Back in Colorado...

K and I are making our annual ski trip this weekend to celebrate his upcoming birthday. We have been lucky enough to make 1-2 trips per ski season, but this is the earliest in the season that we've been (aside from when I lived in Denver during my internship year many moons ago). We have generally gone skiing over holiday weekends in January and/or February so that I could avoid having to take any time off work. However, since that's no longer an issue now that I am running my own show, then we thought we'd capitalize on some good flight deals and come in December for his birthday. The ski conditions are typically more uncertain at this point, but we have lucked out with some great early season snowfall. With several inches of snow expected each day that we're here, hopefully we'll get some great powder conditions. I do love me some good powder.

We've got the travel aspect of things down pretty well by now for this type of trip, but we're trying a few new things this time around. We opted to stay in the foothills last night to get a head start on the drive into the mountains this morning. We also flew into Denver on Thursday night instead of Friday night which is what we usually do (again to minimize time off from work), which had the perk of avoiding the ski traffic into the mountains that is common on weekends from Denver. We're also staying and skiing further out than we usually do. I heart Breckenridge, but you also can't complain about the massive size of Vail (well, the one complaint is how expensive everything is - $25 bucks for daily parking!) and we're also eager to try out the skiing at Beaver Creek. So, we're staying at a swanky hotel located on a privately owned mountain overlooking the Vail Valley, also known as the Kobe hotel (where he got himself into some legal trouble with a young woman a few years ago). No, this is not something that the hotel advertises or that I knew prior to a couple of months ago. Interestingly, the hotel and Kobe scandal were prominently referred to in the new Stephen White novel that I was reading a few months ago and then we happened to run across it as we were looking into our hotel reservations for this trip. So, we thought, why the heck not? Let's see what kind of place an NBA baller stays at...as we roll up to the valet in our rental Kia.

I opted not to ski today, while K was a bundle of nerves and excitement about hitting the slopes as soon as possible.

Just arrived and getting ready to take the lift up for his first run of the day

After a hectic 24 hours before our trip (I'm still amazed that I was able to get everything accomplished that I did), I was in the mood for a slower paced, relaxing day enjoying the beautiful scenery today. And, yes, I'm a bit nervous about how my surgically repaired ankle is going to handle the slopes again. So, I'm holding out for starting at Beaver Creek tomorrow - where the motto is "Not exactly roughing it..." Gotta love that!

I hung out around Lionshead and Vail Villages today doing some window-shopping, eating, and checking out the local art. A few of the many cool sculptures around the resort:

Meanwhile, K had a somewhat challenging first day of skiing - limited visibility due to snowfall, rough trails, and bum knees. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

After the lifts closed, we made our way farther west out to Edwards. I've never been farther than Vail on I-70, so the additional miles west (past Leadville) were a first for me. The views as we approached Edwards and then particularly our hotel were spectacular. Time to get settled in, enjoy a nice meal, and then hit the fitness center.