Day 58: Skiing!!! At Breckenridge

We wake up, shower and head to breakfast. Diana and Ashlynne are wearing some of my extra snow pants so we are all super brightly colored. Everyone asks us about skiing. Where ya going? Blah blah. Yay for bright orange, green, and blue pants!

We finish breakfast, check out, and load up the truck. Daniel is rather pleasant this morning. He wakes up and finds Breckenridge for us and plots our route. We head off. I decide I should get gas before we get too far out of Denver. I know I won't have enough to make a round trip and I have no idea how expensive it is going to be in ski towns. It was crazy expensive in Lake Tahoe.

I make a long 10 minute detour to a gas station. I finally arrive and the credit card won't work. I shoulddd be working. I go inside. I tell them that the screen is flashing that the credit connection is down. They don't seem happy about that. I tell them I will try again. I go out and it works. I go inside again to use the bathroom. I go back out to the truck and it has finished. It is over 10 gallons and there is some promotion where I can get a free lift ticket for buying more than 10 dollars in gas. I go inside one last time to pick up my voucher.

We finally head off to the resort. The drive is 60 miles of uphill with a crazy headwind. Needless to say, the truck is rather sluggish. It can deal with wind or uphills fine. Both is a little much. Everyone else around has problems too though.

We make it to Breckenridge and gear up. They get half day lift tickets. Half day tickets are still $80+. Jeeze!!! We then head to the gondola. It is their first gondola ride ever!!! Sweet! We make it up to the mountain and I find a nice green lift to get them started on. I show them how to put on their skis and immediately put them on the ski lift. Uhhh, shouldn't you teach us something first? No! Learn at the top! I have faith in you.

We make it to the top and dismount the lift without major problems. I show them how to snowplow and send them down the hill. The first run is a little rocky. It takes a long time. They decide to take a break. I jump on a lift and do a run. I meet up with them at the lodge and drag them up the mountain again. They are looking better already! It is almost 4 by the time we are done. We head back to the gondola and make it to the truck.

We drive half a mile to the hotel and check in. The hotel is nice!!!  And we have a sweet view of the resort from our room. I have to go park my truck. They have a very difficult to maneuver in parking garage. It is bad enough that I require spotters so I don't hit anything. I get the truck parked and we head back to the room and make a plan: Go to the grocery store, cook dinner, eat dinner, sit in hot tub, and then go find a bar to chill at.

View from the hotel!!

We wander around the ski town for a bit and find a grocery store. We get stuff for chicken parmigiana and breakfast. I estimate that it will be $40. It is $39.99. Am I good or what?  We walk back to the hotel and I start cooking. 30 minutes later, we have some awesome chicken parmigiana, noodles, and salad. I didn't cook the spaghetti or noodles.

Awesome chair!

After dinner, we watch the 4 hot tubs from our window and wait until there is an empty one. When one finally empties out, we throw on our swimsuits and run out there. An hour later, we are way too hot and head back to the room.

We decide to get the fold out couch out before heading out to the bars. We do this in our swimsuits. I question the cleanliness of the sheets and finally decide to call the front and ask for some new sheets. I turn on some music on my computer and wait for the sheets. Finally, there is a knock on the door. I open it, with the music blasting, in my swimsuit/towel. The delivery guy looks terrified. He practically throws the towels at me and runs away.

After making the bed, I shower and get ready to head out. On the way out, I ask at the front desk where a good place to go is. The Breckenridge Brewery (that had the awesome beer in Denver) has dollar beers all night! There is a $5 cover, but I think it is worth it. I have some awesome beers and we talk for a while. Ashlynne and I try to find an alcoholic beverage that Diana will actually drink. We finally come up with Vodka Cranberry. I order one, super weak. Diana actually drinks it. Win!

Around midnight, they start cleaning up and trying to get people to leave. We walk back through the icy streets to the hotel, ready for some skiing tomorrow!!