After three days of consecutive skiing, my legs need a break! That’s when we venture out and about the local area. About 20 minutes from downtown Winter Park on US 40, is the entrance to Snow Mountain Ranch YMCA. My daughter loves to swim, so we thought we’d try out their indoor swimming pool. What a treat! The pool is 25 yards long with a slide at one end and a sauna; it’s free and they even provide towels! (Although they were all out of towels when we first arrived, but luckily we had brought our own.)

Turns out there is a lot more going on than just swimming. There is a large Nordic center with 5,200 acres of mountain meadows at an altitude of 9,000 feet. Their trail system totals over 100 kilometers including 2 kilometers of lighted trails for night skiing. There are also snow shoe trails, so we rented snow shoes, packed a picnic lunch and headed into the meadow for a lovely afternoon walk.

Their website’s tag line is “Visit Once, You’ll Be Back”. That because there was too much to do for one day! Next time we visit, I want to try the sledding/tubing hill, and maybe ice skating, but my daughter and I definitely want to make something in their craft shop! I can’t decide… leather craft or walking sticks. My daughter’s longing to making a sun catcher and a tie-dye shirt, but there is also jewelry making, beading and stained glass work.

If the weather is too bad to play outside, we can play inside the Kiva Center, where they offer roller-skating, basketball, volleyball, ping-pong, foosball, weights, exercise equipment and a 22-foot climbing wall. Hmmm… maybe we can extend our vacation a couple more days.

Here’s a link to rates and times: YMCA of the Rockies

Enjoy!