I landed in Denver, Colorado Sunday, January 28th at 10:52AM local time. I collected my skies and snowboard, both of which survived the flight without a scratch (huge win for saran wrap everywhere) and headed to the Colorado Mountain Express counter. I had to take a shuttle to Vail which is roughly two hrs away. I would highly recommend the Colorado Mountain Express shuttle service for transportation to Vail from Denver. They have other routes around Colorado, I can only speak to the round trip route to Vail and back. I will say that the drivers were very knowledgeable to the area and pointed out "engineering marvels" along the way. Many I found very interesting and the free wifi was a huge plus as well. Having a tablet with out 3 or 4 G having free wifi was a huge plus.
We made the journey in roughly 2hrs. I was dropped off at the transportation center right in Vail village. I tipped the man collected my things and called my family to let them know that I had arrived. I had an address for the Austria Haus when I got there and after refreshing the phone GPS it estimated that I was 1 minute away walking! It was literally down the steps in front of me! My Aunt and family were at lunch and would meet me up at the room.
At this point I was running on fumes. I was coming off back to back to back (haha) parties, not to mention all the driving and the flying. Sleep was becoming very necessary! I was of course too excited to see my Aunt and Uncle and little cousins to sit down. I put my bags in what I assumed was "my" room (yes, I had my own room! I only slept in one, but there were two beds). The couch surfer got a BED! I was more than excited.
My family was on a shopping spree when I arrived. Everyone was getting re-outfitted. Clothes, skies, helmets, gloves etc.. my uncle had not bought ski pants in fifteen years and was due for a new pair. He needed to retire the old black stretch pants:). This was the year! I took the kids to the "Toy Store" and my aunt took my uncle to find new ski pants. We also walked around a pirate ship jungle gym, the cousins were very excited to show me and I must admit that I was impressed. We met back up with my Aunt and Uncle, no ski pants were purchased, but the search had narrowed. Making a 6/7 hundred dollar decision is a big deal, I understand taking your time. Food was a priority at this point, pizza and beer was the final decision! I may or may not been a big influence:) Just around the corner from the Austria Haus was this great pizza place Pazzo's Pizzeria. I highly recommend the pizza, we took it to go, but the atmosphere looked great! I am a huge fan of dive type places and Pazzo's is not far off. Sunday night had to be an early night for me, there was no late night rally to go out on the town. It was bed for this guy. Monday was going to be a big day my first day on the mountain, my first time skiing/snowboarding since visiting my cousin in Idaho (Schweitzer, mountain), four years ago.
*Little side note there, that was an amazing trip!! Anytime you get to hang out with you older cousin is a blast, but that trip was special. We stayed in a little motel just down from the mountain, both being in college at the time we were saving our pennies. We skied hard for two or three days, I honestly cannot remember. What I do remember was that the mountain received over 6 inches of snow accumulation the night before we got there! POW POW, First run my cousin led me to the top of the mountain strapped in and jumped off a cornice!! I guess expecting me to follow...I will never forget that. Thank the lord there was 6 inches or more of powder beneath my feet or I may not have survived that day. My trip to Schweitzer was my first experience with knee deep powder, what I thought was the best skiing on earth...then there was my trip to Vail!
Staying with my Aunt and Uncle for free (I love my family), I wanted to do my best to help out. I was an extra pair of hands for them. First order of business Monday morning was getting the kids fed and off to ski school. Breakfast was provided every day downstairs in the lobby, they had quite a spread as you can imagine. Waffles were a popular item, Tuesday was omelet day, of which I took advantage! However, for the most part we stuck to the cereal. Having a five day lift ticket to the mountain, I did not see the need to exhaust myself skiing 830 to 330 everyday. Not that I am in good enough physical condition to do that anyway. My Aunt, Uncle and I made it up the mountain around 1030/11AM and charged. We skied hard for a few hours. I was re-acclimated myself to the whole concept of snowboarding. It's more or less like riding a bike, but I did need a few runs to get my balance and style points back. My Aunt and Uncle are both very accomplished skiers, they both have a lot of grace through the moguls. Huge style points! One thing that I learned the very first day was the Vail is a skiers mountain. It's not that snowboarders are looked down upon or disliked on the mountain. It is the fact that Vail is literally FULL of cat tracks! Cat tracks are boring and hard on skies, but are ten times more difficult on a snowboard! By the end of the week or maybe the second day, my Aunt and Uncle were well aware of the pain snowboarders go through trying to hold an edge on a cat track:). We skied until around 330 when the lifts closed, we had to go get the ski schoolers. By the end of the day I was beyond tired, whether it was the snowboarding, the cat tracks, the altitude, or my general physical condition I do not know, I do know I was struggling to keep my eyes open.
Monday night was Cocktail night at the Austria Haus!! I am a huge fan off "free!" We made the cocktail hour dinner. We drank a few glasses of wine, a couple of beers, I even got a good scotch (well a 12 year old McClelland...I'm spoiled, thanks dad)! All of which put me closer to lights out:) We ended the night downstairs playing a board game "Would you rather." I have never been a huge fan of board games, but every time I start one I have so much fun! This game was hilarious, basically you roll the dice, move your peg and take a card. You read the "Would you rather" (there were some good ones) and write down what you believe the consensus will be of the group. If you are right, you go again, if you are wrong its the next players turn. We never actually finished the game, we got distracted with fire works, I believe which were for bringing in the Chinese new year, but not positive. And is true with any good young family rivalry, the game ended in water works. We decided to end the game at a tie, everybody wins:)
Tuesday was going to be another big day. We had to get the kids to ski school, ski all day and get ready for BOWLING that night. I hate to call going bowling the highlight of the day because the skiing was so good, but it was the nicest bowling alley I have ever been too (by far). The place was called Bol. You can hit the link for pictures it is worth a look. I didn't bowl particularly well, but I had an a great time! Bowling really is a great family activity. It doesn't matter how good or bad you are its just bowling. Even the little ones can knock down the pins. My little cousin 4 year old was killing it. It took a full minute for his ball to make its way down the lane, but the pins fell like dominoes. I believe one game he had three or four spares and a strike! We ate dinner at the alley and not like a bar food dinner, but like the second best gourmet pizza I have ever had (pork, peppers, garlic, rocket). Needless to say I wasn't tired anymore I was on a Rocky Mountain high. My Aunt, Uncle and I decided to put the kids to bed and go out on the town! We bar hopped through Vail village, we saw a couple classic bars, shot and a beer type bars, my kind of bars. I only remember the Red Lion name, but we did go to a couple. The Red Lion was a great bar there was a wasted singer taking request, old folks dancing, and everyone singing along (at the top of their lungs). What more could you ask for? It was quite an experience.
FYI since I have been in Vial it had not stopped snowing. The accumulation was not a ton, two to three inches a day, but the big snow was coming. Wednesday my Aunt and I got a chance to ski, just the two of us. We charged some of the harder runs on the mountain. We needed to tire ourselves out for lunch at the top of the mountain (we exhausted ourselves). I was told that the best pulled pork sandwich in all the land can be found at the top of a mountain in the Rocky's...."I don't know about that Aunti," I have been living in VA for the last few years and they do pulled pork pretty well, but I was willing to give it a try. The skiing was amazing we went down some of the longest most difficult runs I have ever been on in my life. We skied down huge moguls with tons of powder (easier for the boarder, harder for the skier). Wednesday was a great day, the best skiing day we had so far and one of the best pulled pork sandwiches I have ever had. I admit it, it was amazing. The place was called Wildwood - "Authentic BBQ two miles high." I also found out that my Uncle proposed to my Aunt at the top of the mountain, just outside of the Wildwood restaurant! What a beautiful place! Uncle is a stud.
Wednesday night was the big snow accumulation night. We got over four inches that night, we were going to have knee deep powder until we left! Thursday we decided to to take my 8 year old cousin out on the mountain with us, he had been in ski school all week and I hadn't got a chance to ski with him. He also just graduated from level 5 to level 6 in ski school and well I needed some pointers. I decided to ski Thursday, figuring I would have more fun exploring the mountain, but in all honesty it was the because the cat tracks were killing me. My cousin did awesome, charged down every run we went on, even a few blacks that I was nervous on. He even gave me some pointers and helped me get some style points on skies, which I needed desperately. Thank you cuz!
Thursday night we were going to celebrate my little cousins Bday! I recently turned 25 and my cousin was turning 5! My Aunt and Uncle let their kids choose which restaurant they would like to go to for their birthday. My little soon to be five year old cousin choose a Hibatchi place! Good choice little cuz! I hadn't done hibachi in a long time, wow is it fun! We went to a place right in Vail village called Sushi Oka & Hibachi. I'll admit the service was not great, particularly for a birthday party, but the food made up for it. After putting the kids to bed, which was difficult because all they wanted to do was play with their new skylander toys. We decided to make another trip out on the town. Our last chance to party together in Vail!
We did a repeat of the night we did Tuesday. We ventured back out to The Red Lion. Funny story, we ordered our beers and the band played their last song... Then they asked us to leave:( Apparently, Vail doesn't or at least The Red Lion does not do a late Thursday night. We finished our beers and headed around the corner to a 'late night spot.' We actually ran into one of the band members that was playing the other night. Started chatting, little piece of trivia for you, he said that he was one of the first 50 babies born in the Vail hospital. Pretty cool I guess. We were all fighting to keep our eyes open so we decided to make our way back to the Austria Haus and get some shut eye. Tomorrow was going to be a very long day particularly for my Aunt and Uncle. Full day of skiing, packing for four, driving a couple hours to Denver..fighting the traffic, the flight AND then driving home and getting the kids to bed (LONG DAY).
Friday was of course another amazing day on the mountain! Visibility was good, slightly overcast and we were still finding foot deep untouched powder! "Living the Dream" my cousin decided to ski with us again. We had such a blast explored both the front side and spent time in the back bowls we had not yet had a chance to ski. I was snowboarding so the cat track to the Blue Sky basin (the back back bowls) was out of the question:). We ended the day at Wildwood, for one last savory pulled pork sandwich...tasted just the same..one of the best pulled pork sandwiches I have ever had. We all had to race down the mountain to pick up the ski schooler and get back to the Austria Haus to pack. My cousin of course got hit on the last three turn on the last run of the day by an out of control skier. He was OK, just a bruised knee as far as I know and he got a free hot chocolate coupon. We made it back to the Austria Haus, took off our boots for the LAST TIME!! My feet had taken a beating all week, man did it feel good to get those boots off! I had never seen a family pack so fast. They were all showered, dressed and out the door in less than an hour, very impressive. I wished them well as they drove off and thanked them for everything. My flight was not until the next morning, I still had one more night in the Austria Haus. About an hour later I got a call from my Aunt saying that they might be coming back:) The traffic on the way down from the mountain was awful! They did end up making their flight however.
Our days had been full of activities since the day I landed I had not really had a chance to go just walk around Vail village. I took the opportunity (and my camera) and headed out for a walk. I was looking to get some sort of souvenir from Vail to remember this trip. Ended up with a really cool Vail t-shirt. Walking through the streets of Vail, it looks like such fairy tale. Every house or building was snow covered, the streets were clean, the stores were spic and span, just amazing. A very unique experience.
The next morning (Saturday) was my big travel day. I was up early, rushed to pack my bag as I was "too tired" to pack the night before. I made it to the shuttle in plenty of time. I was not traveling with my skies or my snowboard for this leg. I decided to leave all of my equipment for my Aunt and Uncle to use. It is possible that I may return one day to get them. Not sure the next time I will be skiing, so hopefully they will get some use while I am out of the country. The shuttle left promptly at 7AM, we had zero traffic (*I love being unemployed and traveling only in the "off" times) and arrived at the airport at 930AM and I made it comfortably to the gate by 11AM for the 1145AM departure.
The kick starting of my unemployment was a HUGE success!! No stress, no missteps, no delays, just quality time with my family. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I will never forget my trip to Vail, Colorado! Now for the SUPER BOWL and the cross country road trip.
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