Skiing in Steamboat, Colorado

Trails from top of the mountain

For the last couple of years, we have gone to Steamboat, CO for our annual ski trip, usually, the week between Christmas and New Years. Each year, we've gotten the heavenly deep champagne powder that Steamboat is so well known for. As far as the days went, some days were sunny while others were cold and overcast but never any complaints with the snow.

For folks with young kids, Steamboat has a great ski and snowboard school. Apparently the resort offers several family oriented packages, we however have only availed the kids ski free program that comes with each paying adult.

In 2007, we enrolled our kid's into the Steamboat's Desperado ski camp, a 5 day ski program.
In 2008, we ended up hiring a private ski instructor. Both, us and the kids like both alternatives. We are torn between which option to repeat next year. Below is our experiences with both alternatives.

Challenging trails with private instructor

The 5 days ski camp, is known as the Desparado ski week. The kids are grouped together in a group of approx 6-8 kids based on age and skill level. The program starts on a Monday and ends on a Friday; goes from 9 am until 3pm each day and includes lunch. Our two kids were in two different groups and according to them each of their groups was lead by a really fun instructor. The morning usually started with a warm up run on an easy trail. Then another two runs before the group stopped for hot chocolate at the Rendezvous Inn. Then another run or so before the group stopped for lunch and then another run or two before pick up time. The instructors seem to focus on basic skiing skills and gave us a report at the end of the week. Younger kids spent quite a bit of their time in kid only areas such as the rough rider basin (pleasant, wide, kid friendly terrain). The older kids did venture outside the rough rider basin on various other trails. The most fun part of this program was that on the last day of the camp, all the kids got to participate in the NASTAR ski race. The results were then posted on the NASTAR's web site. The kids and us liked this program for three main reasons (1) the group included other kids so the kids made friends and enjoyed the company (2) participating in the NASTAR race (3) same instructor for the entire duration. Both our instructors made skiing fun by taking the kids through the trees, through kid freindly terrain park, jumps on small moguls and so forth. The lunch consisted of a choice between few kid friendly options (burgers, mac & cheese, pizza, etc). The cost of desperado week was approx $500 per kid incl lunch.

Wide open blues

In 2008, since our trip started mid week, we could not enroll our kids in the Desperado week. Therefore, we ended up going with a private instructor. Our family group included four kids. The older two kids were at the same advanced skill level while the younger two kids were at the same intermediate skill level. Our instructor the day into two halves, spent the first half day with the older two kids and the second half day with the younger two (after two days we switched the order). Our kids loved the instructor. Along with keeping our kids occupied and mesmerized with puzzles and mysteries, our instructor took the kids on trails that were not crowded, and off the beaten path (not on the trail map) as well as terrain park, bear claw tree, etc. The instructor really worked with the kids on their techniques, and took them on trails with varying terrain some of them quite challenging which thrilled the kids. Within 5 days of skiing, we saw a huge improvement both in their confidence level and their skill level. Similar to Desperado week, the kids started with the instructor at 9 in the morning, and after 2 runs or so stopped for hot chocolate. Then after another run or so, met us for lunch. Private instructor option did not include the lunch (buying this option was another $30 per kid per day..which is quite exorbitant). After lunch we switched the kids and the instructor was able to take the kids for another 2-3 runs before meeting us by 3pm for the pickup.

Tons of snow

The private instructor route costs quite a bit more (approx $3000 for 5 days), but split between 4 kids it worked out to approx $650 per kid. In our case, I myself a beginner to intermediate skiier was able to ski with the instructor a few times (along with the younger kids) for some one on one instruction which was really helpful. At the end of the trip, I think, both the parents and the kids preferred the private instructor option for two main reasons (1) small group size allowed the instructor to work with the kids on their specific skills and techniques (2) the instructor was able to take the kids to trails which were not on the map, not crowded and more importantly a lot more fun that allowed kids to practice their skills. As a cherry on top, our instructor introduced the kids to a couple of Olympians (ski with silver medalist Billy Kidd, and gold medalist Deb Armstrong) which was a great trip highlight.

Steamboat on Dwellable

Costa Rica Travelogue (Day 4-8)

Day 4: We took a break from all the adventures and saved this day for a bit of site seeing. We walked up to the rim of Poas, an active volcano crater. Although there was no rain that morning, the fog was too heavy for us to see the crater at all. We are told that the sight is something to behold. After the crater we went to La Paz Waterfall Gardens. This is a walk through the Vara Blanca Cloud Forest and goes through 5 waterfalls. The entire walk is paved but wet, so easy for both adults and kids though the length and the climb can be tiring for adults.

Day 5: We headed south towards Dominical area (Pacific ocean side) where the mountains meet the ocean. The drive to the beach was long and tiring. We passed over the mountains as high as 13,000ft high. We stayed at an Inn called Necochea, a private home tucked up in the mountain and surrounded by the jungle with a nice gurgling stream right outside the kitchen. A short drive down, the stream ended in a nice swim hole where my husband loved going for a dip. It felt like a private stream with its own waterfall and a swim hole. We used to wake up to the sounds of howler monkeys and toucans.

Day 6: This was a rappelling day, over the Nauyaca (Baru) falls, a beautiful double-decker falls. Basically you get to the bottom of the fall by rappelling down and then hike to a small but beautiful swim hole. The rappelling was initially scary, especially when it is time to go over the edge of the cliff. But when I got down and looked up, I wished I could do it all over again. Our 7 year old was too young for this, but our 10 year old was able to rappel. Of the three activities (zip lining, whitewater rafting and rappelling), our 10 year loved zip lining, rafting and rappelling in that order. Because of his light body weight, rappelling was a bit of hard work for him and he had to be assisted by the guide who was rappelling alongside. Our 7 year old hiked down to the swim hole with one of the guides and waited for us. After rappelling, we hung out by the falls, our really fun guides (a family of three) had prepared a nice lunch for us that we ate right there for a very relaxing afternoon.

Day 7, this day we had the option of going sea-kayaking, spending day at the beach or go whale watching. We chose to go whale watching. We saw two humpback whales, and few dolphins. Because of the rain the previous night, the water closer to the beach was very muddy so we chose not to snorkel, but in clear season, the water in the bay is supposedly very clear and supports a huge variety of fishes and beautiful snorkeling.

Day 8: This was our morning on the beach. The rocky coastline was lined with awesome beaches some of them with caves that people could paddle around in kayaks. We found a beach with two caves that connected the beach to the ocean creating a blow hole. These caves were perfect for body surfing or surf boarding. Such pristine beaches are what Costa Rica is all about, a place where the rainforests meet the ocean with nothing but a small slivers of sand in between...Costa Rica is Pura Vida.

Pura Vida: Pure Life

Costa Rica Travelogue (Day 1-3)

Our trip to Costa Rica was in the middle of August. Costa Rica promotes this time of the year as the “green” season, we all however call it the rainy season. As with most of our family trips, we used a small privately owned and locally operated company called Tico Tom Tours. Our main focus for this trip was to experience various adventure activities. We chose to skip visiting the northern pacific side of the country, where most of the major resorts are located. For lack of time, we could not go down south to Osa either, but hopefully our next trip to CR will include OSA. Our itinerary scheduled our activities in the mornings. Although it was the rainy season fortunately all our mornings were dry. Right around 2pm every day, it would start raining, at which point we used to stop for lunch and relax in our hotel. In the evenings we went out for dinner, rain or no rain. In fact, the rain created a very tropical ambiance. We had warm weather, pouring rain, nice dinner, all the while surrounded by the sounds of nature. If you are into nature & adventure tourism, Costa Rica is a good place to be during the rainy season.

On day 1, upon our arrival at Alajuela airport, we were met by our guide. We swallowed some dramamine and drove straight to the Arenal area. The drive from the airport is about 3 hours, so a morning or early afternoon arrival works best with our itin. We stayed at Arenal Resort, under the majestic presence of Arenal Volcano. The resort was about 3-4 star. The rooms were small but comfy; there was a swimming pool and a restaurant on the premises. Buffet breakfast was included. At night, from our bedroom we could see the smoke coming out the volcano. We had to take a short drive from the hotel to a lookout point, to see the lava pouring down its side. Since it was cloudy at the time we were there, we only got a brief glimpse of the lava. Nevertheless, Arenal area and the volcano are beautiful and a “must see”.

On Day 2, our big activity was zip lining through the rainforest. Zip lining constituted of 8 separate zips from one mountain to another to get to the bottom. Once we started, there was no turning back. Our 7 yr old was too young to zip (no harnesses for a small body. Hindsight, even if they did, I don’t think we would have felt comfortable with him ziping 8 times from one mountain to another). Our 10 yr old was able to zip with the guide. I fear we may have inadvertently created an extreme sports kid. He was scared but absolutely loved the thrill that came with it. After zip lining, we went for a short hike to La Fortuna falls and later that evening we dined and relaxed at Tabacon hotsprings. I confess, the day was a bit too hectic for the kids. Spending the eve relaxing in a hotspring was god sent and now I consider it a must do. It was drizzling while we were soaking, the outside air a bit cool but the water warmed by the lava was heavenly. We spent about an hour in the hot springs jumping from one pool to another. If we ever go back, I would without a doubt spend more than an hour there.



Day 3, we headed to the Sarapiqui river for whitewater rafting. It is a class II (mostly) & III river. This activity was perfect for both our kids. Because it was the “green” season, the river was full and the water level perfect for rafting. The flow was brisk but not too fast for the kids. We barely had to paddle and both the kids got a chance to sit up front in the raft for the thrill. It was great! We stopped half way through the river for a swim and to eat watermelons. After rafting we headed towards the Central Valley.