Snowmass

So it has been a few since I have posted anything. Well, this is mostly due to vacation! Matt and I went with a group of friends to Snowmass, Colorado for a ski trip. We had such a blast. This is our second year in a row going out to ski and I must say, it never gets old.

View from the patio at the house. Absolutely gorgeous!

Flying Tomato!

We got a steal on airline tickets flying into Denver ($120 RT). From there it is about a 3 1/2 hour drive to the house in Snowmass (maybe one day we will spring for the flight to Aspen?). On the roadtrip there, we stopped in Vail to catch the US Open of Snowboarding. We got to see Shaun White hit the half pipe and Matt even got his picture with him! They had all kinds of free "swag" and we loaded up on Cliff Bar samples. Vail is an awesome ski village we really enjoyed our short stop there.

Matt chose not to ski. I think its partly because of the cost and partly because he is like a bull in a china shop out there. I hit the slopes two days and was absolutely amazed by my progress. I started out in the same beginners area I finished in last year. After a couple runs I started getting my confidence and the feeling back. Once I remembered how to stop and turn, I was good to go! We headed down to a green which I quickly mastered after a hand full of times going down. After our lunch break we tried an "easy" blue. I didn't find out it was a blue until the end of the day. Thanks to +Jess Paugh for not telling me because she thought I would freak out! (probably right!)

Boarders and skier!

Hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps!

Day 2 of skiing was a little rougher. We took the chair lift all the way to the top (hoping to see the Maroon Bells, but it was too overcast) and then skied all the way down. Not without a hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps break in the middle. Needless to say, my legs were exhausted. I needed to do weeks of wall sits to be prepared for that workout! It was a blast and I only fell a few times!

The trip home was a small adventure full of flight delays, road closings, missed flights and an extended vacation. That is the short version. The long version starts at breakfast Monday morning when we were scheduled to go home. We were notified that out flight was pushed back two hours to depart Denver at 8:45p.m. which would put us back in Indy around 1:00a.m. Ugh. With the worry of the flight being cancelled and getting stuck in Denver, we all decided we would change our flights to leave Tuesday morning direct back to Indy at 10:00 a.m. It was a "fresh powder" day and we were anxious to get out and ski.  By the time we had 7 people on board with the travel change, there were only 3 seats left on the 10:00 flight - bummer. So we decided to stick with the original travel plan, in the meantime, our flight was changed 2 more times putting it back to its regular scheduled departure time. So we left the house about an 1 1/2 hours after we wanted to, but that just meant we had to cut out the Coors Brewery tour.

Ready for the blue!

As we were making our way toward Denver, we started to see "Road Closed at mile 180" signs. We were forced to get off of I-70 at Vail and were informed the pass was closed due to 30 car pile up! The officer suggested we try to rebook our flight because the road would be closed for at least 3-4 hours. So we hung out in a bar in Vail for the majority of the afternoon, finally getting back on I-70 three hours later. We got our friend Mandee to the airport to catch his 9:35 p.m. flight to Kansas City, however, the rest of us were left in Denver to catch a 6:45 a.m. to Indy via HOUSTON! Needless to say, it was a long few travel days, but the trip was an absolute blast! I can't wait to get back!

Back in Vail.

The trip was most definitely a welcomed break from all the decision making and stress of the house. But now it's back to finishing the electrical and picking out paint. The insulation starts tomorrow and drywall the first of next week.