The Vail Cascade.

• Author: Smith, Kathy
• Position: In state - Vail Cascade Resort

As a world-class resort destination, Vail needs no introduction. The town and ski mountain are safely ensconced on most every "best of" travel and leisure list compiled annually in the trade press. Still, Vail's hotels and resort properties have never worked harder to distinguish their amenities from one another, and to each provide visitors a unique experience.

IN-STATE patrons would do well to take note: Some of the world's best resort experiences are available in your own back yard.

And so it is with the Vail Cascade Resort. A stone's throw west of Vail Village, the Cascade pulls off that elusive goal so many luxury resorts strive for but often fumble, combining elegant with casual to offer a relaxed yet upscale stay.

In other words, the Cascade doesn't take itself too seriously.

But the experience is first-rate.

For one, the Cascade embraces the resort accoutrement now popular at most high-end properties, the spa; and here it's done right. Aria, the hotel's on-site facility, offers up the standard fare of enriching, relaxing, embarrassingly pampering treatments for guests. A Hot Stone rock massage at Aria is a must: The hotel's private, semi-secluded location adjoins Gore Creek, and it's easy to envision your masseuse hiking the short distance to the water to pick out smooth river stones for the massage.

Not many ski resorts in Colorado, anywhere for that matter, can boast of their own chairlift, but the Cascade can. And guests not only enjoy the remarkable convenience of leaving their room, walking out the door and onto a lift, but their ride ascends to a surprisingly good spot on the mountain. That's more than can be said for other chairs in Vail's vast network of lifts.

Unique? Try unheard of.

KITCHEN COLLAGE--A STORE FOR THE HOME

Decorating a kitchen or dining area in a mountain home used to require a trip to Denver. Today, mountain homeowners have stores closer at hand, and, in the Vail-Beaver Creek area, Kitchen Collage in upscale Riverwalk in Edwards, is top of mind.

It's no secret that commercial rents in the Vail Valley are high, so a store that keeps its doors open for 10 years must be doing something right for the locals, visitors and second-home owners. "Our goal is to provide specialty items to the homeowners," says Amy McDonnell, who opened the store in 1996 with partner Kathy Rohlwing. "We pride ourselves on the customer service we give everyone. We like to answer questions."

Kitchen Collage's kitchenware area is stocked...