| | ...And Aspen too, to a lesser extent.
Being scheduled to be laid off sucks. I actually feel like I'm a statistic. But I also know that people are in much worse situations than I, which makes me sympathize for others. A favorite cubicle neighbor of mine told me something that still echoes with me every day. He told me, "It's okay to be laid off. The way I figure it, it's a six-week process. Week 1: Go out and play. Take a vacation. Week 2: Settle down and fix your resume, start contacting old friends and recruiters. Week 3&4: Actively apply to jobs. Week 5&6: Finish up your interviews and seal the deal."
Well baby, Week 1, here I come! And for that, I went to snowboard in one of the top 10 ski resorts in the world: Vail, Colorado. (Rank 4, according to Ask Men)
Day 1
The trip started solemnly with a trip to the airport.
Tip: One suggested packing trick: combine your boards into as few individual bags as possible and same with your luggage. If you're charged $15 per board bag and $15 per check-in luggage, between 3 people, you can either be paying $60 round trip or up to $180 round trip for those luggage fees if you carry your own bags. Weight limit: 50 lbs. My bag, 50.0 lbs.
We touched down in the morning at the Denver airport (DEN) which was quite some distance from the actual city. We rented a van from the airport and took it to downtown Denver to meet up with Fred. Downtown Denver is like a mini-city, where the field of the Denver Broncos and the stadium where the Denver Nuggets play are all walking distance from each other - and downtown. They have these free mass transit light rail systems, which are great for getting down the street.
It says it's a hybrid electric/alternative fuel powered vehicle, but what it really runs on are the souls of broken dreams and molten snow.
Tip: When renting your car, though they have snow-chains and ski racks as options, Denver actually plows their streets quite well and don't require snow chains in the snow. They entrust safety to the discretion of their residents as well, so it's up to you to get those chains or not. Sometimes it's a good idea to get the 4x4 model of a SUV, but our Chrysler Town & Country fared quite well with some snow-experienced drivers.
After having lunch, we embarked on our 1.5 hour straight drive up the hill to the mountain. We visited the resort and had dinner at a bar there. They had a chalkboard in the mens restroom. I especially liked the message on the right.
Day 2
The next morning, we woke up and endured traffic on the way back up to the lodge.
They also have shuttle service up to the lodge from most places you stay - but sometimes it's faster and more convenient to just drive yourself.
Tip: We stayed in Avon, which was 10 minutes from Vail Resort, to save major bucks AND they have a heated covered pool, two indoor jacuzzi, restaurants, awesome concierge service, and a slew of many other amenities at the Christie Lodge - which has perfect space and bedding for 5, our luggage, and space for boards all in one room.
We were lucky that all the lifts were open the day we went up.
Some pictures:
The Snow
I can't believe the snow quality in this place - it was ridiculous!! The powder could be up to your knees as you're cutting through their back country runs and you aren't slowing down because it's such fine-grade. You can watch people fall from yards away and not hear them! If you love snow, this place is heaven.
It also snowed quite heavily and turned everything white - which also aided that heaven simulation.
What's a Bowl?
Vail has seven snowy white bowls and claim that other resorts are lucky if they even have one. The concept of a bowl is that the lifts originate from the center of them and go toward the edges. For the beginners, you can take trails that cut sideways across the bowl and slowly work inwards. For those more advanced, you can go with your newbie friends along these edges, but if you get tired of hanging with those losers, you always have the option of dropping straight in at a high speed. Either path you choose, you'll probably enjoy it.
Day 3
We snowboarded. Here are some more pictures.
Winter X Games 2009, Aspen
We heard it was the last day of the Winter X Games 2009, happening in Aspen, CO. Aspen? Yes, that baller place featured on Dumb & Dumber, Entourage, and renown for being another of the top 10 resorts in the world. Well, we took the 2 hour drive to Aspen and made it just in time to watch the entire last event - THE SUPERPIPE.
It's pretty ridiculous how far out of the pipe they can get. Sometimes they'll pop out by about 22 to 26 feet in the air while doing their tricks. SICKNESS.
 
Shaun White was with his back up against the wall, in the 7th of 8 places in the final heat, the last run of the day. And on the last run of the entire Winter X Games, he showed why he is the world's Olympic gold medalist snowboarder. He snatched the first place spot with a score an entire point higher than the prior first-place holder.
(1) Shaun White, (2) Kevin Pearce, and (3) Antti Autti on the podium
It started snowing hard so we headed on home. I also happened to break my camera at the X Games. Poor camera, a casualty of good vacationing.
Day 4
Tim and I stayed in as he had to do work and I, well, didn't want to spend the dough since I'm now a couch bum. So we bummed free internet from Starbucks while sipping on our lattes all day.
But for dinner, we had the brilliant idea - spurred on from watching a deer totally get 0wn3d by a car on the freeway en route to Aspen - of eating as much wildlife as possible. Colorado is an AWESOME place to eat weird junkets, but we stayed away from the bull testicles and went with the safe choices:
Buffalo Carpacchio
Buffalo RibEye
Buffalo Bratwurst, Quaile, Truffle Fries, and Elk
And finally, the deer on the shoulder of the freeway found its way onto our plates. And we gave it a good home.
With that, I leave you with some panoramic pictures from Vail, and lots of love.
Back to the job hunt - and once I find one, we're gonna do the #1 resort in the world next year: Whistler Blackcomb, Canada.
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| | Posted 2/8/2009 5:45 PM - 48 Views - 8 eProps - 5 comments
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