After a couple of months of being down, we have successfully completed our conversion to V12!  What does this mean to everyone else?  Online reservations are finally up and running!  Not only for our guest, but homeowners and (soon) travel agents can log-in and see availability and rates!  You can still call us, and we’ll be more than happy to chit-chat, but check out our new online reservations. 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot… it snowed yesterday morning!  Just dusting at 9,110 feet in Winter Park, but up high all the mountains are snow-capped.  It looks beautiful against the yellow aspens everywhere… aww, fall is upon us!

October 3-4, 2008, Downtown Granby

Friday 3:00-10:00 PM - Family events from live music, kids games and crafts, beer garden (and rootbeer garden) and a pumpkin patch.  Live music includes Washboard Annie at 4:00 PM and Dakota Blond at 5:00 PM

Saturday 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM - Pancake Breakfast, Doggy games and the same activites as Friday.  The music lineup consists of local performing acts, such as Statis Quotient and Juicebox.

Visit www.granbyoctoberfest.com for more details.

September 27, 2008

In 2007, 110,000 volunteers came together across the nation to build trails, plant trees and impove our national public lands. 

The Winter Park and Fraser Valley planned projects include: constructing a new trail along the Continental Divide Trail that will go through the Rocky Mountain National Park, planting of 3,000 lodgepole seedlings and various trail improvements along the Colorado and Fraser rivers and the Devils Thumb hiking trail. 

For more information, visit www.nationalpubliclandsday.com, or contact Gary McGraw at 970-887-4147.

Need lodging during this weekend? Visit our Colorado Vacation Packages page.

Continuing with tradition, Winter Park is bringing back the Winter Park Jazz Festival.  This year, the festival will be held at the new Hideaway Park in downtown Winter Park and will feature great artists, such as Jonathan Butler, Hazel Miller and Dotsero.  With food and craft vendors at the festival and shopping within walking distance, this July 26-27 festival is sure to please anyone; not to mention, this festival is 12pm-6pm, 6 hours of music to move your soul!

Not interested in music? 

Running the same weekend, Winter Park has also invited the Alpine ArtAffair, July 26-August 3.  This all day event showcases hundreds of different forms of art, from jewelry and paintings to glass and pottery.  The ArtAffair is located in downtown Winter Park, next to the Kings Crossing shopping plaza and will be offering workshops, demonstrations and newly created local paintings.

SONIC BLOOM FESTIVAL, JUNE 19-21

A 3-day outdoor festival, located at the base of Winter Park Resort, that will bring music, dance, workshops, visionary art exhibits, sculpture, kids shows, food, recreation, art and human performance together in an atmosphere that inspires open channels of creativity for everyone involved, including the audience.  Reserve your lodging today at the Iron Horse Resort for accomodations that are walking distance to the event.  To reserve rooms call (800)621-8190 .  To purchase tickets call (800)979-0332

Thursday Night 7pm - 3am (indoors); Friday 2-11pm (outdoors); Friday Night 10:30pm - 4am (indoors); Saturday 1-11pm (outdoors); Saturday night 10:30pm - 5am (indoors)

FAT TIRE CLASSIC, JUNE 27-29.

The Fat is back! The Fat Tire Classic, that is. That’s right, after taking a brief breather, the FTC is back this summer in Winter Park. In partnership with the National Sports Center for the Disabled, the American Red Cross Mile High Chapter is bringing back all of your Fat Tire favorites and more: Great trails! Great food! Great family fun! Two great organizations to support! www.fattireclassic.org 

BLUES FROM THE TOP, JUNE 28-29

6th Annual Blues from the Top at Hideaway Park. 10:00am-7:00pm. For more info, visit www.grandblues.org

MUSIC ON THE MALL FRIDAYS

Bring the family, friends, a picnic and kick off the weekend with FREE live music by the fountain at Cooper Creek Square. Face painting is 12:00-3:00pm and Music is 4:30-7:00pm.

June 20, Ali Greyson; June 27, Kay Irvine.

Call the Iron Horse Resort to book your summer reservations at (800)621-8190!

I am proud to announce our new website!  We have added a few extra features, pictures, brochures, etc. and hope that the new site will be more user-friendly.  The reservation system is still connected to the old site, because we are in the process of switching to a new reservation system that will make the process for checking availability and booking rooms a breeze!  We are hoping to have the new system up this summer… but yet another great change for the Iron Horse Resort!  The blog is going to get a facelift as well and match the new website.  So, browse the new site and leave a comment below letting us know what you think, any suggestions and/or complaints.  Enjoy!

The ski area officially closes April 13th and if you have never experienced Spring Splash, then you are missing out!  There’s entertainment, a dog costume contest and the best part is the downhill obstacle course with the icy pool at the end… oh, yeah people in hilarious costumes, trying to make it across a frigidly cold pool (and rarely make it).  I know, I can’t do it justice by just writing about it, but believe me, it’s hysterical!  And if you don’t like that, then there’s always the party in C-Lot… ever been tailgating?  That’s all it is, drinking, friends, grilling and tons of people celebrating another great ski year! 

Congratulations Ally!  

Call our reservation department at (800)621-8190, ask for Ally, tell her congratulations and maybe she’ll give you a 30% discount!

 So, I am trying to learn more about Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver… hard stuff, but fun!  Anyways, I made this interactive photo gallery… I know, a little amateur, but it still looks nice!  Anyways, hopefully I’ll be able to start posting more Kasy Creations on here for you to view.  Of course they will mainly be of the Iron Horse Resort and Winter Park area, but who would get tired of that?  

We have one more month of skiing up here, and March always brings in killer storms, so the snow should be great for the next month.  Then comes mud season, then summer… don’t get me wrong, I love the snow… that’s why I’ve lived here for the past 13 years, but it’s that time of year when you start  craving the warmth.  With all the changing seasons, I should be able to get some great new pictures up on the blog.  I keep bugging Kelly, amateur photographer extraordinaire, to get me some great pics of the area, but busy times at the resort are pulling her away from me.  Sorry folks, but we are trying!

Shhh… we are getting a new website!  I can’t hold it in anymore.  It should be up and running before this summer.  I’m hoping to have a link to it from the old site soon… they you can all tell me what I did wrong and what content needs to be changed.  It’s okay, I can take it… be as critical as you would like, but please let me know what you think.  

So, this weekend my husband and I took our kids swimming at SilverCreek, at the base of Sol Vista, and I realized something as my 2 year smiled at me with the biggest, cheesiest grin in the world… it is so easy to get wrapped up in work, sports, school, life in general, that we forget the small things. 

I didn’t have to pay $50.00 to get us into the movie theater, $50.00 for food and only make it half-way through the movie before one of my 7 year old needs to go potty and my 2 year old starts getting tired of the movie ,and insists on talking louder than the voices and prancing around in front of the screen until he finally gets me out of my seat and pulls me away.  At that point I am out $100.00 for a movie that I only got to see, maybe 30 minutes of and frustrated by the embarassment of screaming children and that I let a 2 year old get to me.  Sounds fun, huh! 

On the other hand, the swimming pool was free to enter, lasted about 2 hours and was filled with laughter and fun.  It reminded me of my childhood.  It reminded me that kids don’t need you to spend money on them to have fun.  It is as simple as a picnic, as a hike, as spending time with them.  It is those cheezy smiles that break my heart and I will always cherish.  It is those cheezy smiles that will always remind me to sit back and, well… smell the cheese!

www.MSN.com recently wrote an article title, “10 Ski Areas for City Slickers,” and gave kudos to Winter Park, Colorado!  We rock!  Although, they did plug that “other” lodge, instead of Iron Horse Resort, but we are still proud to welcome our local City Slickers.  Ski Train from Denver, Onsite Ski Rentals, Let us pick up your lift tickets, Ski-In/Ski-Out from Iron Horse, Eat at the on-site Grille & Lounge, Sleep and start over tommarrow… oh yeah, that’s an escape from the city life! 

Thanks MSN!