the last weekend of ski season - finally...skiing

Ack!  A week without internet!  Here is the final installment of our ski trip...from a week ago.  And just FYI...I woke up to FRESH SNOW on the ground this morning!!!!!  Ok, so most of it has already melted, but still.........

We left bright and early on Sunday morning because, after our epic journey, we now had to drive to Copper Mountain to ski with the Seester's friends.  

While they've been skiing all season, this is my first time in a year and my second time in two years...you get the picture.  I am not in snowboarding shape.  After one blue run and one green run - the Seester insisted that I actually work on the real technique of switching edges instead of riding my back edge all the time - I needed a break.  

The girls met us here, supposedly called "The Beach," except they didn't have the beach chairs out, which makes it just "A Food Stop on a Mountain".  We all headed up to the top of the mountain from there.

Let me remind you, this is THE last day of skiing at Copper Mountain.  And it's supposed to be spring, which means it's supposed to be warm.  And of course, it's tradition to dress ridiculously on the last weekend.  Or in summer attire.

The Seester's friends have a tradition of wearing their swimsuit tops.  They weren't the only ones, but I was doing my best to stay upright, so didn't have time to be taking pictures of all the girls in bikini tops.  Sorry, men.

Then, of course, the boys had to be included.

And because my poor little body couldn't possibly handle any more, I was fortunate enough to catch these guys.

Apparently even Eeyore enjoys an adult beverage every now and then.

the last weekend of ski season - dogs

Jessica has Hunter, Officer Ryan has Nikki, and Scuba Mike has Deco the Dive Dog, and I didn't realize I was going to miss them so doggone (or is it humangone -- I can't help it...blame my father) much!  Maybe I wouldn't have noticed that I missed them, until there were dogs EV-er-eeee-where!

I mean, don't you just want to tie his ears under his chin?  It makes me want a hound.

We started out in Winter Park, which is kind of like an extension of Boulder, which is synonymous with "hippie".  At Winter Park, you can park as haphazardly as you like and you can tailgate where you see fit.  

There are also signs that say, "All dogs must be on leashes."  As you can see, this rule is stuh-RICT-ly enforced!

And it also makes me wonder how the Pioneer Woman manages to capture all of her dogs' faces. All I managed to capture were a bunch of dog hineys.  

Except for one...he was my favorite.  

Somehow, he managed to remind me of Fred.

the last weekend of ski season - an epic journey

I've got a story about my sister, whom we shall call "the Seester," and her boyfriend, whom we shall call "the Youngin'".  

They would prefer to remain anonymous.  Something about future employers.  That is, until my blog becomes famous.  You know, where you get 500 comments per post.  Rorex, you'd better get busy, my friend.   

So, the Seester invited me to go skiing with them since it was the last weekend of ski season at Winter Park and Copper Mountain.  But as you may recall from my last post, it snowed here.  A lot.  I mean, a lot a lot.  As in, they closed portions of I-70.  Namely the portions we wanted to use.  But the Youngin' was bound and determined to get there come hell or high water!  And get there we did.    

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Please note where I-70 is in relation to Denver and Winter Park. Please note the route we took. Please note this became a mini-roadtrip. Or an epic journey. However you prefer to look at it.

But like all road trips, there are interesting things to see. This is Walden, a pit stop about 4 hours into our 6-hour journey.  Please have a look at the map again. 

 

We were about to turn left out of the gas station, when I happened to look right and see this fantastic moose.  The great thing about blogging is that you have an excuse for taking ridiculous pictures.  

However, I'm not too sure the Youngin', in his overwhelming desire to get to Winter Park, was very thrilled about these picture stops.  But who can take a man seriously when he's wearing goggles?

Of course, I wasn't the only one causing delays.  Snow plows aren't such fast moving vehicles themselves.  

Please appreciate the height and distance of his spray.  The Seester worked very hard to get this picture for me.  P.S. - Those are *finally* the slopes of Winter Park in the background.  

This was around 3 pm.  Lifts close at 4 pm.  

For those of us who don't ski or who don't have season tickets and arrive an hour before the lifts close, we...tailgate.  

Outside.  In the cold.  With wet snow falling.  I'm smiling, but I also have 3 layers of clothes on.  Literally.  The people behind me - they're from Wyoming.  They only have 1 layer of clothes on and they're still smiling.

So what makes a 6-hour drive to a 2-hour destination and tailgating in the snow worth it? 

  

Getting the BEST picture of my sister.  Ever.

Yours truly,

The Snow Wrangler