A snowy day with poor visibility but perfect skiing with foot-deep powder on untracked slopes was Hannah & Guy’s introduction to the Back Bowls of Vail. We took them around a lovely route and waited at Belle’s Cabin while they shot off and did several runs while we cooked the home-made burgers we (I) had carried in the rucksack. Belle’s is at the top of the mountain and has two large barbeques for skiers to cook whatever they like. There were several major meals going on and the group of lads just next to us included Guy and Hannah with beers and general bonhomie which typified the generosity shown to strangers here. The sun broke through for just a few minutes to give a hint of the views available but proper vistas, of the gob-smacking variety, were withheld for another day. Both said that the snow was the best ever which was no surprise.
We delivered them over to Vail again the next day and we went for a lovely walk into the hills opposite the ski slopes, where we met a nice selection of people with dogs, bikes etc. including a passing caterpillar-tracked two-man vehicle clanking its way steadfastly to the top, presumably to service the radio mast there. Lovely views were our gift as it was a blue sky day to dream of.
Hannah and Guy had the best day’s skiing ever with more fresh powder snow and perfect cloudless skies.
In the evening we sampled the delights of Australian cooking with an American twist. The onion in the photograph was prepared with longitudinal cuts then soaked in water to allow the flesh to swell into a chrysanthemum shape. This was then battered and deep fried and served with a spicy dip. Delicious. Excellent food, lovely salads and tasty margaritas made for a most enjoyable evening.
We had almost resigned ourselves to missing out on the Glenwood Springs trip because of the problems with the road as previously described, when we heard that one lane had been opened after the engineers had decided to blow up the hanging rock and clear it all up together.
We also heard that as there are no further bookings, we will definitely be going home early and the Boss has changed the flights to Friday 19th March, leaving from Eagle Airport at 8.50am, (not such a bad time) to arrive back in UK at 6.30 on Saturday morning.
The long hard boring two weeks finally came to an end and we waved goodbye (and good riddance), to our last lot of guests. It’s odd how with some people there is an instant bond, you feel that you will certainly want to keep in touch, and with others you wouldn’t really lose any sleep if you never met them again. What is really odd is that you can tell which it will be within ten minutes of meeting them!
Anyway, as soon as they had gone we jumped into Old Faithful and headed off to Breckenridge to go Skiddooing. We met the hosts from the Breckenridge Lodge Hazel and Pam, and after getting kitted out with big soft warm boots and optional one-piece suits, we set off with in a pack of 10 in brand-new skidoos worth $5000 each. It wasn’t too expensive at $100 per driver and $50 per passenger for a two hour guided thrash through the forests and along some old gold-mining trails and up to the top of a saddle which was on the Continental Divide. I have been meaning to explain what this was but have forgotten so far so this is a good opportunity. The Continental Divide is the place at which the water and snow-melt from one side drains to the Atlantic and the water and snowmelt from the other side drains to the Pacific. It forms a ragged line from Canada in the North, passing down through Colorado, to Mexico in the South
It was great fun dashing along the tracks as we were necessarily following the guide and he was going at around 30 mph all the time. Guy managed to tip his up on the first corner with Sue on board as passenger, but was the only tipper and with no-one hurt, all was well (although he was reminded of the incident throughout the day and evening).
As we were intending to ski the next day at Breckenridge with Hazel and Pam, we came prepared to stay the night so were able to have a meal at the famous Bubba Gump’s Eatery. Formulated as a homage to the Forrest Gump film, the building is filled with memorabilia from the film with several genuine costumes, calipers, and lots of the famous sayings that came from the film, etc to add atmosphere. It was packed and so it was a good job we had pre-booked. For those who have forgotten the Bubba connection, he was a shrimp fisherman prior to the draft, who could recite hundreds of ways of cooking and preparing shrimps for eating, and frequently did, with only Forrest patient (or slow-witted enough) to not interrupt him. After Bubba was killed and Forrest survived Vietnam as a hero, he bought a shrimping boat and together with his old Captain (ex-legs), started shrimp fishing and the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and made his first fortune. To say that Shrimp was a principle item on the menu is to misunderstand: it was the only item on the menu, but served in hundreds of different ways. Boiled shrimp, coconut shrimp, cheese shrimp, chili shrimp, shrimp on a stick, shrimp inna sauce, shrimp inna bun, shrimp inna salad, little shrimps, big shrimps, huge shrimps ….. you get the picture. I had a Shrimp Heaven which comprised shrimp (surprisingly) prepared in four different ways with three different dipping sauces and was absolutely delicious although rather filling. They must get through tons of Shrimps every night and there was definitely a shrimpy atmosphere when you walked into the place while outside was the bench from the film where Forrest had sat and recounted his tale. A real experience although not one for non-shrimpists.
I can see this developing as an in-car game. Some one starts off with Chili shrimp and each subsequent player has to name another shrimp dish without repeating an earlier one. Hours of fun!
Earlier in the evening we had been treated to the lovely spectacle of Pam’s ‘almost pet’ fox. She has been putting chicken scraps out for a while now, for a visiting fox that turns up each night at 6 o’clock as part of his rounds. Tonight it was chicken hearts (a special treat) and sure enough he was there. We watched him from about 10 feet as he came onto the porch and picked up a mouthful, then retired to eat it, then returned for another mouthful. He wasn’t fazed by flashes from cameras and as you can see, he is a really handsome and fit specimen.
The next morning we were a bit disappointed to see that it was snowing hard and windy with it, meaning the visibility would be dreadful up the mountain. We decided to fall back on plan B, so after a luxurious breakfast with Pam and Hazel we bid farewell and zoomed off down towards The Hanging Lake and Glenwood Springs.
Having called into Avon for the right gear, we made our way to the Lake walk which had gone slushy since we were last there but was still pretty tricky towards the top and required a team effort to negotiate safely. The lake was as lovely as before although the huge icicle beneath the spouting rock, that had been about 12 feet high, had melted back and now only showed a ring of ice a couple of feet high rather like a volcanic caldera. Guy and Hannah managed to fool around in the snow on the way down and we all had a good time with no serious injuries. As an aside, I felt, probably for the first time ever, like an old man trying to do something I shouldn’t be doing. This came as a bit of a shock as I have always rather prided myself on being able to cope with most physical challenges and yet here I was, placing each foot as carefully as you do knowing that if you slip, once, you could be in plaster for 6 months, or at the least unable to walk more than a mile without painkillers. And all the time Guy and Hannah were gambolling down the path like a pair of idiots, jumping blindly into the deep drifts of snow on the path sides with me dreading them accidentally falling into me and causing me to slip. Hey ho …. tempus fugit but as T.E.Lawrence said ‘my citadel of invincibility was irrevocably destroyed’.
We got down and after admiring the holes in the road made by the rock fall, went past a group of large mammals called Big Horn Sheep whose defining characteristics were: they were sheep and they had big horns. We arrived at Glenwood Springs where we luxuriated in the hot pools for a muscle-loosening hour or so. Then it was over the footbridge and into Juicy Lucy’s where we had had a snack before on a previous visit but on recommending it to some guests, been told that the steak was simply the best that they had ever had.
A variety of steaks later, each perfectly prepared, and not overly expensive and we set off for the drive back after a full and active day, including the loss of an hour as America went into Spring mode time-wise.
There were also lots of oohs and aahs as Sue was given Mother’s Day cards brought out by Hannah and Guy (these not forgotten). They each reflected the child and their relationship with Sue and were individually and collectively very touching and managed to be thankful for past efforts while reflecting the humour of the giver, while not being sickly sentimental. Excellent, all and very proud-making.
It would seem that our sensible and fair suggestions (well we thought so), have been well-received by the Boss so far, so wages and bonuses may yet meet our expectations.
On our penultimate day with the kids we went off to Georgetown for the day to see the sights, explore one of the most revered towns, and to chat to a gold miner who is currently running the Steam Railway that loops up the valley to Silver Plume, a few miles up the valley. This was the cunning answer to the problem of a 6% gradient that the railway couldn’t go up. By making a loop and crossing back over on itself, the distance was doubled and the gradient reduced to a manageable 3%. This was to be the link with the newly opened silver mines of Leadville but unfortunately, by the time they had worked this out and built the Railway Loop and necessary bridges, another company had
arrived at Leadville from a different direction so the route from Georgetown was never completed. It languished until 1939 when it was all pulled down then in 1973 the bridges were rebuilt and the track relayed and a glorious sample of steam railwayhood is now available during the summer months and attracts steam nuts from across the globe.
The town was famous for its gold, discovered on the one side of the valley when the miners had to contend with loads of black muck blocking up their filters. The discovery, after the gold had run out, and on the other side of the valley, that the black muck contained Silver led to a new boom. The Phoenix Silver Mine is still operational and gold is still found in them thar hills.
We took Hannah and Guy to Denver for their flights and waved them goodbye. It has been lovely seeing them, Skype is no substitute for the real thing.
We called in to The Rocky Mountain Quilting Museum in Golden on the way back and were astounded at the intricacies, imagination, and craftsmanship found in the several dozen quilts on exhibition. In this instance all were created by male quilters but the stock of quilts is the largest in the State and well worth a visit.
Back home now and awaiting the arrival of the Boss’s Husband with a final day’s cleaning and packing ahead tomorrow before an early start home on Friday. Final thoughts on the trip next week I think.
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