Vail, Colorado recorded its first case of COVID-19 on March 6, 2020.
As a Denver native, I took a road trip to Vail five months later to see how the pandemic has been handled in one of the most touristy destinations in Colorado. I opted to make this a day trip on Monday, August 3rd and didn’t stay overnight.
The road trip was about two hours of a drive each way from Denver. Due to the fact that it was off-season and a weekday, traffic was fairly light. When I reached Vail, there was ample public and free parking.
Governor Jared Polis implemented a mandatory mask order for the state of Colorado on July 16, 2020, and right away, I noticed the signs around Vail telling people to wear their masks –both outdoors and indoors. In addition to this signage, there’s a “stronger together” message for 2020, which is hard to miss and stopped me in my tracks. It was Vail Valley’s theme for America Days, the town’s 4th of July celebration, and it has remained as a message for the community
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It’s important to note that everyone I saw was in a mask and respecting the order. And the perk of going on a Monday was that there were less crowds as compared to a weekend. While it wasn’t empty by any means, I never felt that there were too many people there or that I couldn’t safely social distance from others.
Although Vail is known for its winter ski season, the summer is equally — if not even more beautiful. In the summer, there’s a plethora of activities that happen to be ideal for our current pandemic times such as hiking, biking and walking around the town center or Betty Ford Alpine Gardens.
Betty Ford Alpine Gardens are the world’s highest botanical gardens at 8,200 feet. President Gerald Ford and his wife Betty would visit Vail as a vacation spot, and Betty became known by locals as the “First Lady of Vail Valley.” In 1991, she summed up the gardens that would be named in her honor.
“As someone who has always loved gardening, it fills me with a great sense of serenity. Just walking along these winding paths, with the abundance of beauty so close to the touch, brings an introspection and sense of calm too often missing in our lives,” she said.
On this particular day trip, I bought the gondola day pass to experience the scenic beauty from the top of the mountain. Before the pandemic, the gondola ride was a shared experience as they were packed to capacity in order to get people up more efficiently, but now you’ll feel VIP in your own private one that you no longer have to share with strangers. While in the gondola, you will be asked to keep your face mask on for the duration of the ride.
The line to get on to the gondola is also social distanced with markers indicating six feet of separation between you and the person in front of and behind you. And in order to get your gondola pass scanned, you place it up to a plexiglass wall that an employee can then scan through the glass, which further eliminates in-person contact. The gondola does come at a price. An adult ticket runs $44, and a child 5-12 is $28, but you can also get a child ticket free with an adult gondola ticket purchase.
As for the restaurants, many have allotted for more outdoor space with seating on patios and in the streets. When I walked by one pizzeria, I overheard a waiter telling a group that the restaurant was out of salads and sandwiches due to a lack of cooking staff and that the pizza was the only option. I also noticed that what was once a busy Starbucks is no longer open, and some restaurants and shops were also closed. So if there’s a particular restaurant you had in mind to eat at, you might want to call ahead to make sure it’s still open.
