The 'Boat on a Budget

How we had a full, memorable week and a half in Steamboat, CO without spending like tourists

There’s something quietly satisfying about discovering that a great mountain town doesn’t require a great pile of money. Steamboat Springs has a way of rewarding curiosity more than credit cards, and by the end of our trip, it felt like we’d stumbled onto a secret.

Shoutout to Conner and Melissa Peterson who helped us have an amazing trip!

Evenings That Didn’t Break the Bank

We learned early that happy hour is its own form of local hospitality here—if you plan ahead and make reservations.

At Mambo, the table filled quickly with shared plates: pizza, crispy Brussels sprouts, and chickpeas that disappeared faster than expected. It felt communal, relaxed, and exactly right after a long day outside.

Salt & Lime surprised us with genuinely good deals—real food, not an afterthought menu—and the kind of place where conversation stretches longer than planned.

We didn't go there but Melissa also mentioned the Gondola Pub offers the comfort of warm food, mountain views, and the easy hum of people ending their ski day well.

Low-Cost Adventures with High Returns

Snowshoes turned out to be one of our favorite decisions. We wandered through the quiet beauty of Steamboat Lake State Park, where the snow muffles sound and time slows down. Then on Sunday, we took advantage of the free lift tickets at Howelsen Hill—a truly peaceful day!

We rented everything through Straightline Sports, and they were exactly what you hope for: helpful, fair, and chill about even the returns.

Warm Water, Cold Plunges, and Everything In Between

One of the true steals of the trip was Old Town Hot Springs. One price for the entire day meant we could come and go as we pleased—soak, leave, return, repeat. Between the hot pools, cold tub, climbing wall, lockers, and full workout facilities, it felt like a wellness resort hiding in plain sight. We ended up going there twice!

Small Stops That Made a Big Difference

We ducked into the Bud Werner Memorial Library and the Hayden Public Library, and both surprised us—especially the Hayden library, which has a genuinely wonderful kids’ area. Warm, quiet spaces like that matter more than you expect on a winter trip.

Walking the Yampa River Core Trail is always beautiful. Seven and a half miles of river, town, and changing light— every time I cross a bridge there, I just stop and stare.

Unexpected Magic

On Dec 20th, we stumbled onto the drone show at the Steamboat Resort base area. Add Christmas lights, families in festive spirits, and Santa arriving on horseback, and it felt less like an event and more like something the town just does because it can.

Visitors should time their visit with Steamboat’s First Friday Art Walk—a free, impressive, and genuinely fun evening that makes the town feel creative and alive rather than curated. We didn't do the Art Walk this trip, but we have done it before right before the rodeo in the summer.

We did hit many stores on Main Street looking for Gnomes, and that led to a prize, free Ice Cream- go to the Pharmacy last.

And for something completely different, the Mythology Distillery tour turned out to be fascinating—equal parts history lesson, craft science, and storytelling. We got a personal tour from Tabi Mannick (Head Distiller) who is from Alabama!

The trip had a difficult start with our flight to Hayden postponed overnight due to high winds- but Colorado has become an all weather, all-seasons destination for us!

Here are our videos- all with original music

Warm Thoughts in Winter (Day 1)

The song covers the delay- overnight stay in Denver- but still such a fun time with family

Winter Still (Day 2)

Our day in Steamboat including the Old Town Hot Springs

Winter in Colorado (Day 3)

All the Christmas festivities at the Lodge base- the drone show was awesome

No Ordinary Days (Day 4)

We went "Gnome" hunting in town that ended with free ice cream!

Trail of Ice and Stone (Day 7)

We snow shoed Steamboat Lake

A Fragile Light to Warm Midnight Days (Day 8)

Snow shoeing was so much fun, we had to do a day 2 at Howelson (Nordic trails on Emerald Mountain)

You can also find all the songs here: Jayopsis on Soundcloud

Moving at Altitude: Hayden, Craig, and Steamboat

Melissa Peterson is a great boot camp coach! December 18–29

One of the subtle gifts of Colorado is that it invites you to move, even when you’re not trying to. The air feels thinner, the sky wider, and somehow the body responds. This trip—spread across Hayden, Craig, and Steamboat Springs—wasn’t built around training plans or step goals, but by the end, the numbers quietly told the story.

We arrived from Birmingham, Alabama—roughly 650 feet above sea level—into a world hovering between 6,300 and 6,900 feet. That’s an elevation jump of more than 5,700 feet, and your lungs notice it immediately. Every walk, every stair, every workout carries just a little more weight. Oxygen is scarcer. Effort counts more.

And we moved. A lot.

Mornings in Hayden often began with dog walks—not a ton of snow early- almost HOT- but later there was cold air and snow on the ground. The dog walks alone stacked up quickly. Melissa and Conner do it EVERY SINGLE DAY!

• December 18: 11,577 steps

• December 20: 9,554 steps

• December 21: 11,196 steps

• December 25: 4,965 steps

• December 29: 5,331 steps

Not epic hikes—just steady, honest miles—but at altitude, nothing is “just” anything.

Some days added structure. An elliptical session on December 19 logged the equivalent of 7,907 steps, followed later in the week by workouts at the Hayden Rec Center and Melissa’s Awesome Workout class—45-minute sessions that burned between 325 and 496 calories apiece. Again, nothing extreme. Just consistent.

Craig brought a different rhythm. On December 23, a full 60-minute “Santa Sleigh” workout at Rise Up burned an estimated 542 calories, followed by a long day on our feet—14,159 steps—the kind of day where movement sneaks up on you because you’re simply living.

Steamboat, though, is where the trip truly leaned into motion.

A short soak at Old Town Hot Springs on December 24 came with its own quiet workout—30 minutes, roughly 250 calories—and more walking through town. Then came snowshoes.

At Steamboat Lake, we logged 61 minutes of snowshoeing and an estimated 847 calories burned—every step lifting, sinking, stabilizing. Two days later at Howelsen Hill, snowshoeing stretched into a long, deliberate push: 184 minutes and nearly 1,000 calories, followed by another 15,589 steps of walking. Those are the days you feel later—not sore exactly, just earned.

By the time we packed up, the totals told a quiet but impressive story:

• Approximately 138,000 steps over 12 days

• Roughly 65–70 miles on foot (at altitude)

• Over 3,400 active calories burned in recorded workouts alone

• Nearly two vertical miles of elevation gain compared to home

But the real takeaway wasn’t the numbers.

It was the way movement became part of the landscape—walks folded into mornings, workouts woven into community spaces, effort softened by snow, steam, and mountain light. No pressure. No chasing goals. Just showing up where we were and letting Colorado do what it does best: invite you outside and reward you for saying yes.

At altitude, every step counts a little more. And by the end of this trip, they all added up—quietly, beautifully, and well worth the breath.

See you again soon!