Wild Horse Inn and Fraser, CO

For the second time this year, we planned our family Colorado indulgence trip, this time to the Wild Horse Inn in Fraser, CO. What this basically means is enjoying lots of food and some aspect of Colorado – either the outdoors or elements of the culture (music,etc.). Back in April it was Broadmoor Jazz Festival. This Summer’s theme is all about exploring the glorious outdoors, with a healthy dost of food orgy that only the Jacobs know how to do.Our trip started Wed night when I picked my parents up at DEN Airport (this airport has a very interesting conspiracy theory associated with it if you’ve never heard of it before, check it out here). I got them a little bit later then expected because I was doing a workshop at the office all week so they hung out at the airport until 530PM. I brought them back to my condo, we unpacked for a bit and then we turned around and walked to Cherry Creek to experience 80s night at Elways with my friend Raquell. That was WAY bigger and crowded than we expected, so we only hung out for a while before we went inside to grab our delicious steak dinner and start the food fest.

Dinner was awesome, and we had an amazing Super Tuscan wine called Indaco. 8oz medium rare filet mignon was to die for, accompanied by sugar snap peas and cremini mushroom and green pepper sauce. We walked both there and back from my condo so actually counter acted the over-indulgence with a bit of exercise, didn’t have dessert, and didn’t feel too badly about ourselves when the night was done 😉

The next day I went in to the office and got back mid-day, quickly packed and we were ready to go by 2PM. I then proceed to lock myself out of the condo and needed my friend Ron to drive down from downtown and let me back in with the spare set of keys so I can grab my car keys and let us all start the car and go. Thank goodness for friends! The plus side is that my parents got to meet Ron 🙂

We got in to Fraser, CO, which was only a 2 hour drive from Denver and only a short drive from Winter Park around 4PM. It’s beautiful here.

We took a little turn off from the main Winter Park Resort road to get to our small B&B, Wild Horse Inn, which was nearby a large resort ranch called Devil’s Thumb.

The first thing we did was get a little tour of the Wild Horse Inn B&B from Donna, who greeted us at the Inn when we arrived in Fraser, CO.

The Wild Horse Inn consisted of a main lodge with several rooms. There was a gorgeous patio with a sitting area overlooking the meadow and mountains, and the inner rooms including a dining area for breakfast, a fireplace with comfy overstuffed leather sofas, and a bottomless cookie jar.

Going inside, here’s the view of our Saddlebanket King-bed + 1 twin mattress cabin.

It was really nice of them to accommodation a third guest (me) by setting up a very comfortable twin mattress in the living room of the very spacious cabin (in front of the fireplace).

After settling in, we met a fellow guest, Tulah, who was in town for a radiologist leadership summit at the Devil’s Thumb Ranch nearby. They messed up her lodging situation a the ranch, but luckily Wild Horse Inn was able to find a room for her for her Friday/Saturday conference. The hard part though was getting back and forth from Devil’s Thumb since it was a long 1.5 miles, and Tulah was without a car. After chatting with her a bit on our patio, we invited her to walk with us, and cut up more.

We took a walk around the property and the surrounding neighborhood, enjoying the view of the meadows and the various cabins and estates nearby.

Along our walk, we saw some gorgeous flowers and gardening.

We also saw some pretty swell Colorado flora and fauna (and heather).

We learned more about Tulah and her family. She’s Greek (even though she sounded Brazilian or Portuguese – her family hailed from Athens. Her husband is Dominican and they live in Rochester, New York. They are both in Radiology, and they met in Medical School. They have twin 18-year old sons, who are in to baseball and will be going to Syracuse in the Fall (and be playing baseball of course), and are apparently a handful. They have an older son as well who is less rebellious and a little more responsible. Tulah was a lovely lady and we had a blast getting to know her. It’s so much fun getting to meet people on the road!

As we walked, we some some amazing properties with some amazing views.

We invited Tulah to walk with us over to Devi’s Ranch and join us for dinner at Heck’s, the casual restaurant on the property. She declined dinner because she was meeting one of her radiologist friends, but she did take the trek over with us and we continued our conversation.

The walk was a long 1.5 miles along the main road and we were sure to get flashlights for the dark walk back later in the evening.

Devil’s Thumb was a gorgeous ranch property that reminded me of the dude ranches we stayed on as a family when I was younger (like the Heart 6 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming). There was Horse Back Riding, Archery, and also all the upscale and fancy activities for adults…such as farm to table eating, a fire-pit, hand-made libations, great atmosphere and sunsets, etc.

When we got to Heck’s, even though the inside was spectacular –

…it was way more happening outside:

So that’s what we did.

The ambiance was fabulous, the food was even better, and the sunset was the best. The flowers also didn’t suck.

After about an hour, Tulah and her friend found their way to a table right next to us and it was fun to see that many other people at the leadership summit had a similar idea – chill on the patio and enjoy the scenery.

For appetizers, we shared the Wagyu meatballs and the roasted carrots with peanuts and golden raisins (the decided hit). I had the kale and quinoa salad, and then for the main course had the spicy shrimp and fettuccine and asked for it extra spicy, and it was! As I was waiting for dinner, I wandered around the property and captured this spectacular picture of the horses ranging:

I decided to get a little artsy and put this one together, probably the best of the bunch.

Towards the end of the night, there were some people gathered around the fire-pit building some s’mores, kids and kids at heart. Some fellow photographers helped me assemble a nice closing shot to a nice night.

We walked back with stars overhead, Little Dipper and Big Dipper easily spotted and a half-crescent moon. The stars out here are awesome.