I had no idea Vail was so cute!

Though I love to travel, I am no great lover of ski towns. I usually find them to be crowded, overly manicured and often terribly dull if you’re not a skiier (as I am not). It has been much more fun visiting the resorts in the summer, when the crowds die down and many of the slopes become downhill mountain bike courses.

This was our first trip to Vail, and the town stood out to me immediately. The resort area shares this Black Forest vibe that I am nuts for.

We also happened to be in town on the last day of the GoPro Mountain Games. Most activities were packing up by the time we arrived, but we caught a few kayak races (quick video here).

We also visited the Gear Town promotional tents for gads of our favorite sports brands, such as Yeti, YoColorado, Osprey, Tepui, and countless others.

Breaking news: I also discovered a matcha chia seed pudding with pineapple on it.

We were in town to meet friends of Dan’s from back home in Ohio. We enjoyed our dinner at Bully Ranch and catching up with Cincinnati gossip.

I would recommend our hotel, the Tivoli Lodge. It has the same Swiss chalet charm as the rest of the resort area, and also has a hotel dog named Speed.

P.S. How often do you get to stand in the middle of a freeway? On our drive to Vail, police closed the road immediately behind us due to an accident ahead of us. I couldn’t resist the odd picture.