I <3 Colorado

Denver pretty much combines everything I love into one place: tons of dogs; outdoorsy pursuits like skiing, biking, and running; parks; 300 days of SUNSHINE a year. I think I might just have to move there someday soon. It is the closest thing I have found to heaven on earth. Ok, maybe I'm over-exaggerating out of exhaustion, but it ranks WAAAAAY up there.

(Kevin and me at Vail)

Kevin and I had a blast skiing, hanging out with his sister and brother-in-law, and riding all around the city on bikes. The weather was really nice while we were out there -- with temps reaching the 60s in the city, and hovering around 35 in the mountains.

(The crew at A-basin -- I'm the one in the middle with the white helmet)

The snow conditions on Friday and Saturday were less than ideal, but a few inches of snow and warm/sunny weather on Sunday more than made up for it. We skied Vail on Friday, a non-resort mountain called Arapahoe Basin (A-basin) on Saturday, and Breckenridge on Sunday. The mountains were all about 1.5 hours from Meghan and Matt's house (Meg is Kevin's sister). At A-basin we parked right next to the lift -- Beachfront parking as they call it -- and cooked some breakfast on the hibachi grill.

(View from Breckenridge)

Despite not having skied in almost 5 years, I managed to keep up with Kevin, Meg and Matt -- cruising down black and double black diamonds. I even did a few jumps in the mini-terrain park. I reached my limit on the "Extreme Conditions" runs and had to slide down a nearly sheer cliff on my butt. Oh well -- maybe next year.

(Sliding down the cliff)