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Spirit of Christmas past in the Rockies

published December 11, 2006

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( 5 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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It's hard for a hotel to compete with that. Maybe the C Lazy U guest ranch doesn't compete exactly; yet, in its own way it draws families close.

The ranch sits in an alpine valley piled high with snow, two hours from Denver. If it isn't exactly rustic - there are many amenities and cozy, upscale furnishings - it's inviting and happily old fashioned. The rooms have no TVs or phones, but they do have wood-burning fireplaces. There are sleds, just like you remember from childhood, for rocketing down the mile-long driveway. Hot cocoa is set out by an outdoor fireplace. Guests sing carols around a grand piano, and meals are served at community tables shared by families and friends from across the country.


I arrived with my children - Molly, 18, and Hutch, 14 - just before lunch. It was immediately clear that almost everyone in the dining room knew everyone else. But the feeling of being an outsider lasted only as long as it took to sit down at the table with fellow guests.

Like my family, Doris and David Smith and their children were spending their first Christmas at the ranch. They arrived from Huntsville, Ala., knowing no one. However, they left wanting to stay in touch with folks they met there.

"Everyone," said Doris Smith, "is friendly and easy to get to know."

Though decorating the little tree in our two-room suite with ornaments supplied by the ranch didn't feel exactly like home, it was close. We then dressed in many layers, Michelin Man style, and went sledding in the falling snow. You pick your sled at the bottom, but some people switch sleds on you at the top. I heard Pink Poodle is especially fast, and thus coveted. Then, mine disappeared, so I missed a few instructions while looking for a new one.

The sled I ended up with would have taken a professional athlete to steer. Within 20 yards, I veered into a snowbank and then did the unthinkable, the unallowed - I got back on and kept going.

Later, a 12-year-old stickler for rules stalked up to me.

"Are you the one who restarted?" he demanded. "You must not have heard The Talk."

I didn't mention that I actually restarted three times.

The reason for the no-restart rule is that you can't build up speed, a problem for sledders behind you. This explains why Molly was screaming, "Mom, look out." Unfortunately, I couldn't look out. In order to avoid ramming me, Molly had to catapult into the snowbank where her sled stopped abruptly. She continued propelling forward, causing a load of snow to fill her jacket.

She'll never let me forget it. Years from now we'll be talking about the infamous day I caused her to fly headfirst into a wall of snow. But I can live with that - we had fun and giggled. We went sledding the way my sister and I used to with my dad when we were young.

Sledding isn't the only fun. Charlotte Crow, a resident of Annapolis, Md., who first visited C Lazy U in 1979, said, "My favorite thing is all of the activities the ranch offers. After breakfast we go on the feed sled, which takes hay to livestock in the pastures with guests riding along, then cross-country skiing or horseback riding. After lunch it's either snowshoeing or cross-country skiing. And not to miss is the 3:00 sledding session."

Crow's 14-year-old daughter, Mattie, liked hanging out with the teen group for tubing, campfires and some "intense" air hockey competitions. They also play ice hockey and skate on the frozen pond. Don't forget the late-night hot tub and pool parties.

The teen group was the one downside for us. Unlike the adults, the kids who knew each other for years weren't as welcoming to new guests, and the counselors didn't help much. So Hutch hung out with Molly and me.

We rode the feed sled every day. Hutch and I went horseback riding, just the two of us. We also tried trap shooting, which Hutch mastered in seconds by hitting 12 of 25 on his first try. Molly only got two, since it's hard to hit clay pigeons with your eyes closed, cringing in anticipation of the big bang.

Brian Murray, the 14-year-old son of the ranch owners, lent me his new Benelli rifle, convinced I'd score better. I didn't, but I didn't mind.

One chilly afternoon as snow swirled in thick flakes, I curled up on a deep sofa in the main lodge to read by a roaring fire, feeling like a character from "Little Women" - except dressed in fleece and Gore-Tex, a good idea if you want to stay warm.

Even if you love to cook, there's something to be said for a holiday when someone else does the cooking - gourmet cooking, no less.

Rhonda Cohen, who is from Durham, N.C., pointed out another bonus to holidays in a place where many families reconnect year after year. This was her 13th Christmas at the ranch.

"You have a family away from home that doesn't come with the baggage of your real family," she said wryly, "so you get to relax. Home is work."

Christmas at C Lazy U is miraculously, blessedly stress-free.

On Christmas Eve, Santa himself pulled up in a horse-drawn sleigh with a sack of gifts for every guest. It wasn't so much the gifts that mattered, but the fact that staff and owners worked hard to re-create the best of Christmas in order to make everyone feel like guests invited to a family home.

On Christmas morning, Molly, Hutch and I sat by our little tree and opened presents. When we gathered for the traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings, we were enveloped by sweet and savory smells drifting through the lodge on warm currents, taking me back to all of the Christmases I've known.

"Christmas at C Lazy U is magical," Crow said.

Maybe it's the horses and sleds in a perfect Christmas-card landscape, or dinners like grandma used to make. Maybe it's sharing the holidays with wildlife; a dazzling white ermine stared curiously from a deep drift one day and coyotes loped across distant meadows. Maybe it's simply the magic that comes from camaraderie and old-fashioned, non-technological fun.

Whatever the cause, magic is alive and well at C Lazy U come Christmas.

IF YOU GO

C Lazy U Ranch, phone 970-887-3344, Web clazyu.com.

Five-night minimum stay required. Rates run around $315 per person per night, all-inclusive; 20 percent discount for children 3-17.

Winter sports equipment: snowshoes, skates and Nordic skis. Instruction is provided and included.

The nearby downhill ski resorts are Winter Park and Sol Vista.

Christine Loomis is a freelance travel writer.

© Copley News Service

published December 11, 2006

( 5 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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