We rolled into the resort around 5 PM. It turns out that it is very nice, and new (our building was finished in January, 1999). Unfortunately, they did not seem to have a great place for us to store our trailer, but after a day of 'working things out', we ended up at a nearby parking lot of another resort. Apparently, they rent this space for oversized vehicles. This is really the tail end of the season, so it is pretty quiet anyways.
There is actually room for 8 people. There is the normal master bedroom with kingsize bed, jacuzzi tub, shower, TV, and this one even had a built-in VCR. There was another bedroom with a queen size bed and TV, and then there was a little sitting room / den with a pull-out queen size couch. There is also a full kitchen, dining area, and living room. The living room was equipped with a TV, VCR, and complete stereo system. There is also a walk-out balcony (either from the living room or the master bedroom), with a wonderful view of the Beaver Creek ski mountain.
The resort was next to a little lake. Here is a view of the resort from across the lake (taken on one of Pam and Dave's walks .. our resort is pretty much in the middle of this picture):
Note: the blotches in front of the resort are actually deciduous trees that have not started to bud yet.
We organized ourselves (major clean-out of the trailer) and then called Kathie Reece (Pam's friend and our maid-of-honour) who, as it turns out, has a place just around the corner from where we are staying! It was funny, because as we phoned her the line was busy because she was phoning us and leaving a message on the answering machine. We had trouble getting back ahold of her, so we got her address and drove over to where she was staying. Unfortunately, when we got there we did not know the unit number. This was a big problem, since the condominium had maybe 50 units! We drove back to the resort and phoned her again. Heather Lynn was just starting to poke around to get some dinner organized, it being around 7:30. Kathie asked if we had had dinner. We said no, and she invited us out to her favourite restaurant (Chilly Willy's) in a nearby town up the road towards Vail. We had a wonderful dinner (the fajitas were fantastic).
The next day (Monday), Kathie took James, Heather Lynn, and David skiiing at Vail. Kathie teaches there, as does her significant other, Rick. This was superb skiiing! It being our first time out this season, the first couple of runs were more a matter of getting used to the feeling, but it was grand. We did get our confidence up and decided to go for some of the more difficult sections of Vail:
James and David wore out a little quicker, and Kathie and Heather Lynn finished off the skiing with a couple of black diamond runs! Kathie later described to Rick, and then us, that Heather Lynn was about a level 6 skiier (whatever that means).
On Monday night we had Kathie and Rick over for dinner at the resort. A nice stew (compliments of Pam), and strawberry/raspberry shortcake and ice cream was had by all, as well as a wonderful chat. In fact, Kathie and Rick did not get out of here until well after 11:00 PM, and Kathie had to leave for work in the morning (back in Colorado Springs) at 4:00 AM. Yuck.
On Tuesday night we went to a free pizza dinner and met some more people. That evening there was a bingo night back in the games room (pool table room). David won the grand prize that night, a $30 gift certificate to a nearby sports shop. David bought a Vail'99 ski hat (very nice). Comically enough, the hat was made in Toronto, Canada! After the pizza party, David hung around and played pool with a bunch of other people until around 9:30. It was great fun.
The movies at the resort only cost $1 to rent so we watched quite a few during the week (probably around seven). In fact, on April 14 (the anniversary of the Titanic going down) we watched the Titanic movie. This was Pam's first time seeing it. Reba even helped along with her rendition of the theme song ("My Heart Will Go On") on flute:
David, HL, Reba, and Dan headed out to the movie theatre on Thursday. Heather Lynn and Reba saw "Never Been Kissed" (they loved it), and Daniel and Dad saw "The Matrix" (wow, was that ever a neat movie!).
The weather outside was fairly cold all week, and the night-time temperatures were in the teens (or even colder!). We had snow a couple of the evenings, complete with some of the white stuff on the ground the next morning. Ottawa definitely seemed to be getting better weather than us this Colorado resort week! Pam and David did get out on an extended walk (on Saturday, when the weather was actually quite nice) and got a chance to check out some of the local wildlife:
Note: the one on the left is a magpie, the ones on the right are prairie dogs (sorry they are a bit difficult to see).
Well, we had a wonderful time at Avon, near Vail. It's time to head on to see Scott and Perrie Erickson in Fort Collins (Scott is David's second cousin and someone he spent a fair amount of time with in Fresno, California and Dinky Creek California almost thirty years ago).