If you glanced at the images below you may have noticed that the photos look a bit out of the ordinary from what is usually posted on my blog. My new years resolution, yes I realize that it’s already been 3 months, was to start blogging my own personal photos. I love taking photos of EVERYTHING I’m doing but they rarely see the light of day, or my monitor, after they are downloaded from my camera.
This was the 10th year that some combination of my family has met up in Colorado for a week of skiing and fun in the mountains! The trip began with our drive from the Twin Cities to Colorado Springs for a brief one night stay. Just enough time to get my favorite Sesame Chicken that I’ve found any where in the country. Hunan Springs, in downtown Colorado Springs, is must stop destination on my list. If you have a local, Twin Cities, favorite place to get Sesame Chicken please let me know I would love to be able to have it more than once a year and not have to drive 1,000 miles
After our night in Colorado Springs we drove to the mountains and our vacation destination in the Vail Valley. This first set of photos were all taken out of the car window while riding on the highway.
*** Disclaimer: All photos in this post were photographed with my point and shoot camera. ***
Once we get to Vail we usually use it as home base and take some sort of side trip, past excursions have brought us to Moab, UT or Taos, NM. This year we decided to stay around Vail and do all of our favorite winter activities and add something new to our list. Our first day skiing at Vail Resort was the only true “Blue Bird Day“of the trip. We were happy to find the snow we’d been waiting for all winter and better conditions then we were expecting!
Copper Mountain has been my favorite place to ski since I set foot in the mountains for the first time 10 years ago. Again, this is a stop I have to make before my trip is complete. I love their varied terrain, the fun atmosphere and what I think is the best view of the Vail Pass from anywhere. This years trip to Copper was fantastic! We had a bit of snow in the morning followed by warmer weather and blue skies and absolutely NO lines. I’m not sure where all the people were, especially since it was Spring Break, but we were never stopped in line and never had more than 4 people in front of us. Hills that are normally full of people getting back to the base only had a handful. It made for a day of non-stop skiing with lots of runs down the mountain!!!
We spent a warm day snowmobiling through the White River National Forest and Vail Pass back country. The trails in this area offer more gorgeous views of the mountains. The amazing vantage points, that are only accessible by snowmobile, are one of the main reasons I continue to snowmobile when I’m in Colorado. We’ve rented snowmobiles the past 8 years from Nova Guides and have always had a great time. They also have guided tours available if you’re new to the area or snowmobiling. Their Camp Hale location is where the Army’s 10th Mountain Division trained in the 1940s.
Our final day of skiing on our trip was at Keystone. A couple of friends have told us repeatedly over the past few years to check Keystone out. We finally took their advice and made our way to Keystone and boy are we glad we finally listened! On the warmest day of the trip we quickly loaded the gondola and made our way to the top of the first peak. We then quickly made our way up and down all of Keystone’s ski-able peaks, another day with short lines… skiing over 20 miles in the hours we were there. From the lifts there were many signs of the fast approaching end to the ski season but on the slopes we had another great day of spring skiing!
I hope you enjoyed some of my personal photos! I loved finally doing something with them and sharing a little bit about my trip! I can’t wait to share some more of my personal photos over the year. Don’t forget to share where I can find your favorite Sesame Chicken
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