Mountain Village has a feel like Beaver Creek, with plazas and a skating rink and heated sidewalks.

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Gleason owns names like Plum Creek Timber and Rayonier, a way to play the recovery in housing, he says, without needing to look at the overbought home-builders.

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There's a swirling blend to the city, like the water in the creek where it meets the incoming tide.

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"It's almost like being in a cocoon, " says James Dahl, partner at hedge fund Rock Creek Capital.

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Beaver Creek is never crowded, offers world-class grooming and provides a plethora of family activities like nighttime sleigh rides and fun restaurants.

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You see one single flower nodding on a cliff side far across the canyon, or a huge knot in a redwood tree looking like Zeus' face, or some of God's little crazy creations goofing around in creek pools (zigzag bugs), or a sign on a lonely fence saying 'M.

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