Skiing in Vail, Colorado
February 12-15, 1999
We went skiing for a long weekend in Colorado with our friend Bruce Oberg (we gave him the trip as a Christmas present) and Jan's brother Chris (joining us from Boulder, CO).
On Friday morning, February 12th, we fly to Denver International Airport with Bruce. Before the trip, we had arranged to rent a standard size Sport Utility Vehicle at the airport. At the airport rental car counter, however, Bruce and Jan are seduced by the prospect of renting a "full size" SUV. This turns out to be an enormous Lincoln Navigator, a fun (if somewhat underpowered) beast of a car.
Angela and Bruce with the mighty Navigator
We drive up into the Rockies, to Arrowhead village near Beaver Creek. Checking into our condo at the Seasons at Arrowhead, we're happy to find it roomier than usual. Chris arrives from Boulder a short while later.
The four of us spend Saturday snowboarding at Beaver Creek. It's an absolutely perfect sunny day—probably the first direct sunlight the three of us from Seattle have seen in 1999. Angela does very well on the snowboard considering it's only her second time. We end up having to do a few too many traverses on long, narrow, green runs, so by 4:00 everyone but Chris is completely spent. Bruce wraps up his day by learning how to bring his snowboard to a stop by plunging his forehead into the ground.
Jan and Chris at the top of Vail
On Sunday—another perfectly sunny day—we head to Vail for some more snowboarding. Bruce decides to forego any mountain activity, so he can recover from his nearly concussive face-plant the previous day. Angela, Jan, and Chris head up the Lionshead gondola to the top of Vail in search of good snow.
By now, Angela is doing quite well on the snowboard (she can link her turns together), but she's getting tired of falling. Halfway through the day she switches back to the comfort and security of skis.
Angela returns to the sanity of skiing, while Jan persists in snowboarding
At the end of the day, we hook back up with Bruce, and the four of us go to May's Palace restaurant in Vail for a great Chinese meal. Tomorrow (February 15th) is Angela's birthday, so we make the dinner into a little celebration. Angela receives a present from each of us at the end of the meal, including an unusual one from Jan: a promise to shave every morning for a whole month (instead of every other morning). Jan blames Bruce for putting the idea into Angela's head that it'd be nice for her husband to be clean shaven all the time. After dinner, Chris has to head back to Boulder to get ready for the following day's classes, so we say our goodbyes.
The three of us (Jan, Angela, and Bruce) spend the next morning getting ready to travel back to Seattle. We stop at a hotel in Vail for some relaxing massages, repairing some of the minor damage to our limbs and muscles. We then climb back into the mighty Lincoln Navigator for the drive back to Denver.