I’m spending a week skiing in Colorado, just in case you hadn’t heard already. I’m going to post a journal of the trip here just for the heck of it.
I lugged the laptop through the airports and bus ride, on the chance I’d have access to the internet, so I might as well make use of it. Almost everywhere you go you can find an open wi-fi port these days and ski towns are some of the easiest. Worst case, you have to find a Starbucks or internet cafe. I lucked out and we found open access in the condos we were staying in. It comes and goes – but when it’s on, it’s good.
Updated Friday
We left Lockport/Buffalo Saturday morning and got into Denver airport by afternoon. It gave us plenty of time to stop and do grocery shopping. The bus driver they gave us, a Texas native who told us stories of hunting with Willie and Waylon, took us to a nearby shopping center with a large supermarket and Applejacks, allegedly the worlds largest liquor store. He even had discount cards for the supermarket.
We are staying at the Pine Ridge Condominiums which are pretty convenient to both the mountain and the village. The corner intersection, just a few hundred feet away, is South Park and Four O’Clock Road. South Park reminds me, of course, of the cartoon which is scripted in a little Colorado town. Four O’Clock comes from the ski run that takes you off the hill and right to the condo complex at four o’clock when the lifts close.
What we’ve done so far:
Sunday – ski. Hot tub. Condo to condo progressive dinner.
Monday – ski. Hot tub. Ate at Bubba Gumps. Guess what kind of food they serve!
Tuesday – ski.
Wednesday – I took day off. My condo mates skied. Group dinner at a restaurant.
Thursday – I skied. My friends went on a snowmobile tour. In the evening, we ate at a mexican restaurant then went to Ullr’s Sports bar to see if we could catch the Sabres game. They couldn’t get it, but the Detroit game was playing and when that finished, they put on the third period of the Sabres game. So we caught the best part anyway.
..or something like that. The days are already blurring together.
The thin air and high altitude really takes some getting used to. Someone told me it takes a month. I believe it. Just walking around leaves me out of breath. You catch up after a bit, but it really takes the steam out of you. There was supposed to be a Tequila party in one of the condos lat night, but we were all so exhausted, we just crashed.
Actually, even getting time to keep up with writing this is tough. There is so much to do and so little energy left!
Our plan today (Friday) is Ski! Beyond that, we’ll see what happens. We’re leaving early Saturday morning, so packing up will have to be on the agenda.
Update: Friday. We skied. We went out with the crew from the condo, Bill, Darrell, Steve and I. On the shuttle to the lift, we ran into Gayle and later, her friend Jeff. Throughout the day, we ran across most of the club at least once out on the hill or in the hot tub.
We decided it was time (now or never) to go all the way to the peak. Breckenridge features the highest lift in North America. We went up it and had some photo ops from the top. We skied down some bowl areas and then took the easy way back down to the Peak 8 restaurant. We met even more of the club there.
After that, we went to watch some aero competition in one of the terrain parks. You couldn’t get close enough to see much, although we did see the lower end of the half-pipe from below it. We decided we had enough and went back to the condo and spent an hour in the hot tub. Before long, there was a crowd there.
Later, there was a get-together at a local bar for a pizza dinner and our awards party. It was probably the last time we all will get together before the trip to the airport in the morning. After that the gang will be going in different directions.
