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January 1-31, 2003
Wednesday, January 1, 2003 Sunny Isles Beach, FL
Christine and I packed up our bags and prepared for our flight to Florida. We said goodbye to Tracy and Chris, our overnight guests from last night’s party. We stopped at my sister, Martha’s house to celebrate the birthday of one of my other sisters, Theresa. Mom & Dad then took us to the airport. We arrived in south Florida late in the evening, but had no troubles.
Thursday, January 2 – Saturday, January 11, 2003 Sunny Isles Beach, FL
Christine and I spent this week and a half just relaxing in the sunny warmth of south Florida. Our friends, Ken & Luma were down here for a separate event, but we were able to get together on three occasions. Otherwise we just enjoyed some down time and daily use of the condo’s well-equipped gym.
My parents flew in this evening for an extended stay at their condo. We picked them up at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale and enjoyed having dinner with them.
Sunday, January 12, 2003 Bradford, KY
Mom & Dad dropped us back at the airport and we flew back to northern Kentucky to prepare for our drive west in the RV. It’s time to go skiing.
Monday, January 13, 2003 Bradford, KY
We spent today absorbed with the tasks involved in getting moved back into the RV.
Tuesday, January 14, 2003 Mt. Vernon, IL
We finally got under way late in the morning. We made a side trip to stop at the Kentucky State Capitol Building in Frankfort. Kentucky became a state in 1792 and has had several capitols since then. The current capitol was built between 1905-1910. Its most impressive feature is the interior naves that meet at the rotunda. It is a beautiful building and succeeds at giving an impression of wealth, though many money saving tricks were used, like the imitation tapestries painted on the walls of the State Reception Room.
The Kentucky State Capitol Building.
Wednesday, January 15, 2003 Junction City, KS
We covered another full day of driving, stopping midway in Jefferson City, MO to visit the state capitol there (our 34th). This capitol sits on a bluff looking over the Missouri River. Missouri became a state in 1822. Several capitols existed before the current one was completed in 1918. The capitol houses offices for all of Missouri’s legislators.
We pressed as far as we could because of all the winter storm warnings that were broadcast throughout the day. It was dark and snowing when we finally pulled over for the night. The forecast had a storm coming southeast out of Nebraska and dumping up to 8” across Missouri overnight. I was hoping that we could get to the western edge of the system.
The Missouri State Capitol.
Thursday, January 16, 2002 Strasburg, CO
We awoke to about three inches of fresh ground cover, but we faced a sunny clear day moving west. There was quickly much less snow as we drove west, but there was a stretch on the edge of storm that dropped freezing rain and sleet on the roadway. The stretches of black ice were hard to discern. We saw several jackknifed semis along the highway—one semi crossed the median just ahead of us and lay on its side stretched across the entire eastbound lanes. We were slow and cautious as we continued into Colorado, avoiding any mishaps.
Friday, January 17, 2003 Breckenridge, CO
We drove into sunny Denver and knocked out a few errands before heading up into the mountains. We checked into the Tiger Run RV Resort, four miles north of Breckenridge. This is the same park that served as our home during most of ski season last year. We got settled in and prepared for a ski day tomorrow. We are both very excited.
Saturday, January 18, 2003 Breckenridge, CO
Christine and I followed the same routine as last year and caught the bus to the base of the slopes at Breckenridge. Today is Saturday of MLK, Jr. weekend. I’m not sure what we were thinking, but we could have picked a better first day of skiing out here. The slopes were very crowded with holiday skiers, and the harsh wind forced the resort to close five of the lifts for safety reasons. This concentrated the crowds at the remaining open lifts. Christine and I quickly tired of these conditions and cut our day short.
Sunday, January 19, 2003 Breckenridge, CO
We made today a much better day by catching the early bus to the slopes and being at the lifts when the mountain opened. The weather was much better, and we got in a great day of skiing before the crowds began to amass. My new skis felt excellent today, and I was quickly skiing at last year’s level, as was Christine.
Monday, January 20, 2003 Breckenridge, CO
We took today off of skiing to avoid the MLK holiday skiers. We went into Frisco/Dillon and got haircuts, did some shopping, and saw a movie: “Lord of the Rings II.” We had expected to meet up with some friends at Keystone for dinner, but ended up rescheduling that for tomorrow evening.
Tuesday, January 21, 2003 Breckenridge, CO
Christine stayed behind today to work on her job search. I enjoyed a full day of skiing in the post-holiday quiet on the mountain. Christine and I drove over to Keystone and met up with Tony and Holli from Cincinnati. They were in Keystone with their two kids for a brief visit with family. We enjoyed catching up with them over a fun meal.
Wednesday, January 22 – Thursday, January 23, 2003 Breckenridge, CO
Christine and I both enjoyed a couple great days of skiing.
Friday, January 25, 2003 Golden, CO
I skied this morning while Christine made some preparations for picking up our friends in Denver tomorrow. We checked out of the campground and drove to Denver. We gave the RV a much-needed bath to arrive at the airport tomorrow clean.
Saturday, January 26 – Friday, January 31, 2003 Breckenridge, CO
We picked up our group on time at the Denver Airport. Christine’s brother, Craig flew in from Anchorage. Our friends Nancy, Carolyn, and Jackie all flew in from Indianapolis. Jackie’s daughter, Megan flew in from Jacksonville. Megan’s boyfriend, Keith flew in later from Jacksonville and joined us in Breckenridge via a rental car.
The eight of us had a perfect 4-bedroom/4-bathroom condo right at the base of Peak 9. It couldn’t have been a better location. We all enjoyed the daily routine of skiing, meeting for lunch, skiing, soaking in the hot tub, imbibing après ski cocktails, and usually eating out for dinner. It was a good group.
We also met up with the Noll family from Cincinnati. They had scheduled their vacation to coincide with our group trip this week. Jimmy and Donna found a condo near ours for their three-day visit. They had brought their three kids: Lauren, Robby and Michael, and felt obligated to arrange for separate accommodations. We were able to meet up with them several times.
The ski conditions these past two weeks have been pretty unspectacular. We got a few fresh inches of snow mid week, but mostly it was sunny and mild. This made for pretty comfortable skiing, but we had hoped for more powder.
The 40th annual Ullr Festival began Tuesday with the start to the International Snow Sculpting Championship. Like last year, the 14 teams are given 65 hours to complete their sculptures without the aid of power tools. The 20-ton blocks of snow are 10-feet square and 12-feet tall. The teams came from the U.S.(4), Canada(4), China(1), Italy(1), Mexico(2), Morocco(1), and The Netherlands(1). The teams faced the unusual challenge of dealing with warm temperatures this week. We all took frequent walks by the sculpture garden to check on the progress of the carvings.
Click here to see pictures of this years Snow Sculpting Championship.
Ullr is the Norse god of snow/winter. Breckenridge has built up quite a tradition of events that relate to this 10-day festival. It begins with the snow sculpting and ends with a parade next Thursday.
As our week together wound down, several of us risked injury to go ice-skating out on Maggie Pond. Carolyn was the only one to display real skill, but the rest of us: Jackie, Nancy, Christine and me all made commendable efforts. The soft warm ice didn’t make it any easier.
We ate a nice meal out at the Blue River Bistro for our last evening together. We enjoyed the food and the live Brazilian music. We all retired fairly early due to the need to get an early start back to the Denver airport the next morning.
1) Carolyn, Nancy, and Craig on the chairlift. 2) Carolyn and Jackie waiting for their crepes. 3) Craig, Christine's brother, and Christine. 4) Carolyn and Jackie. 5) Megan and Keith.
1) Long time friends, Carolyn and Nancy. 2) Nancy, Craig, and Christine. 3) Nancy skiing. 4) Carolyn coming up off a jump. 5) Craig jumping.
1) Craig is a telemark skier. 2) Jackie is the snowboarder of the group. 3) Keith catching some air. 4) Megan skiing. 5) Dinner out, Jackie, Megan, Keith, Craig, Nancy, Christine, and Carolyn.
1)Nancy, Christine, Carolyn, and Jackie ice skating. Christine was definitely the scariest skater, but she probably also had the least amount of practice. Everyone else did great and Joe and Carolyn even raced the length of the pond. 2) There is a great place in Breckenridge that is a little stand and open at all hours, they make all these wonderful crepes, either savory or sweet. As we were standing there one night Donna, Jimmy and family walked by and joined us around the fire outside the crepe place. Jimmy, Robbie, Lauren, Craig, Nancy, Christine, and Donna. 3) And last but not least, the official 2003 Ski picture, Back: Craig, Christine, Megan, and Joe. Front: Keith, Nancy, Carolyn, and Jackie.