A LUXURY STAY

It’s always a tough day at work when you’re assigned to check out a fancy hotel in the mountains, but someone’s gotta do it.

This time around, Michelle and I were sent to The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch (near Vail and Beaver Creek resorts) for a one-night stay.

I started the day off with eggs and toast, and then enjoyed one of my favorite nut butter smoothies a few hours later while working from home. Around 11 am, I picked up Michelle for the 2-hour drive to the Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch!

A DELICIOUS SURPRISE

Upon arrival, we had our car valeted, got an early check-in, and then learned that we would have Club Lounge access. This meant we could enter a small, private dining room with absolute-top-notch service basically all day long, for breakfast, lunch, snacks, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and desserts. WHAT.

We were greeted with champagne and enjoyed the mountain view on the balcony for a while before venturing over towards the spread of treats.

Obviously we basically lived in this room the entire time.

After our lunch feast, we were taken on a private tour of the property, which is absolutely stunning. The hotel, which is the largest log structure in the contiguous United States, is exquisite and designed to the nines. The spa was my favorite stop on the tour, with multiple hot tubs, a cold plunge, and even an oxygen bar.

PAINTING & PINOT

After the Club Lounge visit, property tour, and a short reprieve in our hotel room, we headed down to the outdoor space near the ski lift for our private Painting & Pinot lesson!

Our instructor (one of the Ritz-Carlton Naturalists, who run many of the recreational programs on the property… best job ever!) walked us through how to re-create a mountain scene by painting the background first and finishing with the layered mountains and sporadic wildflowers. All of this was done, of course, with sips of either Pinot Grigio or Pinot Noir. Best afternoon, ever!

Here we are, posing with our finished mountain scenes in front of what was our real mountain scene! We had been so focused on doing well with our paintings that we forgot to drink our wine, so naturally we caught up quickly afterward.

After our paint sesh, we made our way back to the Club Lounge for snacks and more drinks. And then it was time to visit one of the hotel’s dining options, Buffalos!

A DEBILITATING DINNER

…in the best way possible! By the time we made it to dinner, we were already quite full. However, I will blame our pre-dinner drinks for our illusion of hunger. When we sat down at Buffalos, we ordered the nachos, a burger (to split), and the “House Made Potato Tots,” which we’d heard multiple ravings about.

After the nachos, we were hurting, but we didn’t bow down from our dinnerly duty.

The burger and fries were delicious, even though I could only manage a few bites.

Then came the tater tots, which were more like potato fritters with cheese, onions, and jalapeños inside. SO GOOD, but were in excruciating pain at that point. In the doggybag and back to the hotel they went!

And so did we. We made it an early evening and went back to the room to get in PJs and watch trash TV, the best part of a hotel stay, in my opinion. 🙂

Stay tuned for Part 2, which includes shopping, more food, and an outstanding mountain hike!

This post is a part of the Weekend Snapshots link-up with HerHeartlandSoul.

HAVE YOU BEEN TO A RITZ-CARLTON?