Our week in Silverthorne

 .....so we managed to get into our accommodation (finally) and were delighted.  Stuart had spent hours and hours (when we were home) emailing house exchangees...with limited success...until we got this one.  Not many people put Australia as their choice of exchange....I think it is too far away...and to a lot of people, Australia is Sydney and Melbourne (Melborn!) and that's it...so to get someone prepared to travel all the way to Western Australia is a real achievement!

 So we thank Sharon and Dan (who we have never met) and we look forward to extending our hospitality to them when they venture to our side of the world.
You can imagine how we felt when we looked out the windows and saw this..

and then this....

Silverthorne is about an hour or so from Denver, in the mountains, and is a great location as it is near Dillon, Frisco, Keystone, Loveland and Breckenridge.

Stu had his season pass from last year which got him into most of the resorts and there was plenty of snow around.

Lake Dillon

It is such a stunning area...you are surrounded by mountains, frozen lakes, snow, snow and more snow. It was really nice to Skype Margaret and Kim when we were at White River National Forest

 and to share some of the country with them....technology is amazing!  Although Kim had us worried when he kept spotting bears

and wolves

behind us...(they were actually cars!)

Stu went snowboarding every day....

getting some of the best powder he has been on.......(I don't think my snowboard language is quite correct, but I hope you know what I mean).
Stuart snowboarding at Keystone
and I even managed to get up on the mountain at Keystone which is such a beautiful spot with amazing views....

At the top of Keystone was an ice castle....kind of gave me an idea of how igloos were built, but what was amazing was this chunk of ice.....I've never seen anything like it before...

One afternoon we took a drive to Leadville as we hadn't been there before.....it's always nice seeing different places and we weren't disappointed.

Everywhere you go there are photo opportunities...I really want to share the beauty of the area with everyone and I just wished we could have everyone here with us....I am feeling very fortunate....

Houses overlooking White River

White River...FROZEN!

Good luck launching your boat here! 

The marina...fully frozen!

Catch and release

Travelling with Stu is always fun and he still makes me laugh after all these years together....here's why....Tabletop dancing with Stu and Snow bombies with Stu

Stu cooking on the barbie..

We had been watching these icicles from outside our window slowly get bigger each day....what a view.....

We had to go to Walmart in Frisco and came across these...so many choices....maybe one of each?

His and Hers..

It is a part of the culture here, but I still find it very difficult to comprehend....particularly the assault rifles!  And then there was this.....??????

So our week in Silverthorne was over...another fantastic place....next stop Winter Park.