Beaver Creek Trail Map
I take an early flight from Dallas (where I’ve been working since October) to Eagle-Vail. I am very surprised upon landing to see no snow at all around the Vail airport. The wicked “snow riding hills” on the road into the airport and completely bare, uncovered by snow. Where exactly did the 24 inches of snow that supposedly fell over the past 7 days fall at? After driving to the Ski House, I found more snow, but still nothing at all like I had expected.
The original vacation plan was for me to fly from DFW to Vail on December 23rd, and then Laurie and the kids (except for Branden) would fly out on Christmas Eve. I will fly back to DFW on January 4th, and Laurie and kids will fly home on the 5th. I grabbed the opportunity to fly out a day earlier! Branden is flying out on December 27th, since he wants to spend Christmas with his girlfriend.
Immediately after landing in Vail and getting a rental car, I stopped by Costco for the first (of many) stock-up trips. Since we are spending almost a full 2-weeks in Beaver Creek, we’ll need lots of supplies. I made a quick (1 hour) run through Costco and got out with only about $300 damage (a new record, at the low-side for a Costco run).
The Ski House is as beautiful as ever. It’s a magnificent design, with thick wooden beams overhead, solid-heavy planked flooring, marble countertops, stone fireplaces, and much more.
Ski House Great Room from loft above
December 23, 2010. I went straight to the Arrowhead Village ski pass office to pick up our Epic Passes. This year, the cheapest route (if you wan to call $639 per ticket cheap!) was to buy season passes for the family. Even though all the paperwork had been done online, it still took the best part of an hour to get the Epic Passes printed, and getting Emily and William 5-day Peaks Cards (also ski passes).
Epic Passes
The other big task of the day was to buy a new TV for the Ski House. I looked at Costco, but everything there was nice, but too expensive. Then, I went to Walmart this weekend and found a 55″ Vizio. It took a longgg time to get it purchased, and then…the big question…would it fit into my rental car? Luckily, it fit (with less than 1″ to spare). I was able to unload it myself, unpack it, and put it in temporary place on the kitchen table (see following pic), just in time to watch the Steelers’ game.
New 55" TV for Ski House
December 24, 2010. Laurie and the kids will arrive today! Laurie had to get up at 3am to make the 6am flight, and then change planes in Chicago. She’s going to be tired, since she never sleeps the night before one of these super-early flights (well, who can?). I was up most of the night talking to her (I’m 2 hour behind on Mountain Time, so it was 1am when I got up to talk to her).
Trail behind Ski House
I decided to go running this morning. The temperature was about 21F – very crisp with crystal clear blue skies above. A gorgeous, perfect morning. I decided to run on the trail behind the Ski House – which was a mistake, since it was all crusty, messed up hard snow and ice. I ran almost the whole way to Avon on the trail before taking one of the golf course bridges and coming back on the paved trail on the edge of Route 6.
I ended up running almost 3.5 miles in 37 minutes (yes, that’s how bad the trail was!). It was a hard effort, with every footstep threatening to turn an ankle, or breaking through the snow’s crust and almost losing your shoes on foot push-off. But, it was a good workout!
Eagle River
oi….
lindo o seu site…
bom natal e um maravilho 2011;;;
bjs