By 7:00, I had eaten a surprisingly good breakfast of eggs, sausage, and grits in the terminal and was beginning to see some familiar faces. Soon, we were off for Colorado. Upon arriving in Denver, we gathered up our luggage and started looking for the bus from Keystone Resort......but it wasn't there. A few phone calls, and it showed up about 15 minutes late. We did the usual stopover to buy groceries.....30 folks descending on an unfamiliar grocery store at the same time, all buying food for a week is total chaos, but sort of fun.
Back onto the bus and off to Keystone. Denver had a little snow on the ground, but it was not until we approached the Eisenhower Tunnel before we started seeing good snow (over a foot deep). After checking in, we found that four of our six condos were in Keystone Gulch...which are a bit nicer and bigger than our usual stay at Flying Dutchman condos....and we hope to stay in the Gulch again in the future. Our condo had to cook the first night, so we all chipped in and turned out a very good chicken cacciatore over rice or pasta, garden salad, and brownies.
On day 2, I skied with David, Dorothy, Sue, and Steven.....and then piled into the hot tub for some relaxation. Day 3 brought on the sore legs a little....I again skied at Keystone, mainly with Sue, Dorothy, and David....although Dorothy and David are better skiers that I am. Day 4 I headed over to Breckenridge....nice skiing there. Sue and I stuck together for most of the day. All went well, except for one very STEEP hill that we got onto after a recommendation for an innocent sounding ski trail called Volunteer. Although it did offer a stunning view, the view was mostly vertical. Eventually, we made it down and called it a day of skiing, and we decided to go shopping a bit in the town of Breckenridge.
Day 5 brought horrible news that Sue's mother had passed away suddenly and unexpectly. Sue packed up and caught a ride back to Denver to fly home. I went back to Breckenridge. That night, Lisa and I decided to slurge and we went to the Alpenglow Stube for dinner. FANCY FANCY FANCY.......now I may sound like a country bumpkin, but I have NEVER eaten a more high-brow place than the Alpenglow Stube. For starters, it is a AAA Four Diamond restaurant for the past 11 years and is rated as the 7th best restaurant in Colorado by Zagat's.....Keystone also boasts the best restaurant in Colorado as per Zagat, but it isn't as adventurous of a trip getting there. To go to the Alpenglow Stube, you take not one, but two gondolas (with warm blankets!). The restaurant sits on top of the North Peak at an elevation of over 11,400 feet. You arrive and they check your coats and offer warm fuzzy slippers to wear...rather than your cold snow boots. In the six course meal that I chose, I had a selection of breads with hummus and duck fois-gras, a wilted spinach salad in a balsamic vinegrette with a pastry bread stuffed with meats and cheeses, a lemon and rose-water sorbe, veal and scallops with baby veggies, and a blueberry and pear strudel. Magnificent!
The last ski day was spent at Keystone. I felt like I improved my skiing quite a bit this year. I just wish I could go more often. We caught the bus back to Denver and flew back to Atlanta......then the shuttle back here...I ended up getting home about 1:30am.....rough going to work at 7:30, but I did it.
