December 31, 2025
We went downtown for lunch at Backdoor Grill—one of our favorite family food spots. I don’t think we went last year, so it was nice to go back! One of the distinguishing characteristics of this restaurant is that people color dollar bills with Sharpies and staple them to the wall. Katelyn found this old picture of her pointing to her dollar bill from a few years ago. So cute!
We walked to Lyon’s Drugstore to get some dessert. Early this year, a car crashed into the side of the building, so the building and sidewalk are under construction. Because the building is historic, built in the early 1900s, construction is taking longer than typical. The soda fountain is still open, however, and we enjoyed sharing a large sundae and a strawberry malt.
Steamboat has a New Year’s tradition at Steamboat Square (which is at the base of the mountain). We headed over at 5:15 to watch the snow tractor parade, which starts at 5:30. Several snowcats are decorated in Christmas lights and come down the mountain, parking at the base. They are followed by the torchlight parade, where hundreds of ski instructors ski or board down the mountain with bright torches. The grand finale is the fireworks show, which lights up the ski slopes. This year was the most crowded we’ve ever seen it! The stage has a DJ, music, and a dance party, and the atmosphere is festive and fun! After the fireworks, you can get up close and take photos next to the lit-up snowcats.
Back in the condo, we played Catan with Geoffrey and Katelyn, and then Grant and I played more games while we watched New Year’s festivities on TV.
Happy New Year!
January 1, 2026
Why not start the New Year on the slopes? We headed out to ski a little later than we had anticipated, but still got in a good half day of skiing. The skiing has improved, as there have been periods of snow—it snowed while we were in Winter Park, and it snowed today while we skied. We mostly did Sunshine, but as the afternoon progressed, the visibility got worse, so we headed down a little before the Sunshine lifts closed. Rather than take the gondola down, we decided to ski since conditions seemed better. Lower High Noon was much better than it had been, and it was a good decision!
Once at Thunderhead, we split up, with Grant and Geoffrey heading down Heavenly Daze (which is finally open all the way, but as one of the few ways to ski down, Katelyn and I didn’t want to deal with possible skied-off conditions and crowds). Katelyn and I were planning to take the gondola down, but I spoke to an ambassador and discovered that they opened BC Ski Way at 3:00 PM to help with egress. BC Ski Way is basically just a cat track, but it has a very beautiful view as it winds around the far side of the mountain. However, it’s often rocky and skied off by the afternoon, so we usually avoid it. Katelyn and I decided to ski it down, however, rather than take the gondola. Since they only opened the run for the last hour, we felt it would be in pretty good shape—and it was! It was lovely and not crowded, and it was nice to just cruise all the way down!
We had about 45 minutes at the bottom before everything closed, so we did the runs from Christie: Vogue, and Boulevard to Giggle Gulch. Although it was still snowing, the visibility was much better the lower we got, and our last few runs were a lot of fun!
Back at the condo, Grant, Katelyn, and I warmed up in the jacuzzi, while Geoffrey got himself something to eat and took a rest. At 5:30, Geoffrey went back for night skiing. He used Grant’s skis to try skiing again (he’s been snowboarding the whole time on his new snowboard that he got for Christmas). The verdict? Skiing was super easy, and he picked it up right away. I love that he loves both skiing and snowboarding! He skied for all of the night skiing hours.
Grant and I went to dinner at Cafe Diva for a date night. It’s been a while since we’ve eaten here, and the food was delicious, as always! We shared three appetizers—Mushroom Pâté & Smoked Duck Rillette, Szechuan Beef Tartare, and Peanut Butter and Pork Belly sandwiches—one entrée (pastrami-smoked trout), and two desserts: a pear Dutch baby and chocolate mousse.
We came back to play some more board games and watch some TV before bed.
Pretty perfect start to the year!
