Stuart and Joshuah had 9 days off over Thanksgiving Week..5 days and a weekend either side. It is the only break in the 16 week Semester, so well earned. Stu had been looking for accommodation in Breckenridge, a ski resort town in the mountains, about 1/1/2hrs from Denver. He had gone on a VRBO site, which we have used often this year and found a nice place for us for the week. He started communicating with the owner Brad and it turns out Brad had spent 4 months in Australia last year with his family, and were so well looked after that he gave us the house for free as he wanted to repay the generosity of Australians. "We had the must Amazing 4 month trip around Australia last year and your country was soo generous so only repaying the generosity."
It was generosity beyond belief and we pinched ourselves for the entire week we were there. It had a hot tub, heated garage, washing machine and dryer, a really well equipped big kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, snowboards and skiing equipment we could have used and views from every room that were sensational.... we felt so spoilt.
Every morning and evening we would use the hot tub and it is such an experience being in -12C,
having snow fall on you and sitting in a hot tub surrounded by mountains...and when it wasn't snowing being able to look at the stars...even saw Orion's Belt for the first time this year!!
The conversation of us buying a hot tub for our house came up every time we were in this one....when Stu climbs a 14'er in WA or goes snowboarding in WA, then we'll reconsider purchasing one!! Or we may use Ric and Jen Gates' when they get one!!
The views were breathtaking.....snow covered mountains in every direction....
The view of the mountain from the kitchen/dining window changed all the time and it was such a treat to wake up and look out to this....
But I think my favourite part of the house was the moose head hanging above the fireplace!
However, strange things happened with the moose head throughout our stay.....
and you've heard of waking up with a horse's head in your bed...not in Colorado......this is what you get here......
Stuart and Joshuah went snowboarding every day and I stayed at the house most days, just taking it all in, reading and appreciating what we had for the week. Stuart celebrated his 51st birthday snowboarding at Breckenridge....who'd have thought!! And was wished "Happy Birthday Stooart" every time his pass was scanned. So nice!
Stu and I took the gondola up the mountain one afternoon,
before going for a walk through the town of Breckenridge. It is such a picturesque town and they were putting up all the Christmas lights which makes it look magical.
One of the days the boys went to Vail to snowboard. They were a little disappointed with the snow conditions, but at least they can say they've boarded at Vail!
I wasn't disappointed though as it meant they got home early and Stuart and I went for a drive to one of my favourite places....Fairplay...we drove through Hoosier Pass...so bloody beautiful and so bloody cold!!!
We had a look around Fairplay (3rd time we've been there...mum this is where we stopped for a coffee and cake with you)
and had a lovely hot coffee and pumpkin spice cake at the Java Moose cafe...
I love the area around Antero Reservoir and we have been there a few times as well, at different times of the year and we decided to make one last visit there. It didn't disappoint. There was more snow than any other times we had been there....it is a flat open area, a lake and huge mountains in the distance. The red dirt, blue sky and white snow are so contrasting and makes for some beautiful scenery.
There was an amazing icicle on the Information Bay, and Stu thought he would break a piece of it off...here's what happened.....
We couldn't believe it when we saw a house, out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by deep snow and no sign of a road to it.....
and this fence line seemed to go on forever....
This creek looked like it had a shark swimming in it...
and we loved these old buildings...
The landscape seems to go on forever...
Here is a video of Antero Reservoir and driving back to Breckenridge....
Antero Reservoir
As it gets dark so early (5pm) we wanted to capture the sun going down over the mountains, so made our way back to Breck....
stopping at a creek on the side of the road....
Have I mentioned how much I love snow....here's some more reasons why....
And have I mentioned...for blokes who hadn't seen snow 11 months ago, I reckon Joshuah and Stuart are doing alright on their snowboards. Check this link out....
Stu and Josh at Breck...November '13
Tanya and Phil (other Aussies on exchange) were in Breckenridge at the same time as us, so we were able to spend some time with them....
and have our first ever Thanksgiving meal with them....which went from this..
to this.....
to this......
This was the first turkey I have ever cooked and apart from using car oil to baste it (just kidding!!) and leaving a plastic bag full of giblets? inside it while it cooked for 4 hrs, it was delicious!!!!
Our last day in Breck was spent with Stu and Josh snowboarding and me checking out the sights in the town.
It was pretty special to be walking through the streets and to look up and see these mountains in the distance!
This was an amazing ice sculpture...a work in progress, that looked fantastic.
We reluctantly left Breck and our beautiful accommodation and made our way to Keystone.....stopping on the way to check out these views...
It actually reminded us a bit of BC, Canada.
Our accommodation at Keystone was fine...we had just been really spoilt at Breckenridge. We were in the middle of the village, so the boys could walk to the slopes and our first night there they went night boarding....
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| The blue is the run they did. |
This was the first time I had been able to watch them snowboarding, and it was only for the last 10 seconds, but it would take 10 mins to go up the top in the gondola and about 7 mins to board down, so I was standing in -10C for about 1 hr...waiting, waiting, waiting to see about 20 secs all up of Stu and Josh snowboarding. So glad I did though as it looks so impressive watching all the skiers and snowboarders hurtling down the mountain at night...(getting a cold has been worth it!)
The next day (Saturday) we met up with the Hancock's on the top of the mountain for lunch and a photo op! It was such a gorgeous day....we were so lucky.
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| Quinn with Josh and Stu |
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| Aussies at Keystone! |
The views were sensational....
By the time we got back to the Resort it was dark, there were fireworks, a parade, a Christmas choir and of course Father Christmas and his reindeer. It was so cool!
Here's a video of the boys snowboarding at Keystone....
Snowboarding at Keystone
The next morning we left Keystone to head back to Denver, stopping at Montezuma on the way....
We stopped at White River National Forest and went for a walk...
..it was so cold, but so pretty....
Another place that is a bit of a favourite is Loveland Pass. It incorporates A Basin and Loveland ski areas which were favourites with Stuart, Jakeb, Morgan and Joshuah....and where they learnt to snowboard...even before I arrived in the US.
So the drive through the Pass was stunning....blowing a gale, freezing...but blue skies, which makes such a difference.
Here's a video of driving through Loveland Pass...
Loveland Pass
Something I won't miss is the I 70. It is a huge road system linking the states, and an engineering masterpiece, but the part of the I 70 we use when we go to the mountains is notoriously busy...stop/start traffic and so many trucks, and this day was no different.
But we did get to see a sight we definitely won't see when we are back in WA....Christmas trees on the roof of a car, driving next to a car with snowboards on the roof!!
Sadly our Thanksgiving break was over and when we got back to the house Stuart went to use his phone to ring Brad, the owner of the house in Breck, to thank him. He couldn't find his phone, so kept on ringing it...checking the car, pockets, car, bags, car, car....and finally...someone answered it.....David!!! Turns out David and his friend were driving through Montezuma, stopped at White River National Forest and found A PHONE, on the ground...in the snow! They checked it and saw that numbers that were rung were Denver numbers, so decided to bring it into town and were going to take it to a T Mobile shop the next day to see if they could find the owner. So when David answered, he arranged for us to meet him at a Starbucks...10 mins away...to collect the phone...and we did and it all turned out OK in the end.
So I didn't really know what Thanksgiving was about this week...but I have to say we are very, very thankful to Brad..the owner of the house at Breck and David, who found Stuart's phone!! Nice to know there are good people in the world...and while we were driving to get the phone we were treated to this night sky.
That evening we went for a drive to check out some of the Christmas lights. They are absolutely sensational, but it is difficult to stop and get photos of them, although we managed a few.
And while I write this post we are having a particularly cold spell, where Joshuah has had to bring out the jumpers AND wear shoes (with his shorts) when he is playing basketball outside with Stu...it will be getting down to -25C on Thursday with maximums of around -16C!!! It's snowing at the moment which is great, but I can't say I'll be disappointed to go home to the 35C we usually get around this time of the year!!
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