We are flying home from Breckenridge as I write this. As I mentioned a few days ago, my dad’s Christmas gift to all of us was this trip to CO for all 28 of us. (Yes, is that not the best gift ever??)
It was a fantastic trip — my dad rented this HUGE house for us all that was right on the edge of beautiful trails and had gorgeous views. We hiked many miles, were amazed by the scenery, and even saw mountain goats and moose in the wild!
One thing we were not prepared for was how crazy expensive everything was in Breckenridge. We went into town two of the days and we basically just had our jaws dropped the whole time at the prices.
$20 to ride up a ski lift? $27 to go on the mountain roller coaster? $11 for a crepe?
Say what??
Yeah. It was pretty ridiculous to us and I can’t imagine living around there!
We’ve been trying to stick with a pretty tight budget recently because we’re working on replenishing our Emergency Fund and saving up for some other things. So we tried to spend as little as possible on this trip.
(By the way, involving our kids in the budgeting/spending/financial decisions process has been such a good thing. We’ve sat down and showed them our budget numbers on YNAB and have asked them to help us stay accountable and be as creative as we can to spend less so that we can save toward some of our current goals. We’ve found this so helpful as they are constantly checking to make sure that any purchase we make is in the budget and encouraging us all to think outside the box and get creative in order to save money!)
We found that there are plenty of fun things to do that don’t cost money — including beautiful hikes, strolling around downtown in Breckenridge, and riding the Gondola (it’s free and there are such great views from it — including getting to see moose!).
We had a Starbucks gift card (thanks, Swagbucks!), so we used it to buy some drinks at the adorable yellow Starbucks house in downtown Breckenridge. We couldn’t believe how big this Starbucks was and it’s a great place to use the bathroom if you need to!
So many of you reached out on Instagram and recommended that we go to the Crepes A La Cart place in Breck. We decided that would be our one splurge of the trip. However, the first day that we tried to go, the line was so long that we realized we would be waiting at least an hour or more.
We came back the next day (Monday) and the line was much shorter. We still waited about 45 minutes total — but it was worth the wait. (Especially because you get to watch them make the crepes right in front of you!)
By the way, the cinnamon/sugar/butter crepe is only $5 and they had a few other crepes that were around $8. They are big so we bought three and split them amongst the 6 of us (we had my sister’s daughter with us, too). It was the perfect treat and because of getting to watch them make the crepes, it felt like more of an “experience” than just a simple stop for a snack!
A Deal You Don’t Want to Miss!
Speaking of budgets and saving money, we had some requests to offer a Labor Day sale on our courses and digital products. I wasn’t planning to, but I decided that it’s been a few months since we’ve run a sale so we’re going to do a 36-hour Flash Sale of ALL of our products.
And guess how much of a discount you can get with this sale?? 50% off!
That’s right, when you use coupon code FLASHSALE, you’ll get half off the price of every single one of our courses. You can order as many courses as you’d like at this discount.
This sale is only good through Wednesday evening (September 5, 2018) at midnight. Get in on these great deals while you can!
Blogging Courses:
Intentional Living Courses:
- 4 Weeks to a More Productive Life: Just $8.50 with the coupon code!
Summer Barthold says
My brother and sister in-law live in Breckenridge. It is very expensive to visit and live there. They were finally able to purchase a home that is deed restricted so it was for a much lower price than most homes there. Most of these properties have a lottery or drawing of some kind to even be put on the list to be potential buyers. We visit at least twice a year but thankfully we home school and go in the “off” seasons (late spring is called mud season). The snow isn’t always the best but it’s much cheaper. Christmas is CRAZY expensive! You can save a little bit of money by staying in Frisco or Keystone. There are some free/inexpensive things to do like the gondola and hiking. There are several free museums including the one in the visitor’s center and taking the rec path into Frisco is a favorite of ours too but we take our own bikes! The locals seem to stick together in Breck and many places offer local discounts if they ask. My kids favorite place to eat is Eric’s downstairs. The food is not the best in town but they love the atmosphere and arcade. Our favorite is probably Empire Burger!
Heather says
A few months ago I was fortunate to be in Paris, and we bought crepes for about $3 each!
john smith says
We would drive over to Breckenridge from Colorado Springs several times a year, but never spent much money. We just went for the day and did all the “free” stuff and shared meals.
Kathryn Egly says
I wish i would have realized you’d be in Breck earlier! I wrote a post about FREE things to do there and where to eat! (Crepes are on that list) We would drive over to Breckenridge from Colorado Springs several times a year, but never spent much money. We just went for the day and did all the “free” stuff and shared meals. Here are the TWELVE FREE Things I recommend doing in Breckenridge: https://kathrynegly.com/2018/07/04/free-things-to-do-in-breckenridge-colorado/
And here are some food recommendations: https://kathrynegly.com/2018/07/07/10-best-places-to-eat-in-breckenridge/
Crystal Paine says
Well, we’ll know for next time! Thank you for sharing this list!
Debbie says
We were just in Breckenridge earlier this summer, too! Crepes a la Cart has a another location across the street and just behind the buildings (2 min walk). When we were there, the line at the cart was also super long and then someone else told us about the other location, which had very little wait with the same menu. Too bad your wait was so long!
Crystal Paine says
Oh! I wish I had known! That’s good to know for next time!
Crystal Paine says
Yes, it is a gift, too. And yes, we all pitched in on meals together this trip, too!
Brooke says
Out of curiosity, do your parents each give their own gifts since it sounds like only your Dad gave this trip?
Crystal Paine says
Yes, they do. 🙂
Lana says
Beautiful scenery like that would keep me entertained for a long time! Kudos to your Dad for a wonderful gift!
Crystal Paine says
Yes, it was such a special gift!
PattiCinCO says
I live in those mountains and yes!, crazy expensive. I am glad you had an amazing weekend, the views do rock and I couldn’t imagine living any where else (moved here from Chicago in 1998).
Crystal Paine says
It’s always such a gift to love where you live!