I hope 2022 is off to a good start for you! It isn’t the best around here, but I’m still very positive about the new year and all of the freshness and opportunities it brings. My family has varying degrees of sickness to ring in the new year, but no worries, it’s nothing major. Maybe that’s the price to pay for a week of vacation? Heck, I’d pay it anytime. We spent the week skiing in Colorado. We did this two years ago and said “never again”, and yet, here we are again! After reviewing the kid’s school calendars there was no other time to get away for a week due to high school and college having different spring breaks. What’s “bad” about skiing now? Everything is super expensive and super crowded. To give you an idea on how jacked up the prices are, if you walked up to Vail to get a one day lift pass, it would cost $239. $239 for 1 day of skiing!!!! Granted the “low season” one day pass at Vail is $179, but still, price gouge much? The good news was that we bought lift passes early in the season for a discount and I actually saved $400 on our car rental when I got a last minute deal while waiting for our luggage to unload in Denver. Woohoo!
But don’t get me wrong, vacation is family time and I can’t say I’ve ever regretted the money I’ve spent on vacation. It’s true gift and I look forward to it. It’s like childbirth – I quickly forget about the stress of overcrowded roads and long lines! So let’s get on with it… here’s how our week went:
Mon – Rest day! Travel day. No physical activity today other than hauling luggage, stressing over delayed flights, and sweating the small stuff. LOL! I was so happy that our condo was really nice. Plenty of room for our family and very comfy!
Tues – Skiing at Vail, 18 miles. Today was a mixed bag as my husband was still having breathing issues. I mentioned he had problems on our run last week, and skiing wasn’t much better. We skied a bit easier than normal to accommodate.
To combat COVID spread the resorts now require a reservation at the restaurants (on the mountain) AND proof of vaccination. For some reason I didn’t even think of traveling with my vaccination card, so I’m very thankful for having this info on my phone. This was a bit of problem because we had no where to sit and eat lunch! Luckily we were able to hang out in the bar area where reservations weren’t required. Bad news though – someone accidentally took my daughter’s ski poles while we were dining! Good news was that the ski shop gave us a deal and rented poles to us for $2. Yep, $2 total for 3 days of rental! That was very kind of them.
Weds – skiing at Breckenridge, 11 miles. Breckenridge was a freaking mad house. We waited in crazy traffic to park, and then waited in long lift lines to ski. As I told my family, “lower your expectations and you won’t be disappointed”… and just relax 🙂 Skiing in crowds is always a better day than being at work!
Breckenridge was beautiful at night. We ate dinner and shopped.
Thurs – Skiing at Vail, 17 miles. Luckily my husband was feeling all better now and had no issues with breathing. We had a great day of skiing. Vail is so large it can accommodate larger crowds and you don’t notice the extra people. We found huge patches of fresh snow and even got stuck in the powder. So fun!
I just love the views at the ski resorts! A stunning winter wonderland! It snowed all week so we never saw the sun or a full view of the mountains.
Fri – skiing at Keystone, 20 miles. The resort isn’t 100% open yet but it was still a good amount of runs and we skied all day.
For New Years Eve we played cards and watched the countdown from NYC Times Square. It was super annoying because it was only 10pm in Colorado compared to midnight in NYC. The TV show CUT OUT right before the ball dropped and the show started over again. !!!! What the heck?? I scrambled to find another TV show which was broadcasting live and we made a toast to the new year. I really like ringing in the new year at 10pm 🙂
Saturday- I had great plans to get out and run at least a mile since I packed my running gear, but for some reason I woke up really sick. I felt like I was hit by a truck and drank a 6 pack to celebrate NYE, which is funny because I only had 1 beer and went to bed at 10pm! Ugh. I was moving like a sloth when I woke up, but luckily I was feeling a bit better by the time our flight took off. The flight was delayed and our luggage took 90 mins to unload, but we finally made it home around 11pm. Ah, sleeping in your own bed is the best. A solid 9 hours of sleep for me, and almost 11 hours for the rest of my family.
Sunday – 4 miles, running. I was feeling a bit better other than my sore throat and runny nose. I was able to run/walk 4 miles on my treadmill while I watched TV. The rest of my day will be cross training of unpacking, laundry and cleaning up the house! I confess we still have Christmas wrapping paper laying around our Christmas tree! bahaha!! And, more good news – my husband tested negative, for a second time, so I guess we just have some sort of crud and not COVID. Phew!
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Q: Did anyone stay up until midnight (in their timezone!) to watch the ball drop, or do anything else fun?
It was odd so see so few people in Times Square.
Q: Anyone else feeling sick over the holidays? COVID maybe?
We are getting our booster shots this week. Yay!
I’m usually sound asleep on NYE well before midnight even before I moved to Colorado. Lift ticket prices are crazy at the more popular ski resorts. My season pass @ Loveland is less than two days @ Vail. The parking lot where our group met this morning to run is adjacent to a COVID testing site. There were at least 50 cars in line at 8:00!
Wow about the test line up! We did get notified that Summit County had the highest level of COVID in the US when we were there. Yikes! Luckily we had 2 home tests, but otherwise all of the free home test kits are out of stock around here. I’ll be sure to get a few more when they are available again. Loveland is a fun resort! We haven’t been there in a few years but I’d love to go there again.
Ah, my son wants to go skiing in February, and I did NOT buy any pre-season discount tickets …. I will brace myself because I know it will be a lot of fun once we get there.
We stayed up until midnight, but not much later. I’d much rather get out for a run early on NYD than stay up late NYE. 😉
I now think I got a discount on the lift tickets because I have purchased tickets in the past and am part of the rewards program. Those multi day passes are the way to go so maybe you’ll still be able to get a reduced price! And yes it will be worth it 🙂
Looks like you all had a really fun time skiing so all worth it! Hope everyone starts to feel better. Happy new year and thanks for joining
Hopefully my husband will be able to see the Dr and get something for his congestion and cough. Our marathon training starts this week so we need to start strong!
I’m usually a die-hard NYE gal (and then up early the next morning for a group run), but things played out a bit differently this year. I was in bed early (for me)…like around 10 or 10:30. I did get up early for a quick 5K on NYD before we departed at 6:30 for the football game. Bummer you weren’t feeling good yesterday!
The sickness trend continues today. Hopefully it will be out of my system by the end of the week!
Looks like a great ski vacation! Hope everyone’s feeling better soon.
Happy New Year!
Thanks! We’re getting a little better, and hopefully will be all better by the end of the week! Looks like it’s the trend around the US – getting sick for Christmas!
Glad you’re feeling better, but what a strange illness…and not covid- weird! And glad your husband is feeling better too.
I have never skied over NYE. Those prices hikes are insane- wow….We’re heading to Montana in mid-February to low key resort called Whitefish. I’ve been to Big Sky many times, but not this place.
Travel definitely sounds like it was stressful across the country, but glad everything worked out!
I’ve got a feeling I might have COVID, but I need to wait to get tested. There were so many tests available and now you can’t find them anywhere! I’m glad we had some from a few weeks ago. My husband did get some medicine for his cough today so hopefully that clears it up!
I’ve never skied in Montana but I’d really like to some day. We tend to select our destination based on lowest priced airfare. Traveling with 4 people and ski bags really adds up fast!
I love family time–having adult children is the best, isn’t it? Looks like a fun vacation. I’ve skied out West a couple of times when I was in high school but I haven’t been back. It’s just so amazingly beautiful.
I’m glad you’re feeling better and that it’s not COVID. There’s a lot of stuff going around and we seem to forget that there are other illnesses, lol!
Plot twist, my husband didn’t have COVID but I did 🙁 But I get to work from home, so that’s actually fun!
Ha, oh yes I had Covid. And so did my son. I’m glad you guys don’t have it, but with omicron it’s not that much different from having a bad cold. I love your attitude- lower your expectations and you won’t be disappointed. So true! Sounds like there were some challenges on your vacation but it all depends on how you look at it.
Hope you got the house under control! I’m still picking up boxes and ribbons. Tomorrow is our big cleaning day.
I hope you’re all healthy now!
Well spoiler alert, I have COVID too! My sore throat is getting a bit better though. I’m sure the worst is over. Christmas clean up can wait!
That’s too bad about your daughter’s poles & the various illnesses, but still sounds like a fun time.
My family skiied when I was little — I did not. A little on the bunny hill but I just never enjoyed it. I did enjoy the resorts & hot chocolate (of course!), LOL!
I haven’t felt great for the last few days, but I haven’t been tested — last year had the same symptoms, but worse, and got tested & was negative. Pretty sure it’s more exhaustion that most other things.
Stay up to midnight? Are you kidding? My husband has in the past, but even he didn’t do it this year. He probably would if I did but I’ve been tired so going to be even earlier than normal.
Happy New Year!
Hot chocolate and M&M’s were a huge motivation when we taught our kids to ski! I’m glad my kids enjoy skiing as much as we do. It is getting harder to get them out of bed early enough to get the good parking spots like we used to get! 😉