Chapter 1. A Busy Day to Get Ready to Leave
Friday was a hectic day. A school we are considering for Lily (for next year) was having an open house, and we ended up spending about an hour there before taking Brian to work, and we had to drop Nala off at the groomer too. And then there was last minute shopping and errands to do, packing, all the usual. Then we picked Nala up from the groomer, took her to her cousins house (where she would stay for the next few days), and picked up Brian’s mom who was coming with us. One more stop to pick up Brian from work, and we were on our way!
We usually get a rather late start on these trips, but we were on the interstate before 5pm, not bad at all! We stopped in Denver to eat dinner at Noodles, having convinced Brian we needed something relatively quick and easy. We had run into some bad traffic on the interstate, and the stop ended up being a good idea, because it had cleared by the time we were done.
Owen got a little grumpy in the car a few times, he really doesn’t like road trips, especially after dark. He does love going through tunnels though, and smiled from ear to ear as we went through both the short and long ones on the way.
We arrived, and got checked in and into our condo well before 9pm, that’s got to be a new record! We had a 3-bedroom at the Mill Club this time. having stayed at Tucker Mountain for the last 2 years, I knew we would miss it a little, but the Mill Club was in the same part of the resort, and the condo was huge! The kids were excited that their room had bunk beds. Two sets actually, with a trundle under each. I guess you could sleep 6 in that one room, pretty impressive. Owen loved going up and down the ladder, but throughout the trip would often be undecided about whether to sleep on the top or bottom, and did some of both.
Getting everyone settled down and into bed on the first night of a vacation can be a challenge, and this was no exception. But finally we were all tucked into bed. Unfortunately, our condo overlooked the Escobar, and they were partying loudly over there well past midnight. Made it a little hard to sleep. Oh well.
We were up bright and early on Saturday morning. We made breakfast in the room, and Brian and Lily got suited up for their day of skiing. Lily was signed up for ski school. She hadn’t done it the last several years, since her last experiences frustrated her. They seemed to spend more time inside drinking hot chocolate than actually skiing, so she had decided her time was better spent just skiing with Brian. But I convinced her that now, being older and a better skier, she was likely to be in a group that did more real skiing. So she was ready to give it a try again.
We hadn’t rented skis yet, so I stayed in the room with Owen while they headed over to Copper Sports. I was initially planning to rent hers in West Village (near Ski School) but didn’t want to have to drag Owen over there if I could help it. We were off to a little later start than I had hoped, so once Brian’s mom was up, I left Owen with her and went to help Lily. Once she had her skis, we were off to The Schoolhouse at West Village!
The line to check in was long, we were hot in our coats, Lily was stressed because she didn’t have her snow pants or ski boots on yet… it was not a fun way to start the day. But finally we were outside by the Ski School flags waiting to talk to an instructor. I first stood by the green/blue flags, hoping Lily would get put in something other than a beginner group. But the instructor that came to talk to us didn’t seem to think she was ready, and sent us back to the green flag area 🙁
It was much more chaotic over there, and when someone finally did talk to us, Lily kind of froze up and couldn’t even show him that she knew how to do the pizza stop. Rats! I was frustrated for sure now. I didn’t want her to end up in a beginner group all day! But there was nothing else to do now, he had told her which group to stand with, and it was time for me to leave her. Hopefully they would sort it all out later once they were on the slopes.
I told her goodbye, and headed back to the busses. Initially I had thought I would do just a little snowshoeing, but I was now stuck carrying her snow boots, and had already been gone from Owen longer than I meant to be with the whole ordeal of getting her checked in.
Chapter 3. Critterland!
Back in the room, we had about an hour to entertain ourselves before Critterland would be open. Critterland is the children’s play area, over in East Village, that unfortunately doesn’t open until 11am. Really bad timing for little kids, since that’s about when the whole lunch/naptime part of the day begins. But hopefully we would have a little time there anyways. We played with some of Owen’s Jake and the Pirates toys he had brought with him to pass the time 🙂
I had also gotten a message from USAA while I was gone with Lily, apparently there was a security concern with our credit card and they had put a block on it. Turned out some bogus charges from Paris, France tried to go through! Fortunately USAA knew better, declined them, and immediately locked the account. But now they would have to send us new cards, so we would be without ours for the next few days. That is the main card we use, so we would have to rely on my spare Disney card.
Finally it was time to go to Critterland! Grandma decided to come with us. Owen loved riding the bus. He would always say “Thanks for the ride, bus!” when we got off, it was too cute! We had to stop by the desk to get our tickets, then it was time to play! He had a blast, of course. There was a playground with a slide, a small tubing hill, a tunnel (with a snow mountain on top of it, the Critterland playhouse, and several other snow toys. Owen spent time on all of them. We were lucky to be having very mild weather (though the skiers surely wished it would snow instead of being so sunny!). Nice for playing in though.
We stayed for almost an hour, then knew we had to head back to get lunch ready. Owen saw the bigger tubes for the tubing hill right next door and kept asking to go over there, but we had tickets for that on Monday. Hopefully he would be as excited about it then – getting him to try new things can be a challenge sometimes.
It was a good thing that we had to take a bus back, instead of telling Owen that we had to leave, we could just tell him it was time to go ride the bus again, and he was plenty happy to go along. Otherwise, it might have been a struggle. On the way to the bus, we got a surprise – Smokey the Bear came walking down the sidewalk (under the “tunnel of flags”, as Owen called it). Unfortunately, Owen was not amused. In fact, he was rather terrified. So much that Smokey took the hint and crossed to the other side of the road so we could get past without a total meltdown. Oh well. Still holding out a little hope that he won’t react that way to Mickey when we go to Disney World, but not much.
I got a text message from Lily while we were waiting for the bus – she was having lots of fun and doing well. That was a relief for sure, especially after the hectic way I had left her. I always used to say I wouldn’t be one of “those” parents that got their kid a cell phone, but at times like this, I’m so glad I changed my mind 🙂
Back in the condo, we fixed some tacos for lunch and Brian came back from his morning of skiing to join us. Eating lunch in the room is one of the big advantages to staying onsite, at least to me. The restaurants get so crazy busy at lunch time, and the food is only mediocre and over priced. Plus, it’s so stressful having to wait in line, then search for a table, and just commotion all around. This is much more relaxing!
After lunch, Owen said he wanted to take a nap, and I had a feeling it was too early, but thought maybe he really was worn out from Critterland. My instinct was right though, and he was back up within a few minutes. I’ve learned that you really have to wait until he is truly exhausted to put him down for a nap. Otherwise, it’s a no-go. With Lily it was always just the opposite, so it took me a while to adjust. I let him play some more, and hoped he would be ready a little later to sleep.
Finally, it was getting close to when I needed to leave to pick Lily up, and I had hoped to leave him (asleep) with his Grandma, so we tried again. Took a little coaxing (it’s always harder when we aren’t at home), but he managed to drift off just in time for me to go. Grandma was taking a nap too, hopefully he wouldn’t wake up while I was gone and panic that I wasn’t there.
Chapter 4. Tuckers Tavern and Toy Story to End the Day
I made my way to West Village and waited at the Ski School pick-up area. When she did ski school before, she was in the little-kid groups that did drop off and pick up inside, but both were outside (and a lot less organized) now that she was older. But hopefully that was another sign that they took the skiing part more seriously for the older kids.
Her group was the last one back, of course, about 10 minutes late. I was feeling a little unsettled about being gone from Owen for so long, but knew that I was being silly. He surely would never even know I had been gone. About the time her group got back, I realized I hadn’t brought the pick-up card that identifies me as her “authorized pick-up”. I know in the younger groups they are very picky about that, and hoped they wouldn’t make me go all the way back for it! Fortunately her instructor didn’t even seem to notice or care, and just gave me a quick report on how she did, then appeared to be done with us.
She had had a pretty successful day, her teacher said she did even better after lunch. I think she was the best skier in her group, but it wasn’t totally below her, and they spent a LOT of time skiing, unlike the little-kid lessons. We got back to the room pretty quickly thanks to some good luck with the bus, and dropped her skis off in the ski locker (one complaint about Mill Club was that our ski lockers were in the garage, not nearly as convenient as having them right in the lobby, at Tucker Mountain).
As I suspected, Owen appeared to have slept the whole time, and Grandma too. Lily played around a little, but complained of being bored, then said she was going to go lay down in bed. She ended up falling asleep almost immediately, no surprise!
Brian got back from skiing about 30-minutes later (the lifts had just closed). Everyone woke up about that time, and we relaxed and hung out a bit, then Lily wanted to go ice skating. I had brought my ice skates, knowing that her feet are almost as big as mine now, and Brian rented some at the Market. The rink was right below our room, and our balcony looked right down at it!
Owen and I walked around on the ice a little, then he wanted to explore the village some more. So we walked out by the lifts, and he was just taking it all in. Then we played some more on the ice and in the surrounding snow, Lily and Brian were having a blast skating! Last time we tried to skate here, Lily didn’t like it at all. Glad to see her enjoying it now.
We decided to hit up our traditional favorite at Copper Mountain – Tuckers Tavern! It’s a small pizza place, tucked away in the corner of a condo building on the other side of the creek. It’s not a bad walk at all, though Owen was being a bit slow. It was also much busier than usual, but at least there was one table left for us. Right next to the live musician! Owen loved watching him sing and play his guitar. The service was a bit slow, and they messed up my part of the pizza a little, but as always they are very nice and it was a good evening in spite of it.
Even though dinner had taken longer than expected, it still wasn’t that late when we got back so we decided to watch Toy Story! Owen hadn’t seen the movie, though he already knew and loved both the Buzz Lightyear and Woody characters. We had some technical difficulties getting the TV/DVD player to work, but finally figured it out. Owen was fascinated the whole time, and hardly moved an inch from his spot next to Brian on the couch.
By now it was 10pm -time for bed! Another big day awaits tomorrow. And hopefully the partying next door at the bar wouldn’t keep us up too much.
Chapter 5. My Own Adventure in the Snow
We were up pretty early again on Sunday. We kept setting an alarm, but would always wake up well before it went off. Lily was going skiing with Brian this morning, so of course they wanted to be at the lifts when they opened at 8:30. And Owen was going to daycare, or ‘School’ as he called it. He seemed excited to go, and was all smiles while I was getting him checked in, but as soon as they took him into the playroom, the waterworks started! I felt horrible leaving him like that, but figured that once I was gone he would get distracted and be just fine.
I was headed over to West Village for some snowshoeing, finally! I was very ready for some solitude and adventure, so I quickly put my distress over leaving Owen out of my mind. This was my one chance to do something just “for me”, afterall! i got my snowshoes rented, and headed for the trailhead. Last year, Lily and I did a guided tour here, so I knew just where to go.
Got my snowshoes strapped on with only a little difficulty, and then had more difficulty getting my telescoping poles adjusted properly, but then I was on my way! The area seemed deserted today, last year it had been quite busy. Hopefully I wouldn’t get lost! When assuring Brian that I would be fine going on my own, I had told him how there were LOTS of people over here, and if I ran into trouble it surely wouldn’t be more than a few minutes before someone came along. That didn’t look to be the case today. Oh well. I would just have to be extra careful.
The weather was beautiful. So beautiful, that within a few minutes, I was HOT! I stopped and peeled off several layers, and was glad I had brought a small backpack to carry them in. Now, I was ready to begin my adventure for real 🙂 Almost immediately, the trail forked. I could go to the right, which mostly seemed to follow along below the interstate, or to the left, up a very steep hill and then into the woods. After a little hesitation, I chose the latter. Seemed for adventurous and peaceful, anyway.
That first hill was probably the most challenging part of the whole day. I barely made it up, on hands and knees, and hoped I’d be able to get back down! After that, it was mostly just gentle ups and downs. So peaceful though, once I was back in the woods. I still hadn’t seen another soul, and the snow was falling now, but very gently.
I stopped a few times to take pictures, but I know they won’t really do it justice. It was amazing though! Definitely the combination of solitude and adventure that I had been looking for. Occasionally the birds would sing, and there was always the distant hum of the interstate (which I was grateful for, because in case I got turned around and lost my way, I knew I could use it to figure out the right way back!) But otherwise, it was just silent.
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A few times I thought I heard something moving in the brush, but never saw anything. At one point, I did come pass a cross, made of sticks, with something hanging from it. At first it freaked me out a little, but upon closer inspection, the object hanging from it appeared to be a dog leash. Then it made sense. I spent a few minutes here, and my thoughts naturally wandered to the dog buried next to me, who had no doubt loved to run this very trail with his owner. How fitting that this should be his resting place. I found myself getting a little teary-eyed, over this dog I didn’t even know.
The trail had forked several times, and I appeared to be on a loop of some sort, but I had no idea how long it was, so finally decided I had better just turn back. Brian and Lily would be back soon looking for lunch, afterall!
The way back seemed even easier and more peaceful, perhaps because it was more downhill, and also I no longer had to worry about getting lost. What an awesome way to spend the morning! I think I’ve found my winter sport 🙂
Chapter 6. Tubing and a Fancy Dinner (that Owen slept through!)
We all met back in the condo for lunch – spaghetti today! Lily had a great morning skiing with Brian, though it had started out a little rough. On their very first trip up the chair lift, she dropped one of her poles! It landed in about the most difficult spot to retrieve possible, in some thick woods near a closed trail. But Brian somehow managed to go rescue it, and the rest of the morning had been fun, though less eventful.
He was headed back out to ski more after lunch, but Lily and I had tubing plans! We made our way to East Village, did the usual fill-out-a-liability-form-for-every-single-person-every-single-time-you-do-anything ordeal, and were off to the Hill! But then… Lily realized she hadn’t brought her sunglasses. And it was BRIGHT! Full sun this afternoon, despite having been snowing earlier. So, we went back in and bought her a pair, though it meant she wouldn’t be able to see as clearly since of course they weren’t prescription. Oh well. And she got a cloth trail map of the mountain, which she thought was the coolest thing ever.
Tubing was lots of fun, as always. We got a double tube this time so we could go down together without having to hang on to each other tubes. The tubing lanes were running pretty fast today, since the afternoon sun was making everything a bit icy. (I guess tubers tend to like just the opposite conditions as skiers, lol!) We were asking the attendants to spin us every time, and I took a few videos of us going down with my camera. We would have to take it a lot easier tomorrow, when we bring Owen for sure.
We ended up being the very last ones from our session to make the last run down the hill, so I guess you could say we certainly got “all” of our time. We decided to spend just a few minutes in the hot tub after we got back, before I had to go pick Owen up. Another disadvantage of Mill Club is that its hot tub is inside. It’s more fun to sit outside and let the snow fall on you, but it wasn’t snowing right now anyway. Brian got back from skiing about the time we came back from the hot tub, and then it was time to go pick Owen up from daycare. As I suspected, he had been fine within a few minutes of me leaving, and got mad now that it was time to go.
I took both kids to the skating rink for a little while, Lily did more of her thing, and Owen met a slightly older girl that he got to be buddies with. They played in a snow fort, and found a “slide” down one of the snowy hills next to the rink!
We were hoping to go to Covered Bridge Grill for dinner. It is a very nice restaurant here at Copper, and last years’ visit with Owen had been challenging to say the least. But the food was so good, we were determined to try again. It was just a short walk from our building, and fortunately they weren’t busy at all. Owen as getting a little whiney already as we came in, hopefully this wasn’t a bad idea!
Almost as soon as we were seated, I looked over, and he had fallen asleep with his head on the table! Or actually, on the Pooh book we had brought with us. Hmmm. Well, if he’s sleeping, he quiet, I suppose. So we just left him alone. The servers couldn’t help but smile and giggle a little everytime they passed.
He did wake up though, just before the food came, and was not too happy. He spent most of the meal trying to go back to sleep on my shoulder, but at least he wasn’t being loud and rambunctious. The food was great, as always, and overall the meal had gone rather smoothly.
Back in the condo, we watched the x-games for a bit on TV. They always seem to be on while we are skiing, I guess we unintentionally go the same weekend every year. And it’s cool watching them, knowing that they are going on live just down the road a bit in Aspen.
Getting everyone to bed and to sleep was getting to be easier, as we were all getting more exhausted! One more full day to go.
Chapter 7. Swimming and More Tubing…with Owen???
Monday morning was just like the others, up, dressed, breakfast, all of us off to our respective activities. I was taking the kids swimming this morning, since our tubing tickets weren’t until 11am (that’s when the hill opens) and Lily really needed to get in a little practice since she is missing practice at home, and has a meet next weekend!
We took the shuttle over to the Athletic Club, got checked in, and were in the water with surprisingly little difficulty. It was a bit cooler than is comfortable, but not bad once we got used to it. We had he place entirely to ourselves. Owen mostly wanted to ride around on a noodle, and Lily worked a bit on her strokes and turns. Then we sat in the hot tub for a few minutes to warm up. Owen really wanted in, even though he was much too young, so I let him put his feet in and sit on the step just for a minute. I am not a “rule-breaker” though so it made me very nervous.
We stopped by the store to get a couple of things we needed for lunch on the way back. I will say, the one nice thing about Mill Club is that it is right next to Mountain Market, where we end up going at least once a day for some forgotten or run-out-of necessity. I was planning to make chicken-noodle soup, and needed to get it in the crock pot before leaving for tubing.
Somehow the time seemed to have gotten away from me, and we ended up being very rushed, and a little late, getting out the door for tubing. So rushed, that both Lily and I forgot our gloves. And it was much colder today than it had been yesterday. Shoot! Well, we would have to make the best of it. I at least wanted Owen to get to try it out a little after being so fascinated with it the other day.
We arrived right as they were letting the 11am group in, so at least we hadn’t missed anything. Owen happily jumped right into a double tube, and was all smiles going up the Magic Carpet. Even said “This is fun!” a couple of times. I was assuming that with all the fresh snow falling, the runs would be a little slower. But our first run was still pretty fast, and Owen seemed less than pleased afterwards.
Hmmm. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea afterall. He said he didn’t want to go again, so we sat on the bleachers while Lily went by herself. When she came back, he decided he would give it another try. Unfortunately, on this second run, I choose our run poorly. I picked the second lane, thinking that maybe it would be a little slower than the first. As the attendant was letting go of our tube, he shouted, “Be sure to hold on, this one has the JUMP!”. Great, just great! Would have been nice to know that before it was too late. Owen was quite unhappy after this run, and after making it back to the bleachers sat down and said “I’m DONE!”
I was a little sad that he didn’t like tubing, but very proud of him for giving it not one, but two tries, and also for not having a total meltdown when we got of, especially the second time when he was visibly upset. Small victories, I suppose. Lily and I took turns going and staying with him a few times, he mostly played in Critterland (right next to the tubing hill). We technically didn’t have Critterland tickets today, but honestly, they never check anyway, and we had paid twice that much for our tubing tickets so that should be good enough.
We were getting cold, especially since Lily and I didn’t have our gloves, so we headed back a little early. Not quite the success I was hoping for, but at least Owen got to try it, and I did have a couple of really fun runs on my own while Lily was with Owen. We ran into Brian at the base of the East Village lifts, as we were headed back to the bus, and told him about our tubing adventure. He agreed to go back up the lift and ski down to Center Village (while we were taking the bus back) so we could eat lunch.
The soup was ready in the crock pot by the time we all got back, and I made some hot ham-and-cheese sandwiches to go with it. I like making chicken-noodle-soup, but I don’t use a recipe at all, and since I can’t taste it while I’m cooking (I don’t eat meat), I always wonder it it will come out okay. It seemed to be a hit though 🙂
Chapter 8. Lily does the “Crazy Blues”… in Powder
Brian and Lily took off to ski afterwards. The snow was coming down hard, and I wondered if Lily would do okay. She doesn’t like skiing in powder, or at least hasn’t ever in the past. I assured her she could come back to the room at any time though. Owen played for a while, then was ready for his nap, with only a few tears. I took advantage of a few quiet hours to catch up on laundry, cleaning, and started writing this report.
Eventually, Brian and Lily returned, they had had a blast skiing in the powder, and Lily had discovered that it wasn’t so hard afterall. In fact, Brian said that he had been taking her on “crazy blues”, and she had done great. As usual, Lily got restless pretty quickly and refused to take a nap like yesterday, but Brian took her to the hot tub and that was a hit.
For dinner we decided to go over to East Village, to eat at JJ’s Tavern. We were determined not to go back to the sub-par Mexican place in Center Village that for some reason we can never stay away from. We had eaten lunch at JJ’s several years ago, and the dinner menu looked good. Besides, Owen loved riding the bus, and this would give him one more chance, since we were leaving tomorrow.
The busses definitely don’t run as often in the evenings, but we didn’t have too long a wait at least. JJ’s was almost empty, actually all of Copper was seeming almost empty now that the weekend was past. I suppose next year we’ll probably be stuck on a school schedule and only able to come on holidays, might not see it this empty again! There was a noisy group in the bar, and we got a little amusement out of watching them, but they left before too long.
Dinner was good, although Brian and Lily were being a bit goofy. Something about Post-Apocolytpic Pocahontas in Acapulco? I have no idea how we ended up there, but it was an evening of strange conversation anyway. I’ll just leave it at that. We had been considering going over to Escobar after the kids were in bed, but thought after dinner we might just be up for a movie in the room instead.
Getting back to the room was no small task though. Outside, East Village was totally deserted. No sign of a bus, or anyone, for that matter in sight. And it was COLD!! I had at first suggested we wait inside until we saw the bus coming, figuring we could run out and catch it in time. No one else wanted to, but we were about to revert to that plan after a while, then finally it came. The kids had been trying to hide and play in the snow, and clearly weren’t dressed for it, making the wait even more stressful.
Back in the room, we decided to watch Monsters Inc. It’s one of my very favorite Disney movies. Owen hasn’t really warmed up to the stuffed Sulley we have at home, maybe seeing the movie would help. And of course somewhere in the land of unrealistic dreams, I was still holding out a little hope that he’d be up for meeting them at Disney World. I know, I know, not gonna happen. He seemed to enjoy the movie though.
Then it was off to bed for one last night in our condo. What a great winter vacation it’s been!
Chapter 9. Just a Little More Skiing, then Home
Tuesday morning was similar to every other morning so far, up early and breakfast in the condo. We were leaving today, but instead of heading back first thing like we had planned, Brian wanted to get in just a little more skiing. The snow had continued to fall the last afternoon and night, and now there was lots of fresh snow on the slopes. We had only gotten 3-day lift tickets with out lodging package, but it just so happened that a few weeks earlier, I had won a pair of Copper lift tickets as part of a Marathon Week challenge at the gym. Brian thought maybe he and Lily would make a day trip up here something later in the winter, but it seemed more appropriate to just use them now. Or at least he was going to use one, Lily thought she was done for trip. Until she wasn’t. And got sad that Brian was going without her. So I hurried her to get dressed and ready, and she took off to ski some more afterall.
Once they were gone, we set about packing up the room. It always seems so overwhelming at first, but room by room, it comes together. I hadn’t expected Lily to ski more than an hour or so, since it was so cold today. But it was almost 11am before Brian called me to come meet them at the base. Lily had been doing great, until the last run when her hands finally froze up. She was a little upset, but once she got warm she cheered up, and I reminded her not to let the one bad run at the end dampen the whole morning. She had done some really hard runs and had a great time afterall.
Brian skied just a little more, then we got the car loaded and headed out, just a couple minutes past our noon-checkout time. We stopped in Frisco for lunch, at Log Cabin Cafe. Last summer we biked here from Copper and had lunch. That day, we were grateful for the break in the AC and chance to escape the heat. Today, we were grateful to get in out of the cold and snow! One of the things I love about coming here in both summer and winter, it’s fun to see the contrast in seasons.
The drive home was mostly uneventful, except for a semi-truck shredding a tire right in front of us! Brian did a good job dodging the debris though and we came through unscathed. We took his mom home, picked up the dog, then made it home just in time for Lily to get ready for swim practice.
Every year once we are back from our winter vacation, we start itching for spring. No more fear that it will come early and melt all the snow. So, bring on the warm weather!!
