The Home Stretch

We had grand plans of enjoying a half day of skiing in the CO Rockies before getting on the plane, but that would have required us to wake up around 7AM and leave the hotel by 8/8:30... since I didn't even wake up until 8 and Matt was about an hour and half behind me... we decided to change our plans.

I think our pace was beginning to catch up with us.

But, it was our last day and I wanted to make sure that we didn't miss a thing. In efforts to let Matt sleep a little longer and to get out some of my pent up energy after being in the car for hours on end the day before, I went on a morning jog/exploration of Glenwood Springs.

Option two for the morning included a dip in the Hot Springs before heading down the road, but as I ran past the pool that morning, a waft of sulfer overcame me. I also learned that the "Hot" pool-- about the temperature of a hot tub, was large enough for about 100 people and the "warm" pool-- about the temp of bathwater, was large enough for 300.

Lets look at this objectively: Smelling disgusting in a warm pool with 300 other people? Do you want to do that? We decided against it and instead hit the road and worked our way towards Denver.

Good Bye Glenwood Springs

One day we will make it to Aspen, but time was not on our side, so around 11AM we rolled towards Vail.

For some reason Vail sounds sexy or glamorous in some way to me. I think I was imagining New York City as a ski town, but its nothing like that.

Here are the slopes (or at least one section of them).

Must take all pictures in front of life size statues. 

Matt was trying to get me to do a snow angel, but I declined. 

We made it to Vail Village by 12:50 signs on the parking deck said that 2 hours or less = FREE and anything over 2 hours was $15, so our goal, make it back to the car by 2:50... would 2 hours be enough time to explore and eat lunch?

If we were staying in Vail, this would be my top pick... outdoor firepit and cozy sofa.
Great place to relax after pretend skiing all afternoon. 

In and out of shops and then we found the German Gastro-pub for lunch. It was bright and sunny, so we sat outside and enjoyed our salad and schnitzle. It just so happened to be the day that NC State was playing UNC in the ACC tournament. I asked Matt if he wanted to sit inside, but he decided that it would be better not to watch.

So, we ended up in a great conversation with the owner of the pub and his friend. I love meeting friendly people.... only about 45 minutes left on the timer... lets go. Matt still wanted to do some shopping.

*If anyone knows my husband 45 minutes is not enough time to even buy socks, so I don't know what we were thinking :)

In and out of a few more stores, before my need for control and anxiety kicked in... its like I have a built in clock inside of me and it just ticks like a time bomb when we are on a deadline...

"Come on BABE!"
"(Sigh) Aren't we on VACATION?"

We headed back to the car, found it in the deck and exited= 4 minutes to spare. Deep breaths and sighs of relief mixed with laughter propelled us on to Denver.

**Unfortunately, we also found out that State lost. But, our attitudes still remained positive... we were on Vacation, right?