Staring Contest

Mark & Gordon like to have staring contests in their Boulder apartment. Their pictures hang on opposite walls of the living room.

Denver

They say Colorado has over three hundred days of sunshine each year. But, this winter, someone forgot to remind mother nature. It was a cold and snowy winter in Vail, Colorado--I invested a small percentage of my income to toe and hand warmers and never felt the need for Spring gloves. So, when the chairlifts stopped spinning on Vail Mountain's closing day, it was time to retreat to warmer pastures.

Less than one hundred miles away, a warmer, more urban city began calling our names: Denver.

Known as the mile high city for it's elevation 5,280 feet above sea level, Denver was still a good 3,000 feet below the town of Vail--which is why we moved from mid-winter snow conditions to Springtime and sunshine in a less than a two hour drive; Goodbye puffy coats, hello short sleeves!

When we arrived, we had a quick peek at our fancy hotel room at the new Hyatt, before we zipped into town on the 16th street mall shuttle. We had planned to go to the lacrosse game, but after learning it was sold out, we decided to grab some grub at Wahoo's Fish Tacos instead.

(Scott; Walt and Francis)
When we entered the first bar in Denver, we were transported to a world miles away from the Ski Bar in Vail. We went to a popular Irish bar on Blake Street. "It's Celtic, like Sell-Tic, no it's Celtic like Kell-Tic," we playfully argued. We had a round and then found ourselves relocating to another bar near Coors field.

Lodo's was the place to be tonight--Not because they didn't turn the boys away for wearing hats, but because of the atmosphere. Our rooftop table with sparkling city lights in the background was a novelty, indeed. It had been a long time since we could enjoy an evening outdoors.

The bar was filled, as it should be on a Friday night. I enjoyed watching the people and wondering what they did for living. It was a slightly different crowd than my beloved snowboarder crew: No hoodies, no beanies, not even a fleece in sight. There were no blatant tourists or fur coats either. Most of the people here a younger, trendier crowd, dressed for success. The women were in heels and girly tops; the men, well-groomed, clean cut and shaven. You could even see their hair, trimmed short and styled above the ears. "We have the longest hair here," the boys chuckled.

(Me & Gergz)
We spent the evening sitting around our rooftop table, laughing and talking nonsense.

(Kylie and Walt)
We celebrated our friendship and our final night together in Colorado.



The next morning came early, and we did our very best to get Gergz to the airport in time for his 8:30am flight. The ticketing agent was kind enough to allow Gergz to fly standby on the next flight in three hours, but could do no favors for the extra heavy luggage.

With a few extra hours, Gergz and I had a lovely little airport experience...a nice breakfast at a French cafe, overlooking the central airport area below. Then, we camped out on our giant-sized trolley with our human-sized hippo-rhino friend.


I wasn't sure if the rhino or Gergz would make it on the next flight, but surprisingly, they both did! Bye Gergz!

Early afternoon, I headed back to the Hyatt to pick up the crew. Francis was ready to start cooking for our Saturday afternoon BBQ at Washington Park. Yeee haw!

The place was filled like Bondi Beach on a summer's day, flooded with twenty-somethings playing volleyball, cornhole, and soaking up the sun. It was just the kind of day we needed.
The evening flew by--I caught some Zs in the hotel room while my buddies went for dinner and drinks. By midnight, I was fresh and ready to meet them for one or two. (Francis and Hershey)

Sunday morning, we requested another late checkout and surfaced when it was time for food. We covered every inch around Federal and Alameda looking for King's Land, a popular Colorado Dim Sum place, but mmm, it was sure worth the search! Kylie especially loved the chicken feet (just kidding).

They say a surefire way to know if a someone is ready for marriage is to see how steady one can pour a cup of tea! Well, it turns out no one will be getting married anytime soon. I'll have to work on making a few less air bubbles next time.

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at Cherry Creek mall, catching up with one of Kylie's old friends, rock climbing near the R.E.I. store, and tasting a bit of Cuban food at the Samba Room on Larimer Square.

It was a full-on weekend, for sure, but certainly a fun way to kiss the season goodbye. BYE EVERYONE!

Closing Day

The final day of the ski season is always a memorable event. Though some of the traditions have changed over the years, some things are always the same: Wake up late--force the new hires to work, meet the crew in the locker room, dress up in the craziest gear you can find, hit the hill for a few hours, dodge a few snowballs at the top of Chair 4, take heaps of photos, wait for the avalanche bombs to go off, and then ride back down (pants, optional) to the after-party at Mezzaluna.

This year was all of that and more.

FRESH TRACKS
The morning started at the crack of dawn; I was up by 5am--I had a show to do! It was the last episode of Fresh Tracks for the 2007-2008 season; the last look at the Honda Sessions and the Bon Appetit Culinary and Wine Focus segments, the last five-day forecast, the last sponsored snow report. Yes, Vail Mountain would be closing today, with 3 inches of fresh snow overnight and three feet in the past week! Everyday is a powder day here in Vail, Colorado, it seems. Who could believe Vail would stop turning the lifts with a 79 inch mid-mountain base! Ridiculous, I tell you, ridiculous. That's what happens when you get one hundred inches more snow than average; a whopping 463 inches of snow this entire season. Luckily though, today, on this final day, Vail finally had a taste of Spring, with sunshine and blue skies in the forecast.

The last show was a colorful one; one with doughnuts and costumes galore. We signed off triumphantly, in Saturday Night Live style. We sang Wyclef's Fresh Tracks theme song in unison, "Everyday is a holiday..."


SUNDAY BRUNCH
After the show, I joined twenty of my closest friends for a Sunday morning brunch at the Austrian-styled Sonnenalp--all you can eat Brekkie for twenty bucks. We dined in style, dressed to the nines in the latest 80's Gaper Gear: spandex stretch pants, leopard print, neon, one-pieces, it was a trip to say the least.


We celebrated Jayne's annual thirtieth birthday and watched her dance to Madonna's Like a Virgin.

SHORT BOARDS
From there, we were off to the children's center at the top of Eagle's Nest, where we screwed bindings to miniature snowboards. There would be ninety centimeters of fun today (compared to my normal 143). We scorched our everyday stomping grounds, spinning 1's, 3's and 5's while lapping the beginners on Chair 15.



The gang then ventured to Chair 2, pulling a few more tricks out of their back pockets...

It was quite a show to see--so many big people on such little boards and skis.

So many complete and utter wipeouts underneath the chairlift.

But, that's all part of the fun--it's the last day of the season!!!


CHAIR 4 @ 4:00
By 3:42 we were in line to ride up Chair four. We stood among dozens of fellow party people outside the ropes at the bottom of chair 4, ready to join the masses of civilians, gapers and goofballs up top.

A final celebration, before the lifts would turn no more.



TROU(SERS)-DOWN
As the sun began to fall and shadows lengthened across the mountain; after the last avalanche bombs went off and after all our ammo was consumed, it was time to strap in our snowboards and shred Vail Mountain for the very last time.

Some people found more creative ways to get down the mountain,

but the majority of the pack screamed down Ramshorn. At Mid-Vail, the tradition lived on...

We shred so hard, our pants fell down!


Pants fell down along Cub's Way, along lower Columbine, and even Born Free.

Pants fell down and stayed down until the Lionshead skier bridge.

After crossing the finish line, we were then able to reclaim our dignity and celebrate a fantastic season at our favorite local hangout, Mezzaluna.

A tribute to three trou-dropping friends who were unable to be here this year: John Evans, Chiara Krusi, and Dive Burton---WE MISSED YOU!