Skiing, Snowmobiling, and X-Games....Oh My!

Well I just had a whirlwind week! Some friends from college came out to visit and I made sure they got the full Colorado tour. We played with the dogs, went on a cave tour, went to the 2012 X-Games, skied at Sunlight Mountain and Copper Mountain, hit up the Glenwood Hot Springs and Vapor Caves,went on a snowmobile tour, and got massages. It's sounds pretty fun when I type it all out, but I am so tired now.

Corey, Matt, and I at the top of Glenwood Caverns!

The adventures started off when we were playing with the dogs. I let everyone go loose so that they could say hi to my friends. It was all fine and dandy...until everyone started to go home. Usually, I grab Colfax first since he can be pretty hard to catch. Well, since I was all caught up in the excitement of having friends there, I didn't realize my mistake until it was too late. After I had hooked a few dogs up, he knew what was going on and he was determined not to go home. The other dogs always come when I call, but he would have none of it. We tried food, herding, ignoring him, and cursing to the skies. That damn dog was just too smart for the three of us. He never left the dog yard; he would just content himself with running around and saying hello to everyone else. Oftentimes, he would walk right up behind me, but when I pounced, he would skirt away so that I would end up landing on a rock. Finally, he made the mistake of exploring the upstairs porch. We cornered him up there and I landed on him hard. As soon as I put him back home, I gave him some yummy canned food to let him know that being there was a good thing. As soon as I turned my back though, he let up a mournful howl. He enjoyed that brief stint of running the kennel...
The X-Games were pretty incredible. I hope they come back to Aspen next year (their contract is up) because I'd like to spend more time there. We went Saturday night to the Big Air Competition. The tricks that the skiers were doing blew my mind. I had no idea what anything was called and, honestly, after awhile, everything just looked like the same twisty cool thing. It's just the idea that someone can enter a jump at that speed and hurl their body into all sorts of spins that I find impossible. It didn't take long for me to enter the crowd mentality and start saying, " that was sick man!" or "sweet air!". If you know me, you know that I am not a bro. Regardless of the impressive tricks, we could only stand the cold so long. Next year, if I get the opportunity, I'll stay longer and wear more layers.
Another highlight of the week was the snowmobile tour. At Sunlight Mountain, we offer two snowmobile tours. A shorter, made for beginners tour and a lengthy, "rip-it" tour. As an employee, I often have to sell these tours, so it only makes sense that I go on them...the hardships of working at a ski mountain. Of course, I chose the longer tour. We started at the ski resort and traveled into White River National Forest. The first half was spent in aspen groves, climbing into the hills. The mid-point is a stop in Baylor Park. This is the main destination of the tour as it is a massive field that is solely for the purpose of going fast. I believe we got our sleds up to 60mph...For an hour, we raced on the groomed trail and made our own tracks through feet of powder. On the way back, we took a different trail that hadn't been groomed out yet. This led to lots of bumps and inevitably my trying to jump them. I got air a couple times, but mostly it was just me flying off my seat. Usually, the tours don't go on this fun terrain, nor do they go so fast, but I get an exception since I make the snowmobile boys cookies. And now that I'm addicted, I'm going to have to start baking a lot.

With all of these adventures, it's only natural that we relaxed in the hot springs and got massages. I know I've said it before, but life in Colorado isn't all that bad...


Sculpin update: She had her stitches out last Saturday and everything healed beautifully. She was overjoyed not to wear the cone of shame and be able to lick freely. However, she's mad at me for sending her back up into the dog yard. It's only a matter of time before I cave and let her come back to the couch.