The Aspen mystique is palpable – snow bunnies can be seen sipping cappuccinos in the morning outside of Paradise Bakery, untuned belts can be heard at Cloud 9’s “Sweet Caroline” and tasted at the Jerome Hotel’s the infamous Prohibition-style sugar-sweetened milkshake at the Jerome Hotel. As a parent, the concept of experiential learning resonates with me, all in the name of raising well-rounded children. While I love venturing into remote and unknown places, and Aspen isn’t on a dusty dirt road, it is the essence of the symbiotic lifestyle.

I’ve been accused of being too curious about too many things at once (but really, how can anyone not want to know and embrace everything around her?) . Nonetheless, despite my guilt, Aspen is my kryptonite. If you’re heading to this snowy town in the winter, I have some sympathy for you – Aspen really does have so many winter activities, après-ski options and great restaurants that you’ll feel overwhelmed.

From left: hot chocolate at Little Nell’s Ajax Tavern; kids skating in Aspen

Afters Skiing
Après-ski is to Aspen what afternoon tea time is to the British, so to enjoy the pomp and circumstance of this pastime, head to Little Nell’s Ajax Tavern for head-sized hot chocolate and house-made marshmallows, country club-sized pinot noir, and a plate of truffle fries. Even during the busiest week of the year, we managed to find tables for our staff and then got busy getting ready for break time.

To walk into the Jerome Hotel is to walk into the John Wayne Diorama, home of Hunter S. Thompson’s infamous Sharif campaign headquarters. The J-Bar serves “Aspen Crud,” a bourbon shake made during prohibition, so when the law gets involved, customers appear to be drinking ice cream shakes rather than spirits.

The interior of the J-Bar at the Jerome Hotel

Dining
There is romance in the solitude of a snow walk, and somehow the snow puts the birds to sleep. It was as quiet as a library, my favorite time of the day, when the kids get up in the morning to pick me up and get my “me” time. Jour De Fête was my choice for this purpose – it’s family owned, open early (6:30 a.m.) and makes the perfect hot cocoa and croissants to take back to the cabin and clear the drowsy mind.

Paradise Bakery’s freshly baked muffins and breakfast burritos make for an enjoyable morning trip. Pro tip: Be sure to get a bag of mini cookies (pure convection perfection) because holiday math means five mini cookies = one regular cookie.

Poppycocks is a local restaurant in Aspen. The kids think the Mickey Mouse pancakes are the best in town (although my personal vote is for the oatmeal pancakes at Bonnies on Aspen Hill) and you can be in and out in 45 minutes on the slopes of morning madness, worthy of some sort of prize.

Under normal circumstances, my body is 60% water. After a week in Aspen, that percentage is mostly The Big Wrap’s Pesto Wrapture (grilled chicken, brown rice, salsa, poblano cilantro, cheese and sour cream). The Chicken Caesar Salad is also the perfect ratio of salad and dressing. After a day on the mountain, the kids’ favorite après-ski was the “Encanto” from the Little Wrapscals menu on the couch. I didn’t get to the couch because I had already inhaled the package quickly in the car after receiving our order.

One of my many parenting mistakes was introducing our kids to sushi. At the time, we thought it would be smart to introduce their tastes to a variety of flavors. What we didn’t take into account was their sushi rolls and suddenly our per capita spending on family dinners quadrupled. That’s life. Matsuhisa Upstairs is casual and perfect for an early kid’s dinner of guacamole, mozza beans and mochi ice cream.

Meat & Cheese is my go-to for take-out, aka their grilled chicken for tired kids. Pro tip: Delegate dinner pickup duties to yourself and twist the meat and cheese board at the back bar while you wait for your order to be ready.

Meat and Cheese Meat and Cheese Board
Courtesy of Marisa Helmer
Activities
Skating makes me feel like I’m 9 years old again, and as someone who loves to tap into her inner child – and share those moments with her kids, too – it’s always a pleasure. If there was an ice skating rink in paradise, it would be modeled after Aspen’s, complete with Massive Burgers and chocolate shakes.

Skiing buttermilk with your kids is one of the sweetest moments in life. Nothing makes me happier than screaming down a mountain with my kids. Aspen has the most luxurious recreation center open to the public, with waterslides, jetted fountains and Jacuzzis for locals to talk after a day of hanging out on the slopes. The indoor pool smells calming and nostalgic, and feels like a cozy blanket for the town. The floating river is a welcome respite after a day of swishing and sliding down the slopes.

The ski trails reflect the dramatic pink clouds on Buttermilk Mountain at sunset.
ADVENTURE_PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES
If you need a day off from skiing, Pine Creek Horse Sleigh is a charming adventure. If everyone needs a break from ski boots, book a horse-drawn carriage for a snow-capped wonderland tour, followed by lunch at Pine Creek’s chalet wonderland.

We want to see it all, do it all and embrace it all, and that battery of excitement scores low on the vacation relaxation scale. We subscribe to Alain de Botton’s school of thought: “The pleasure we derive from our travels may depend more on the mindset in which we travel than on the destinations we travel to.”

So while I invited Aspen to provide me with Caribou Club cocktails and Belly Up Boujis, we also volunteered to make time for solo morning runs in the snow, cheese board chats and drifting river rafting to provide the nutritional balance we needed and the family connection we craved.

Marissa Hermer is the co-founder of The Boujis Group, which owns and operates The Draycott, Olivetta and Issima restaurants in Los Angeles.