 242 to Winter Park, and wave to the traffic goodbye.  You can check for cheap airfares to Denver on www.airfarewatchdog.com.

January’s Flight Deals as of 12/30/2011:

Remember to check with us for availability at a vacation rental in Winter Park for your dates first, then book your flights! Search Winter Park Lodging Company now to see what options await you.

Holiday Raspberry Jello Salad
One of our favorite holiday family recipes (that I’m allowed to share) is a festive, fruity jello dessert that’s always the only dessert like it at a holiday party. With raspberries, marshmallows, jello and more fruity additions, this sweet dish has plenty of fans in my family. Share it with yours this holiday season.

Ingredients:

• 3 oz package of raspberry jello
• 1 cup boiling water
• 3 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 1 3 oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1 10 oz package frozen raspberries, partially thawed
• 1 medium apple, peeled and chopped
• 2/3 up sour cream
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows

Preparation:

Dissolve jello in hot water, add frozen raspberries and stir to thaw. Add 1/2 of the celery and all of the apple. Pour half of this mixture into a casserole dish or decorative bowl of your choice and refrigerate. Leave the other half of mixture at room temperature.

Mix cream cheese and sour cream together, then add marshmallow and remaining celery. Add this to the top of the firmed jello mixture, then pour the remaining jello mixture on top. Chill and serve.

Confessions of an airline baggage thrower will provide some interesting insights on the best types of luggage and more tidbits on getting your baggage to arrive on time. And do you know your flying “rights,” or if you even have any? When it comes to canceled or delayed flights, being bumped from a flight or taxi delays on the runway, you’ll want to read this article to understand what (if anything) you can do.  Finally, it’s official. American Airlines has filed for bankruptcy. Would you book with them still? Vote on Airfarewatchdog.com’s Facebook page and learn more about how it may affect your travel plans.

Regarding flight deals, it seems that the flights have gone up since our last airfare deal alert in November, but we scrounged to find the best values available for airfare to Denver. As much as possible, we’re featuring flights on Southwest to help with your costs, since they are awesome and don’t charge for checked baggage. Plus, Southwest doesn’t have assigned seating, giving you more flexibility when boarding. Happy holidays and travels, and don’t forget you can check for cheap airfares to Denver or any other city in the world on www.airfarewatchdog.com.

December’s Flight Deals as of 12/1/2011:

Remember to check with us for availability at a vacation rental in Winter Park for your dates first, then book your flights! Search Winter Park Lodging Company now to see what options await you.

Cranberry Turkey Crock Pot Recipe

Who doesn’t love Thanksgiving leftovers? Well, maybe turkey sandwiches aren’t the most exciting after a while, but there are many other crock-pot recipes and other great ways to use your Thanksgiving leftovers, too! Like turkey chili, turkey enchiladas and turkey lasagna. I recommend this super-easy crock-pot recipe that makes a delicious meal using turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb chopped turkey
• 1 envelope Lipton onion soup mix (with herbs)
• 1 can cranberry sauce (or you can use homemade)
• 1 cup gravy (use can use canned or homemade)

Preparation: (easy!)

Put turkey in bottom of crock pot.  Mix together cranberry sauce, gravy and soup mix.  Pour over turkey.  Cook on high for 2-3 hours.  Serve over rice or mashed potatoes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Also in this month’s airfare deal alert, get the scoop on the airfare hikes predicted for this ski season. Reports that high demand for holiday seats, combined with low availability, means fares for these heavy travel periods are bound to go up, soon. See MSNBC’s full video report.

November’s Flight Deals as of 11/2/2011:

Remember to check with us for availability at a vacation rental in Winter Park for your dates first, then book your flights! Search Winter Park Lodging Company now to see what options await you.