The Vail Weekend 2009

Okay, so finally I have something else to write about after all this time…

Let me start out by saying that I LOVE COLORADO!!! Seriously, I can’t think of anywhere else on Earth I would rather live at this point in my life. This past week, I have gotten a little bit more confident in my virgin career in Medical Sales, and I had the pleasure of playing tour guide for a few days with my friend Dre who came in from San Diego to snowboard in the Rocky Mountains. She got into Denver on Monday afternoon with three other California friends. We texted back and forth and decided to meet up downtown at Pat’s to do some liberal drinking. I called up my new friend Ashley, and her roommate and her met up with us down at Pat’s.

Probably the most important thing about Monday was the price for drinking: $7 pitchers! And there was a beer pong tournament. Dre came with her California friends Ashley, Ryan, and Doug. She was also staying with her friend Austin and his roommate Diego. We all met up, and then my friend Ashley showed up about 20 minutes later with her roommate Liz. Come to find out, Doug went to SDSU so there was an immediate, “We can party hard,” connection between Doug and myself since we’re both party animals that went to SDSU. We played in the beer pong tournament and dismantled our first opponents who were native Coloradans. We talked trash about the Broncos with these guys since our SD roots run deep… We then got destroyed by another set of Coloradans that were transplants from the Boston area. All in all we went 2-2 and didn’t win any prizes as it was double elimination in the beer pong tournament.

Tuesday through Thursday Dre and all her friends headed up to the mountains. Todd hooked them up with his FAT Frisco Cabin for Wednesday and Thursday nights at $300/night. Ridiculously cheap when you realize that it’s about 2000 square feet, has a hot tub, four rooms, a living room upstairs, a den downstairs, a huge kitchen, and is hooked up with a flat screen TV, Ipod radio, and surround sound system!!! It has enough sleeping space for 12 comfortably so it is perfect!!! I was fortunate to meet up with the crew on Thursday night and stay at the Frisco Cabin with them Thursday night. I stayed Thursday night for free since I hooked them up with a $200 discount. Of course the first thing I did was get in the Hot Tub. I was so jazzed up about the Hot Tub that I didn’t even mix myself a drink. Not to worry, Ryan aka Dingo, mixed me a Jack and Coke, emphasis on Jack! Austin is an awesome cook and he cooked us some Salmon with Asparagus and Mashed Potatoes on Thursday night. Then we all went out to the bars in Breckenridge and stayed out til 2:30am. Woke up at 7am and cleaned up and then bailed for Vail…

We parked at Vail and were on the mountain at 11am, and it was dumping!!! Visibility was not so good, but I took Austin, Dre, Dingo, and Doug to the back bowls immediately. It was not easy at all to see with the conditions, but we still hauled down the mountain on the first run. The SD transplants were so tired thanks to the massive elevation of the Rockies. I am lucky enough to be used to the elevation so I had no issues. We went up lift 17 and went through some open trees. This is where I got a bit ahead of everyone, and went through some open trees myself. I hit some powder bumps, and was having an awesome time! I was having so much fun hauling downhill that I kept going, but then I hit a tuft of snow and lost control. Fell down on my back on my way straight into a tree. I was hoping that I might be heading away from said tree and hopefully just slide to the side of it. I really tried to bring my board down to stop or slow down but my momentum carried me straight down. Unfortunately for me, I was heading towards the tree, but fortunately my helmet stopped me! As in, I hit the tree head first, but the helmet saved my LIFE!!! Everyone was behind me and they just saw a puff of powder smoke as I lost control and then they just saw me lying next to the tree. I got up and we went back down to the bottom.

We went a couple other places and warmed up at Two Elk’s Lodge around 12:30 on the top of the mountain cuz it was 11 degrees and there was no trace of the sun. After we warmed up it was about 1pm, and then the sun came out. We hit up a bit more POW runs, and then headed down to Los Amigos for some Apres Ski drinking! We started chatting up two other ladies from NYC, and got their numbers to hang with later on. We finally finished at Los Amigos, and went to the hotel. Dre got a room at the Sitzmark Lodge, so we all recovered there for a bit. The awesome thing was, there was a stage and live music being played right outside our hotel. We got in the hot tub on the second floor outside and were drinking our own mixtures of alcohol while being serenaded with live Reggae. The stage was almost right below us, so we got hooked up! It was so chill, and it was like GOD was smiling upon us, allowing us to listen to really good music for free while soaking our loins.

After the hot tub, we decided to get my car and drive out to West Vail to park it at a Safeway parking lot since we had no other parking passes for it, and I didn’t want to necessarily pay for overnight parking. Diego and I went to drop off the car while everyone else got ready to go to Garfinkles for the partying portion of the night. We dropped off my car, and Diego and I made an executive decision to get everyone $1 menu McDonald’s. Called up the rest of the crew and gave them specific instructions to figure out what they want from the $1 menu. Got the text of the order and we got the food and headed back. We went to Garfinkles around 10pm and met up with the NYC girls Rebbekah and Lara. The one thing about Garfinkles is that they must stamp you when you enter. Not a big deal, but the stamp must be radio-active! I am writing this on Monday, and there is still a faint blue mark from it. It has a half-life of 5 years I think! I digress, $3 U-Call-It’s all night long = SUITE!!! Love the cheap drinking! It was packed in there. We met a lot of Vail locals and I’m pretty sure between Austin, Diego, and I we will have a place to stay in Vail for free from now on. Austin was playing pool, and after winning and taking control of the table, he was awaiting for the next man up to rack for him. This guy was probably waiting for an hour, and finally racked up so Austin could break. I heard the distinct CRACK of the break and watched in amazement as Austin sank the “8” ball on the break! Translation: GAME OVER! This guy waited all that time to just lose on the break, OUCH! We were pretty much done at Garfinkles after that, so we headed back to the Sitzmark Lodge. Austin already said that we’re gonna hang at this Aussie’s place next weekend in Vail. I love it!!!

The bad news of the night was that my neck was so stiff from hitting that tree. Not only that, but I tried to ride on Saturday, but I really couldn’t rotate my neck. I’m gonna get a massage from Jackie later on this week to hopefully loosen me up…

Saturday we woke up, and my neck was so stiff! I had issues sleeping Friday night. I was sleeping in between Ashley and Dre, without a pillow to hopefully straighten out my neck. I woke up in the middle of the night so sore, so I got off the bed and tried sleeping on the floor sitting up with my back against the bed. After that didn’t work out, I just lied down on my back on the hard floor without a pillow again. I was so stiff and sore! Dre woke up and I didn’t think that I could ride on Saturday. Yeah, it was that BAD! If you know me, it’s gonna take a lot for me not to go riding… I’ve gone up sick as a dog before because I love to ride! That should let you know the kind of pain I was in.

The Sitzmark Lodge had free breakfast, so we all went in waves to get us some food. The breakfast was excellent! Fresh fruit, bagels, cereal, and the coup de tat: Fresh Waffle Batter to be poured into the Waffle Maker! Man, what a great way to start your day! I really wanted to get on the hill cuz it was my last chance to go riding with Dre, Dingo, and Doug this trip. Finally I decided to soak in the bathtub under some hot water one last time. I psyched myself up and got on my gear and was off to the mountain. Dre got her lift ticket, and we waited in the never ending singles line to get on the mountain. Finally when it was time to get our tickets scanned, hers was not scanning. Come to find out the peeps at the ticket counter had given her a pass for Keystone, A-Basin, and Breckenridge instead of the one she really needed: VAIL! Luckily they fixed it, cuz the ticket scanner dude went down to the ticket office and switched it out for her so we didn’t have to leave the line. We finally got to the top and met up with Doug and Dingo. Went down Sun Up Bowl, but it had mostly been skied out already so we didn’t get to hit some FRESH POW. It was at this point that we got some pictures of us on the mountain.

After the pictures and hitting some crusty snow on the way down, I was barely able to move my neck. Every time my heel would slip or I would have to dig into the snow extra hard, the pain would shoot up into my neck and the pain was getting ridiculous. Since I couldn’t do much I decided to ride down and call it a day for myself. Dre and the Cali boys kept on going, and I can’t blame them.

Since I was done for the day, I went back to Austin’s truck and dropped off my gear. After that I called Austin, who was with Ashley and Diego. They came and picked me up in the rental car and we went to Denny’s to eat us some food. It was a little ways away from the resort, but I got the Super Bird, and it was excellent! We then drove on back over to the Safeway parking lot to pick up my car. We get there and there’s a sticker on my car reading,

Okay… So I didn’t get a ticket, just a big orange sticker on my car. Funny! I had to take a picture of it to document this part of the trip. Austin had to go take a massive poopy, so he went into the Ace Hardware store, but before he went to said bathroom he called me and told me I had to go in and see the fish in there. So I went in, and got some pics of the fishies. They were pretty big, so it made for good use of my camera.

After that we headed back and met up with the rest of the crew. We had a little bit of time to chill in Vail still, so Austin and I went to an art store and saw some ridiculously expensive art, sculptures, displays. He started chatting up the girl who was helping us and come to find out she’s apparently an ex-pro snowboarder. She gave him a card with a website she’s supposedly on. I checked out what I could on my Blackberry, and it’s def a pro-snowboarding website. Her name is Zoe, but there is no last name. He got her phone number and email, so I hope we can all ride in Vail if she really is that good. It was my own little, unofficial vacation! It was excellent!

Back in Denver, we decided to go out on Saturday night too… Why not? So Austin, Diego, Dingo, Doug, and I went downtown to Spill, Monarch, and 24K to get our swerve on Saturday night. Dre and Ashley actually drove from Vail over to Aspen to visit with some other of their friends. The boys all stayed out all night Saturday… I think it was three birthday parties and a girls night out between all of the ladies we chatted up Saturday night. It was just ridiculous! My First Bank Visa Check Card got stolen, but luckily I have two bank accounts, so after I called and cancelled that card at 12:30am Sun morning/Sat night, I wasn’t completely cut off from society… Sunday was recovery day from all of the hard partying we did. The Cali crew flew back on Sunday night, and my weekend was finally put to a hault! But not before I watched, “Taken” with my Colorado friend Ashley. BTW… “Taken” was awesome!!! Great ending to a great weekend!