Day 1: We all met at the Denver Airport and headed our for Winter Park. The drive was great as we made our way into the mountains. We were staying in a time share just a few minutes away from the resort which was very convenient. We stocked up on food and beer for the week at the local supermarket.
Day 2 - 4: We spent the majority of each day on the mountain skiing and snowboarding. Christine showed a huge improvement from the previous year's ski trip and had no problem with even some of the more challenging green runs. We definitely noticed that a lot of the runs were much steeper, including some greens, when compared to runs back on the east coast. Unfortunately, since there was a record low snowfall, the conditions were much more reminiscent of east coast skiing than I had hoped. Where was the pow pow?! Next time we go out west we will go later in the season to get more snow.
For New Year's Eve, we went down to Devil's Thumb Ranch where we had a nice dinner followed by a New Year's party.
The following evening we decided to check out a tubing hill. The hill was a blast with little to no structure, just increasing intensity as you moved farther down the hill. You could get going pretty quick but luckily there were no spills or injuries that evening.
Day 5: We got up early for a back country snowmobiling trip that we had booked. Christine rode on the back of my snowmobile which I was glad about. We were the only people on the tour which was awesome because we were moving pretty quick and were able to cover a lot of ground. We definitely got a chance to open up the machines. We only had one incident where Dave tipped his snowmobile over into a frozen creek but luckily he and the machine were unscathed.
Day 6: We spent the first half of the day back on the mountain and the second half relaxing and recovering from the week's worth of falls and spills in some natural sulfur springs.
Day 7: We took a day trip to Breckenridge to do some dog sledding and see the town. The dog sledding was outside of town and was a lot of fun except for one hiccup. Unfortunately, Christine got a particularly challenging section of the trail to "drive" the sled and was thrown off the back while going down an off camber turn. She took a nasty bump to the head and hip but luckily was alright besides that.
After dog sledding, we had fun exploring the town. We also enjoyed some brews at the Breckenridge Brewery.
Day 8: We packed up our stuff and headed back to the Denver Airport. Every time I go out to Colorado, it's a little bit harder to leave and head back to Florida. There is just so much outdoor fun to be had there.
