Finally on Friday it was time to ski, so we decided to give Vail a try, since Ed had never skied there. As we drove over Vail pass from Dillon the skies clouded up and the snow began to fall. No one knew how much we were expecting, but we all knew it was going to be a "pow-pow" day! The first few runs were powder on
corduroy which was a great base to get your "legs on"! Then we thought we'd try out one of the back bowls - only to find ourselves in a total white-out! If you didn't know the run, you'd find yourself in the creek, which is not a good thing! Thankfully we knew our way but opted to return to the front mountain as green tree-lined runs are easier to see when it's snowing buckets! This was some of the deepest snow Ed had ever skied in and in the end, we were playing in 10" of fresh powder! It was a lot of fun!
I opted out of the last run for the day and waited in the lodge. (No, hot toddies though!) As I waited, I heard that Vail pass was closed - a really bad thing since we had reservations for a play later that night. When the roads close, they never tell you how long - you just have to be patient! When the rest joined me, we
definitely were not patient and decided we'd try the "alternative" route back - down south through
Leadville - about 50 miles out of the way! As we headed west to the
Mintern exit, the traffic just stopped. As we crawled along the exit ramp, the guys got out and pushed yet another car out of the ditch. Thankfully for them, this was not only
lighter, there was also a few more people around to help! The road was slow and there were several accidents, however we at least had some really pretty views! Unfortunately for the people headed the other direction, there was at least a 10 mile back-up due to an accident on the pass. We finally made it back to the condo about 2 1/2 hours later, in plenty of time for a bowl of ready-made chili and off to the play! (The normal time of that trip is 30 minutes!)
We went to the Lake Dillon Theater, a very small and cozy theater seating about 60 people, and saw "
Same Time, Next Year" which is a romantic comedy. It was very good and we all enjoyed the culture!!
By Saturday I think Ed was hoping for a little "less" bit of adventure (no more snow shoveling), so we stayed close and skied at Keystone, another place he had never been to. The snow continued to fall and we were blessed with another 4 inches of powder that day! Although he was feeling the burn, he kept jumping back on the lift and heading back up the mountain for yet another run! Once again, he didn't see anything of the area
since it was socked in clouds, but that's the breaks. After a good day of skiing, we took a nap and enjoyed a relaxing evening together. It was really great to reconnect with my bother and actually hear stories about his youth that I just was too young to remember!
Sunday was our final day and we had to get Ed back to the airport
abound 4, so we knew we didn't want to do too much. We decided that we would try tubing at Keystone and we had an awesome day for it! The sun was out and the mountain air was warm and we got to play some more! Ed got the best tube and surpassed all of us in speed and distance down the track! The best was the movie he took of us when we went
tandem - it's really quite funny! It was a wonderful end to a great weekend!
My bother is a perfect guest and well, a wonderful brother! I really enjoyed his visit and I cannot wait for him to come back again!
!
My favorite guys!
Me and my big brother! Something we never did as kids!
