Wildernest Two

I am not even sure why we have a schedule because keeping it has been next to impossible. We did get off the mountain at Crested Butte with only a minute to spare. The morning half day pass requires you to return to the sales office at 12:30 and turn in your ticket to get a refund so at about 11:45 we are at the chair lift and Roby says lets take one last run. The chair lift itself is about 15 minutes to the top so we would have to bomb it down which would not have been so bad if there were not a few moguls in our way! Our legs were definitely not in ski shape but it was "turn and burn" all the way down with no stopping. We kicked off our skis and ran to the office. The clock on the wall read 12:29. Unfortunately they did not have oxygen for us!!

Our next obstacle was cleaning off the truck. One would not think this would be that difficult but when you come from Hawaii you don't have a snow or ice brush so we "Mcgyvered" it and used the end of our ski poles. A 10 minute job took us about 25. No worries though because the 3 hour drive ended up taking us almost 5. Roby should be on that "ice trucker reality show". The drive over Monarch Pass is not for wimps and especially not for a truck that has never seen snow in it's life. Oh I forgot to mention our windshield wiper fluid line had frozen over so clean windows-not!!!

Flashbacks of playing asteroids best describes the drive over the Pass. We breathed a sigh of relief when we reached civilization but round two was coming-Fremont Pass into Silverthorne. Roby's knuckles were white but he showed no signs of stress. Thank God it was spring and the days were a bit longer giving us more daylight! Like I knew how bad it was driving but navigating through this storm was a hard job.

5 hours later the pretty site of Silverthorne was wonderful, not to mention the bear skin rugs on Dr. K's couches!

We arrived a day early so we were complete "loads" on the couch snuggled in the blankets and the fireplace going. A perfect romantic day!!!!

Then Fun arrived. If you have not met Dr. K you are missing out. He reminds me of Benjamin Button-at the age of 76, he has the energy of a 10 year old!! Before the rest of the gang arrived (MaryKay, EJ,Gabby, and Megan) we headed to the market for some food to cook up a storm. Dr. K was craving some "red meat" because he is deprived of it at home-so while the cat is gone-he had to buy some steaks. We were not properly equipped to cook them so we "borrowed" the neighbors grill since they were not there. Dr. K was in heaven!

The Laderer kids are surely growing up and it is not good that Gabby is taller than me already, but they are lots of fun to be around. It was great meeting Megan, and we expect to see you somewhere along the way.

Morning arrived and again we were not in a hurry. No need to be the first one on the lift, but we did get started before noon about 10:00. We had a perfect day with snow continuing to come down, and the sun was out. As usual MaryKay kicked our butts and made us do mine dump from top to bottom without stopping. Whoo-Whoo MK. I don't like that she has a season pass and is in ski shape. Although the workout was very much needed since all we have been doing is eating and sitting. I think I have developed "Colorado Hip Disease". Once again, we called it quits about 3:30 but Dr. K had to be on the last lift at 4:30 pm. This called for a few beers while we waited.

We were beat-doing moguls all day long will take it out of you. The spaghetti dinner was a welcome site. You know how sometimes your muscles talk to you-well mine were saying give me more carbs!! There is no rest and we had to be ready for Round Two. Dr. K's friend Dave is an Ambassador at Copper Mountain so he gave Roby and me a free ticket for Sunday. Very few things sweeter than a free ski pass. People are definitely taking care of us along the way. Our first ticket was discounted by MK and Gabby's season pass. We certainly know the right people. MK did not lighten up on us the next day, Copper Bowl was calling our names. Although we did not get any new snow-the weather was a perfect blue bird day! Roby and I were lucky because Dr. K was only able to ski until 2:30 because it was Sunday and he had to get home. So, a few less hours of torture for us.

We had the condo Sunday night to ourselves and contemplated leaving Monday afternoon but that did not work out for us. The weather turned nasty again and high winds blew all night and the next day. Oh darn-we had to spend another day under the bear skin rugs!! We just love the Silverthorne Condo. It just feels like home. Actually all things Kennedy feel like home to me. You have to love the Kennedy clan-special people they are!!

Tuesday morning came and motivation kicked in. (Right!) Well we got started around 1:00pm. Next Stop the long awaited MOAB Adventure.