Saturday, April 6, 2013

Breckenridge 2013

Last week my son and I flew to Denver to meet up with my mom and head to Breckenridge for some skiing, running, rest and relaxation. Denver was in the middle of a blizzard when we arrived. You know it's not good when the pilot says we are at the limits of our visibility for landing so don't be surprised if we have to go around a couple times or maybe even divert. It was a bit rough coming in but we landed on time with no issues. My mom was delayed by 10 hours so we ended up staying the night in Denver. My son and I went to visit my cousin then out to dinner. My cousin has done a few 140.6's slits always fun talking training with him. The roads were a mess and we saw over twenty wrecks.
Not fun driving
We made it up to Breckenridge Sunday, got supplies then settled in. We stay with my Mom's friend from college and they have an awesome setup for guests. With all the snow, skiing was great Monday and Tuesday though it was a tad cold Monday morning. -5F when we woke up made me wonder why we don't go to Mexico for spring break, but it warmed up to +10 and with all the right gear, we were comfortable.
Just like last year, I was the only one to crash. In my defense, two of the crashes were on a black run with moguls which is clearly outside my ability. It was kind of funny. We ended up at the top of peak ten and saw all black runs. Oh well, I decided to head down first so I could take pictures of my son and mom braving the moguls. I crashed hard and was glad I was wearing a helmet. My day probably would have been done without it. Anyway, my son skied down the run with no problems and my wise mother asked ski patrol which run to take and they pointed her to a black run with no moguls which is well within our abilities. Live and learn :-).
We chose Spitfire

The steam coming off my head looks like a cloud :-)
We skied Monday and Tuesday then I had a couple blogger meet ups Wednesday. Wednesday morning. I met Kovas, Laima and their youngest boy for coffee after they dropped their other kids of at ski school. It's funny I met them in Colorado seeing as we all live in Illinois. It was really nice chatting with them. They are a super nice family.
Blogger meet up number one!
After meeting with Kovas and Laima, I headed to Idaho Springs to meet up with Jill. Idaho Springs is a neat little old town and we met at a great pizza joint. It was nice getting to know her better after following her blog for a couple of years. Her athletic accomplishments are impressive and she has some big races coming up. I think I'll just live vicariously through her while I sit out for a while :-).
Blogger meet up number two!
Funny story about the blogger meet up with Jill. I was wondering how to ask my wife if it was ok to meet up with a woman I met on the Internet while I'm on vacation and she's not with me. Awkward! It was an interesting conversation for sure :-). I guess after 25 years she trusts me.
Main drag in Idaho Springs
Besides skiing and running at 9000+ feet, my son and I watched seasons one and two of the walking dead. I was also in bed by 10:30 every night catching up on sleep. Oh, and I cooked to earn my keep. Our hosts seemed to appreciate it and I love to cook, so it was a win-win for everyone.

6 comments:

Raina said...

Yeah...I try to stay clear of those black diamond runs with moguls too, haha! It's been years and I have only done a few on my snowboard. A helmet is such a good thing.

Awesome you got to meet Kovas and Laima. They seem so nice! Didn't know they had any kids :)
And Jill....well, I can imagine your wife was not worried once she found out Jill doesn't ever shower (Kidding if you are reading, Jill) . Honestly, it is impressive she trusts you. My husband would take much convincing and then might still want an escort :) So glad you two finally got to meet though!

The Green Girl said...

This is the coolest blog post ever! Awesome that you got to meet Kovas and Laima, and Jill!

And you got to hit the slopes.

Do I seem a bit jealous?

TriMOEngr said...

Lost you from my reading roll again, but it is easy to catch up when you only post about 1x/month due to being crazy busy. :) Cool about the meetups. Maybe we can catch each other sometime this year.

Debbie said...

You are a brave soul, I don't love to fly in the winter!! I envy all your energy and outdoor activities!! If I send you a lobster roll will you send me some energy??

Jill said...

Well, heck - why aren't your posts coming up in my reader or on my blogroll? You're going to have to email me whenever you have a new post up, I've been missing these.

SO fun you met up with Kovas and fam all in the same day, even, with me :). That snowstorm was just the start of all the evil white crap that hit this spring. Bleh!

Hope you had a fantastic week skiing. Now...off to read the rest of your posts....

ajh said...

Skiing, family, snow, blogger meet ups.......what's not to love? Sounds like a lot of fun. You love to cook? Come visit anytime! Yeah, my husband might wonder about a blogger meet up with a guy. Funny.