Family Ski Party at Vail

Last Wednesday, Jason, Leslie and Jordan came to Colorado for a weekend ski vacation at the Vail, Colorado ski resort. We skied Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Even though the resort is a two-hour drive each way, we took the time to visit and look at the beautiful scenery. Jason and Leslie ski, but Jordan doesn't, so while they were at the resort, Jane, Melissa and Bryson took Jordan to the Denver Aquarium, the US Mint, and the Denver Museum. On Friday, James joined us for an epic day on the mountain. A tee-shirt we saw in one of the resort gift shops summarized my personal experience. The shirt said, "If you smell something burning, don't worry, it's only your thighs". Vail is so big and wide in some places that you can be fooled into thinking a run is short when in fact it may be more than two miles long. By the time you've skied to the bottom your legs ache so much from the lactic acid build up in your muscles they shake. Thursday we had about 6"-12" of fresh powder and were almost alone on the mountain in the morning. Friday we had amazing sunshine (like in the picture below), and Saturday we were following the grooming snow cats down the mountain and had fresh groomed runs. One of the magical things that happened is that moisture condensed out of a clear blue ski and fell as light glittery snow that sparkled like diamonds in the sunlight. But what a great time we had! From left to right: Papa Randy, Jarom, Leslie, Jason, James and Seth.