Devil's Thumb Ranch

At the recently updated 5,000-acre ranch just 65 miles from Denver, kids can go candlepin bowling and play billiards while parents unwind in the new earth-toned Ranch Creek Spa, built from reclaimed pine and rockslide stones. Nordic ski trails cater to all levels—even the family dog can join—and movies play nightly in the intimate 37-seat theater. The ranch offers 70 miles of groomed cross-country trails, 12 miles of marked snowshoe trails, and a terrific restaurant for a big meal out. Instead of high-density (and -profit) single-family houses, they built only 16 airy timber cabins, all of them heated and cooled entirely with fireplaces (the wood is harvested on the property, often from beetle-infested pine trees) and geothermal energy.