A Weekend Cabin Getaway on the Grand Mesa

Table of Contents

Home to the largest flat-top mountain in the WORLD, The Grand Mesa stands tall at 11,332 feet.

The Grand Mesa a hidden gem, in colorful Colorado. I am very lucky that my parents have a gorgeous cabin right at the top of this vast forest at 10,200 feet in elevation with a peak elevation at 11,332 feet. The Grand Mesa hosts over 300 lakes and stretches over 500 square miles in Colorado. The drive up to the large plateau is gorgeous, from red rock desert to 8 feet of snow, you get a wide variety of scenery. It is a rugged oasis with tons of wildlife and gorgeous scenic views.

grand mesa cabin — The Grand Mesa, Colorado

Saturday

After a fabulous frittata and coffee cake breakfast with my family in Palisade, we headed off on our journey towards the Grand Mesa. I grew up in Palisade, Colorado a small town known for peaches and wine. A very cute, welcoming agricultural city that hosts any festival you can think of. The Grand Mesa was a camping and fishing go-to place as kids.

A Little R&R

Rest and relaxation was the goal for this trip and we surpassed that goal. After snowshoeing into our cabin and getting groceries put away, we warmed up next to the fire. In the wintertime, we have to snowshoe for about a quarter of a mile, to get to the cabin. We load all of our yummy food up on a sled and slide it in behind us. It adds to the experience and gives the cabin a remote feel… plus a little bit of exercise before our lazy day begins.

Naps, reading, and watching the snowfall were exactly what we needed. We watched a few classic family movies. I have been loving the book series Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk. Dig in on your passions and be your own boss! Check out his books and Wine Library TV, I would love to hear what you think!

Travel with HelloFresh Meals

HelloFresh is the perfect on-the-go dinner. The meals are easy to transport and do not take up a lot of space. All of the ingredients are packaged into one recyclable bag. You will not have to worry about forgetting a specific ingredient. This is a great option for travelers wanting to save money and cook at their condo, cabin, or Airbnb. If you are vacationing long term, have HelloFresh deliver the meals straight to your door!

Happen to forget the hard copy recipe? HelloFresh has every menu on their website and app. They also stamp a menu QR code on the outside of the HelloFresh bag for easy access.

Get $70 OFF your First Order with HelloFresh

HelloFresh Dinner – Steakhouse Pork Chops

The Steakhouse Pork Chops were good but a bit spicy. One of HelloFresh’s classic meals: meat, starch, vegetable. If you are not a big spice person, go easy on the pork spice rub, it will light your tongue on fire. The shallot cream sauce was the best part of this dish… I was slathering my potatoes, meat, and green beans in it! With just five simple household ingredients: pepper, beef stock concentrate, olive oil, shallot, and sour cream it is great go-to recipe. I will be using this for homemade dinners and special occasions. Another reason why I love HelloFresh, they offer easy recipes, you can incorporate into your daily life.

Sunday

Breakfast at the Cabin

Waffles are a breakfast must at the cabin. Heart-shaped blueberry waffles with an egg, chorizo, and vegetable scramble was on the menu. I think waffles are a bit boring on their own so to spruce things up we added some frozen blueberries to the batter. I love a good crispy waffle for breakfast but I never know if I want to go savory or sweet with the toppings. Why not do both? My sweet waffle consists of a blueberry waffle topped with chocolate Nutella, sliced bananas, and hot maple syrup. The maple syrup must be hot! Cold maple syrup just ruins the whole ensemble.

If you are more of the savory type, try my signature savory blueberry waffle. They are layered with cottage cheese, an egg over easy, and a small drizzle of warm honey. This is a protein-packed breakfast. The light and creamy cottage cheese is the perfect refresh. The over-easy egg adds a layer of richness when the yolk breaks and oozes into the waffle pockets. I prefer honey rather than maple syrup because the honey adds another dimension with a floral note.

Chorizo, egg, and vegetable scramble may sound like a weird pairing with our blueberry waffles but it was absolutely delicious. The chorizo added a nice smokiness and spice to the fluffy eggs. It was the protein we needed to fuel our brains for some intense Rummikub competition.

Cabin Activities

Board games are a required cabin activity. Our two favorite games are Chess and Rummikub. Rummikub was played for over five hours during our trip, we could not get enough! I love puzzles and am very competitive so Rummikub is the perfect game. Time flies when you are having fun. After our brains were fried from thinking so much, we thought we should get out and enjoy the great outdoors, so we geared up for a sunny snowshoe hike.

Snowshoe

Looking for some winter outdoor activities? Grand Mesa is the place for all snow sports: snowshoe, cross country ski, snowmobile, and ice fishing. You name it! Being the largest flat-top mountain in the world, the Grand Mesa is the perfect place for some backcountry snowshoe. We visited the vast winter forest at the end of February. With 8 feet of snow, we were happy to gallivant on top of the powdery snow with our snowshoes. Snowshoeing is very peaceful and a great workout. It was the perfect Sunday adventure to an already relaxing weekend.

Ski & Snowboard

Powderhorn Ski Resort is a quick 30-minute drive from The Grand Mesa. If you are a downhill skier, check out Powderhorn. It is a smaller ski resort with just 50 runs, a great family resort, or a new resort to explore for the day. I grew up skiing at Powderhorn, locals tip: the West End has great expert terrain. We did not get a chance to enjoy the slopes during our quick trip, but it is a great option when you are visiting The Grand Mesa.

HelloFresh Dinner – Chicken Sausage Spaghetti Bolognese

One of my absolute favorite HelloFresh Meals. The Chicken Sausage Spaghetti Bolognese, easy to make and packs a powerful punch of flavor. The chicken sausage is one of the best parts of this dish, it carries a small amount of spice with an Italian flair. HelloFresh provided us with one zucchini, it was a bit small and not in the best of shape, so we added eggplant and yellow squash. The eggplant was amazing in this dish, it added almost a nutty flavor and paired well with the marinara sauce. The tomato sauce was good and simple. We omitted the sugar from this dish because we felt it wasn’t needed. We happily enjoyed this meal in our recliners while watching Hawaii Hunters on repeat. A good Cabernet Sauvignon is the perfect pairing to this yummy dish.

Smore’s

Smore’s are a must no matter what time of year it is. We have a wood-burning stove in our cabin, which makes for the best marshmallow toaster in the wintertime. During the summer there is a fire pit off the deck, that brings people together for a scrumptious sweet dessert. I like to spice up my smores with a variety of chocolate candy bars. Do you have extra candy leftover from Valentine’s or Halloween? Those Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or nutty Snicker Bars make for a great replacement to the original Hershey’s Milk Chocolate.

Monday

A quick Wheaties breakfast and some cabin clean-up were on the agenda for Monday morning before jetting back to Vail. Wheaties has become a fun easy breakfast on busy mornings. While it may not be the healthiest it sure is tasty with some almond milk and a cup of hot coffee. Their slogan says it all, “Keeps you full until noon!”