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| Holiday 2008 |
| Tuesday, January 06, 2009 |
I call it Holiday 2008 because I guess this is one real holiday we have had since last year, not counting the small trips we made, not counting the Israel trip, and not counting the trips with family. And I havent written a travelogue in a long time, so you have to bear with it.
Aspen was our choice of vacation, simply because we ran out of other places to visit in Winter. (I would be happy to listen to some choices you guys have to give for a vacation). Apart from the day trips to Tahoe, and the remnants of snow in Alaska in peak Summer, we really had not seen real snow, or been in wintery places for awhile since Europe way back in 2005. And skiing was something both me and DH want to get better at, so Aspen it was. Aspen is considered skiiers' heaven, with Rocky mountains and over 100 inches of average annual snowfall.
Day 0
The two hour flight journey was not too bad, except for the fact that Frontier did not even give us peanuts. But thanks to our parents visit and their preparedness in our trips, we had packed snacks to munch on flight, Sev and Tangerines, and even puliodharai in a tiffin box. We landed in Denver at around 2PM. Had lunch at the airport, rented our car, and were on our way to Aspen at around 3:30PM. As I have said many times, I am never enthusiastic about driving at night. More so since I saw Fargo. Snow/ice, night, Nissan Altima, winding mountainous roads, DH at the wheels, and me beside him - not a good combination. :--) It got dark at around 5PM and thats when we entered the mountains and the roads became icy. We didnt have snow chains, since weather prediction was not too bad. As we drove towards Aspen, the road was white and grainy, with ice and snow. We drove past many ski resorts, some beautifully decorated towns like Vail. It was about 8PM, when we reached our hotel. It was freezing cold as we stepped out of the car. For a moment I wondered what the heck were we thinking, deciding to vacation in this cold cold place. ;--)
Day 1
We got up leisurely, as we didnt have much planned for the day. We stayed about 30miles from Aspen, it was very very expensive to stay in Aspen, as we booked out hotel a bit too late. We had a good breakfast at the hotel and drove towards Aspen. It was a beautiful day. We got a little lucky, it had just snowed the previous days, so there was fresh snow everywhere, and it was very sunny. There were homes on the mountains, which looked really picturesque. What a view they must be getting from their windows! The sky was clear, with clouds here and there, the low lying mountains were on all sides on the horizon, the road went right into them. It was too late to ski that day so we went snow-shoeing. It is nothing but walking in snow. ;--) We decided against snow mobiling, as we had already done it once, and it might not give us time to soak in the beauty around us, as manuvering the vehicle would have consumed all our attention.
The road we took, called Maroon Creek Drive, was straight out of a picture, white road, with bare trees on the side, speckled with snow chunks, I have a name for them, snow-flowers ;--), (that is the picture I put on my previous post), with a creek flowing along side the road, as is expected of any snow covered mountain region. It ended at a stables, with wild sheep and horses.
We had a small incident. We parked our car by the stables to enquire about snow-shoeing, we parked on the side of the road over a patch of dried snow. When we tried to take the car out, it was stuck, with the front wheel just rotating on it own, when accelerated without budging out of its place. A truck driver saw us struggling, and helped us. Him and myself, pushed the car from the front, while DH accelerated in reverse, until the car was out of the bad patch of snow. How strong does one have to be to push a car?!
We started walking, err, snow-shoeing ;--). It was cold but sunny as I said earlier. We walked for a couple of hours, met a bunch of skiiers, more snow-shoers, dog walkers, snow mobilers. I was clicking away to glory, everything around me seemed click-worthy. DH wanted to walk in the snow. I pointed to him exactly how deep he legs will have to go in before he could stop, and he immediately dropped the idea. Snow can be really misleading, one can never know how deep the actual ground is. It was crystal white snow, pure and untampered with, glistening in the sunlight. It was beautiful. We walked towards Pyramid Peak, one of the tallest peaks in Aspen. It was oru kallil two mangoes, nice views, plus workout for the day. ;--)
We drove into Aspen town for lunch. I liked the little town immediately. The homes looked pretty with the sloping roofs, with white sparkling snow on them, surrounded by pine trees, also speckled with snow. We were recommended a Pizza place for lunch, which lived to its name.
We went snow tubing or sledding post lunch. Initially I wasnt too excited about it, as only kids were doing it. But later I was like what the heck I can either do it now or never and went for it. It was actually fun. You go to the top of a slope and sit on a sled, in this case a round plastic plate like thing, and force yourself over the slope, until the slope speeds your downward journey. I should say I did enjoy this little adventure. There was always a hazard of bumping into other people, young and old alike. It was very funny, to watch little accidents, where people fell off their wagon halfway through the ride, or bumped into another. You get the idea. I had my share of bumps. Little kids, 2 3 yr olds were having a lot of fun. Some wagons were able to hold upto five little kids, it was a lot of fun to watch them roll down the hill, with the kids screaming. The walk uphill, after every run was good workout. I have to add I was reminded of Calvin on his tobboggan zipping through trees with Hobbes. :--)
It got dark by 5PM, and so we were in our room by then. We watched Aegan that night. When did Nayanthara get so thin? Or is it my eyes?
Day 2
It was skiing day. We woke up early to have as much sunlight as possible to ski. But unfortunately everyone thought the same looks like, it took us over an hour to get our ski gears and head to the lifts. It was a beautiful day just as the prediction said, 20F, no wind, sunny, and clear skies. I actually started sweating a little with all the ski wear, and all the sun. This time I got a little better with my turns, and DH too was good with his turns. I am scared of speed, I am always trying to slow down. But I never thought I would be where I am currently with skiing when I skiied the first time seven years ago. I am asssured that I am leftie. My left leg dominated my right, so right turns are easier for me to make than left turns. My parents must have forced me to write with my right hand. We skiied till the lifts stopped, with a quick break for lunch. The temperature change was sooo apparent once the sun started going down! Made us wonder how much impact Mr Sun has from soo far away on our little planet and on us. We wanted to spend some time of the evening in Aspen, having read so much about nightlife in Aspen. Both me and DH being party poopers, with little interest in gourmet food and absolutely no interest in western music shows, Aspen had nothing much else to offer. We chose an Italian Restaurant where we had salad and soup and brushcetta. Before that we went to an Espresso place to have Coffee and cookie. Roamed around in the bitter cold weather, in the quaint little town that Aspen was, soaking in the rich culture.
If you didnt know, many famous figures like Donald Trump have their holiday homes in Aspen. We were supposed to go on a Lifestyle of the Rich or some such tour in Aspen but it got cancelled at the last minute. We drove back to our hotel, in the night, same icy roads, same old "slow-a po DH! paathu po DH! apdi break podadha DH!!". Had a good night's sleep watching Kung Fu Panda, our bodies were aching big time.
Day 3
Our initial plan was to go to Hanging Lake, but a little research told us it was not so safe in the winter. We decided to go to Glenwood Springs Caverns. We had a hard time finding the place itself, because we thought since it was an adventure park we would see it from faraway also. But turns out, the address we got was that of the tram station. We had to take the tram up to the top of Iron Mountain, where the park was. The tram took us over the top of the scenic Glenwood Canyon, with the Colorado River flowing right in between. We went on the Cavern tour. We werent too excited about it, I will spare you of the pictures, as we have been to Mammoth Caves before, which is one of the largest caves in the country. The Guide was a funny one, she kept the kids in the tour entertained. One has to be very creative in the caves. The last part of the tour was the best, she had saved the best for the last. With lights in appropriate places, the different formations lit up beautifully. Another highlight of the tour was exclamation point. The view from the balcony in the middle of the mountain was truly breathtaking and made me exclaim, thus the point did live up to its name. ;--) After the tour we went on the Alpine Roller Coaster Ride, it was truly awesome. What was different about the coaster was, we had the control, we could break or accelerate as we wanted. DH clicked some pics of ourselves which came out really bad. ;--) We had lunch at the Look Out Restuarant which had a great view of the valley down below. But ya, both of us had salads, the story of our lives.
We started driving towards Denver in the afternoon. The scenery was beautiful. While coming we had driven through all the beautiful scenery in the night. The huge walls of red rocks with snow on them, as the road meandered in between, it was heavenly. I wonder how great an artist the guy who created it all should be ;--) So I clicked away to glory. Then it was my turn to drive. All through this time I had not taken charge of the wheels, fear being the only reason. And when I did. Roles changed. ;--) DH was like,"SK Slow-a po, SK, apdi break podadhe, SK romba orama pogadhe" I was like, " Yaaro enna madhiri pesara madhiri irukku" And DH was quick to retort," Yaaro enna madhiri car ottara madhiri irukku" :--))
We reached Denver in the evening around 5PM. The best part of our stay in Denver was our hotel, stay tuned to hear more about it. :--)
(To be Contd.)
This is a good place to stop, although I am more than half way through the trip. I am pressed for time. Hopefully I will be able to finish the travelogue and not leave it incomplete like my last year vacation. |
posted by SK @ 6:38 PM  |
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| 6 Comments: |
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Ohh, so this was that picture on the otehr blog. I thought it was So. Lake Tahoe ;)
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stay tuned ah? edho VJ mari lam pesara....nice pics! Super photographer. Neeya illa DH ah?
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sounds like you had fun!beautiful pics.. I have a friend in Denver and her pics are always- o so beautiful!
Both Hd and me HATE cold weather.. so our vacations are always to summer-y places :)..
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Divya,
Yes, as I said, Tahoe is a miniature version of Colorado :--))
Adi, Amam, you are all soo eager to hear my next part la :--P
And thanks, photography, in general artkum, DHkum rombaaa dhoooram ;--) [DH Is going to kill me for this]
Daisy,
Ya, it was beautiful esp because it was winter :--)
Snow is beautiful, I have found my love for it again lol! :--))
And summery places, just how many are there? At some point, one is lost! :--)
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"Apart from the day trips to Tahoe, and the remnants of snow in Alaska in peak Summer, we really had not seen real snow, or been in wintery places for awhile since Europe way back in 2005."
YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME !! Don't get me started.
-Reporting from Boston, MA approaching yet another 0 on Thursday.
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Krithika,
What can I say...
Muahahahhahaah *pointing and laughing* :--))
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Ohh, so this was that picture on the otehr blog. I thought it was So. Lake Tahoe ;)