Spring Break this year was different from last year, or any year for that matter. Every experience over the past year has been an adjustment for us all. Autumn loved many things, but family vacations were near the top of her list. She always did the little things to make them extra special, and those touches are sorely missed by all of us. Given the year we had, I felt that sitting around on a tropical beach was not the medicine we needed this year. Instead, we needed some action and adventure, and I could think of nothing better than escaping to the crisp mountain air of Breckenridge, CO for a few days of skiing. Skiing was one of those things that the kids and I loved, while Autumn preferred soaking in the atmosphere with a book by the fire and browsing the shops.
Our crew, along with Baylor’s friend Dylan, hit the road early Saturday morning and headed towards Colorado Springs where we would spend a day with family. On the way there, after stopping for gas, I noticed that Google Maps had changed our route significantly. It had us getting off I-70 about two hours earlier than planned. After looking further, I realized they had shut down I-70 because of a dust storm. They had done the same thing the day before, so I did not think much about it. The route it took us was scenic and devoid of traffic, restrooms, gas stations, and restaurants. A couple of hours into this detour, I asked Briley to look for some place to stop and eat, and she said the nearest place was two hours away in Colorado Springs. Needless to say, by the time we got there, everyone was starving and had to go to the bathroom. So, we grabbed a late lunch, some gas, and then headed to Shawn and Veronica’s house. It was cloudy and raining, so we just hung out at their place and caught up. That night we went to a cool pizza joint downtown where we met up with my Aunt Kelly, her husband Robert, my cousin Mackenzie, and her boyfriend. We had to wait a bit as the St. Patrick’s Day festivities were ongoing, so it was crowded, but it gave us all more time to catch up, so I did not mind it. It was there, while waiting, that we heard that the reason I-70 closed was because the dust had caused a massive 70+ car pile-up and eight people had perished. It was incredibly sad, and I was so thankful that we had not left earlier like I had planned because I saw it was going to be raining in Colorado Springs, so there was no hurry to get there.
The next morning, we went over to a really yummy café that recently opened across the street from Shawn and Veronica’s house for breakfast and then joined my cousin Dylan and his kiddos on a beautiful hike. It gave all the kids some time to stretch their legs and explore some of the beautiful Colorado foothills. After our hike, we went back, packed up, grabbed some tasty In-N-Out Burger, and then headed up to Breckenridge. If you have not made the drive from Colorado Springs to Breckenridge, I would highly recommend it; it's so much more gorgeous than I-70 through Denver. We got to our condo, unloaded, and then went off to pick up the kids' ski rentals, which was super easy compared to most times we have been. We dropped our skis off at the condo and then went to downtown Breck to peruse the shops and grab some dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant, Michaels. The kids were all exhausted, so we called it a night early as we had a busy day of skiing ahead.
I had all the kids together in a private lesson the first day. I forgot how long it took to get kids ready to ski, especially when Autumn was not there to help. Our kids are pretty good now about being able to get on all their gear; it's just a matter of making sure they have all their gear, that their goggles are on their helmets the right way, that they have gloves, neck gaiters, hand warmers, ski passes, etc. We got out of the house, and after some confusion at the ski school, got them checked into their lesson. They all really liked their instructor Mikey, and he seemed like a really chill, easy-going guy. While Mikey took them, I was off to enjoy my one solo day on the mountain. I explored pretty much every area of the mountain, but my favorite was Peak 10 as they had a lot of really fun runs with absolutely no lift lines. I met up with the kids and Mikey for lunch, where they were all anxious to tell me the funny stories of their day so far. Mikey said they were all doing well, and that Atticus just wanted to go fast and was not about working on his turns—sounds about right. We parted ways again, and I attempted to go do some runs on the highest chairlift in North America, the Imperial Lift, but it had closed due to high winds. So instead, I went and did a few runs on the T Bar before going to explore Peaks 7 and 6. I was trying to get a taste of the entire mountain so I had a better idea of where I could take the kids the next few days.
I picked the kids up at ski school, and we headed back to the condo to soak in the hot tubs, eat some dinner, and play games. The kids were beat, so it was another early night—I love that about ski vacations, everyone is ready for bed. The next day, our first ski day together, was a bit of a mess. Baylor’s friend Dylan forgot his neck gaiter and one glove back at the condo, so they did a run and then were supposed to go back and get Dylan’s stuff. The rest of us kept skiing and then met up with them for lunch where we learned that they never went back. I went and bought Dylan some gloves in the pro shop, and we hit the slopes again. The snow and wind had picked up by this point, but we were still having a lot of fun—it was like skiing in a snow globe. After some success on a couple of short blues, and after having mastered the greens, I took them on an easier blue run. This is where the wheels fell off for a couple of middle school boys. Baylor fell a couple times and got frustrated, Igot him set and then he zoomed off down the mountain. I ski down a bit more and I find Dylan off in the trees. I unclip and help him get out and back moving, instructing him to widen his turns. As we get towards the bottom, he zooms off into the snow. I get to the meeting place and neither Baylor nor Dylan are there. Briley sees Baylor going up the chairlift so I call him and ask him where Dylan is, he had no idea and said Dylan forgot his phone at the condo so he could not call him. I then ski to the base lodge but cannot find Dylan there. Baylor eventually makes it down to the base lodge and I send Baylor into the lodge to look for him. As I am panicking and getting ready to head back up the mountain on the chairlift to look for Dylan, Baylor calls and said he found him inside. At this point I am a done with the middle school boys and I send both back to the condo in frustration. I think Dylan was done anyways and was ready for the hot tub. The rest of us skied a couple more runs and then called it a day. There always seems to be a day like this in every ski vacation, where everything goes wrong. We ended the day with some tasty pizza from Three Sisters, more hot tub time, and some shopping and hot chocolate downtown.
The next day was super cold, so we slept in and hit the slopes a little later. Dylan had some bad windburn from the day before and elected to take a day off. Given the wind and cold, I thought this was for the best. The rest of us had a great day skiing, doing mostly blues. It was really cold, so we ate some lunch, skied a couple more runs, and then called it a day around 2:30. We had an extra-long hot tub session, followed by some breakfast for dinner and more games by the fire.
Our last day, as it usually works out, was by far our best day of skiing. Dylan again elected not to ski—I don’t think he was a fan of it. I am not going to force anyone who is not my kid to do anything they do not want to do, but he really was getting the hang of it, so I wished he would have given it another try. The kids and I skied almost all blues the whole day. We explored Peaks 9, 8, 7, and 6. There were so many runs that the kids wanted to keep doing. We skied almost 30 miles that last day, logging over 21,000 feet of descent. For the first time, the kids were complaining of sore legs at the end of the day! We went back to the house for some hot tub time, dropped off our skis, and ate out at a Mexican restaurant that took far too long. That night we packed, and I loaded the car. We hit the road the next morning and were back in KC by dinner time.
Another successful trip in the bag. Memories made, new passions found, and some kiddos with a whole lot of pride in their accomplishments.
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