TRY TO DESCRIBE THE OUTDOOR AIR... at a mountain resort in the winter, and you may reach for words like "fireplace" and "pine" and "snow" and "a sort of general crispness" (okay, that's five words, but accurately assessing the particular snap found in higher elevation air is a task that has bested the best of wordsmiths in the past). But another scent arrives at some peak-pretty destinations 'round about Thanksgiving, and it is a bit spicy, and a bit cake-like, and it has "bread" in the name, though the sweet scent is more dessert-ish than the word "bread" might imply. It's gingerbread, yes, and if you arrive at the right spot at the right time, you're apt to find a festive gingerbread house, or, in the case of The Resort at Squaw Creek, A Destination Hotel, a number of festive gingerbread houses of notable size. They're all a part of...
MAGICAL MEMORIES 2016, a seasonal run of packages and events popping up around the Olympic Valley property, popping like so many delightful Christmas crackers. The gingerbread village will be grandly revealed, alongside a traditional tree lighting, on Friday, Nov. 25 (you got it, the day after Thanksgiving). In addition to these yuletide-y, snap-the-family-photo sights, look also for a bevy of happenings dotting the Nov. 24 through Jan. 3 schedule, from Breakfast with Santa to snowshoe tours (scheduled at the atmospheric hour of sunset) to movie nights for families to distinct New Year's Eve parties created just for kids and teenage guests (both get their own balloon drops, oh yeah, the most essential part of any great NYE celebration). To make sure you and your kin alight at Olympic Valley at the right moment, for the seasonal stuff you want to do, study all, as diligently as Santa studies his good/naughty list, at the Magical Memories HQ.
