Friday Five - On Tuesday

A wintery fun Friday Five from the RevGals via my friend Lutheran Husker's blog...

1. What is the thermometer reading at your house this morning?
COLD!!!!! It was -9 when I got up this morning in Vail (have been up there on vacation). Pretty much once it gets below 25 or so, I just say it's cold. Really freaking chilly. And once we got back to Denver, I honestly can't say it was too much warmer - it's been so windy today. Woe the wind!

2. Snow—love it or hate it?
I love it - with one caviat - that it falls on the west side of Loveland Pass. I enjoy snowboarding and J is an avid skier (and that's an understatement). We can't do anything with it down here, it gets dirty and ugly way too fast in town. Up in the mountains though - I love it! Not always as it's falling (particularly when it's windy). But powder days means it hurts a lot less when I fall - and I do like that!

3. What is winter like where you are?
Well - being in Colorado...it's cold. But not that bone chilling damp cold. Just plain cold. And snowy now and then in town...lots of snow in the mountains - Vail has seen over 230 inches this season (saw it on the grooming report yesterday).

4. Do you like winter sports? Any good stories?
I snowboard and snowshoe. I enjoy them both. J & I usually head up the hill and ski/ride at least one day each weekend. J would love for me to give the skis another shot and it might happen yet this season, we'll see. I'm just feeling now, mid-way through season 4 of snowboarding that I have the mechanics down and just need to work on the stamina and be more confident - I'm still a little scared of wiping out. I also enjoy watching figure skating and love watching the X Games. Good stuff.

Now - on those previously mentioned freaking cold days - I'm good for about 2 runs down the easy hill and then you'll find me in the lodge - hot chocolate in hand. On the really cold days, the hot chocolate has amaretto & cinnamon schnapps in it too...also very good stuff!

5. What is your favorite season, and why?
So this feels like a cop-out, but I really don't have one. There's something about every season that I look forward to. Winter weekends in the mountains, the warm spring days watching everything turn green again, hiking, rafting and camping in the summer and the amazing colors that come with fall in Colorado. I really can't pick a favorite.

Bonus: Share a favorite winter pick-me-up. A recipe, an activity, or whatever.
Tubing at Keystone - this is sledding for grown ups at it's best! Four lanes, giant tubes, attendants that send you flying down hill. Then at the end, you jump off the tube, pull it over to the side, put it on the carpet, sit down and the covered surface lift takes you and your tube back to the top to do it again. So much fun!

What a day!

The day started way too early...out the door at 6:45am...and ended with 3 hours and 45 minutes in the car. But in between...a fabulous day at Beaver Creek. Neither of us had been there before. It was fun to explore a new place together since neither of us had been there before. The drive up was easy, no snow on the roads and nearly endless powder on the slopes. I think this was day 8 or 9 for me on the slopes this season and we think it was day 16 or 17 for J.

And the best part of the day...after three seasons...well, 2 and a half perhaps, it seems I have finally figured out how to ride on my heelside...and and and...I can switch back and forth now from heels to toes. And and and...I can go FAST. Well, relatively speaking anyway. And from the skier - J conqured a double black today too! Apparently bumps the size of Volkswagon Beetles.

Beaver Creek was nice, it's a gorgeous resort. I kid you not, there were a few snow flurries falling this morning as we rode the Centennial lift up, and they looked like glitter falling from the sky...the finest, shiniest pieces of silver glitter...and they shimmered on the ground too. We thought it looked like the most magical snow we've ever seen.

So then it was time to go home - with such great snow, we left much later than our usual 2pm on Sunday afternoon. I think we were finally getting the car out of the parking lot closer to 3:30. Oh, and we usually leave Keystone & Breckenridge by 2...Beaver Creek is a good jaunt further west. So we chuckled when the sign in Vail said 45 mintues to the tunnel, 2 hours 20 minutes to west Denver. These signs are really cool, they update contstantly I think there's about 4 or 5 of them between Vail and Denver. So we kind of laughed a little at the next sign when we had driven 20 minutes and the new sign said 2 hrs 15 min to Denver.

It was 7:15 when we finally pulled into the parking lot at my place. And we agreed - it was a fantastic day.