Man-cation 2010: Vail & Breckenridge

In January, I decided to take a much needed "man-cation." This time, I went with Todd from work. We left on a Friday morning and skied Vail that afternoon. Todd got sick the day we left and his health deteriorated throughout the trip. This put a damper on the brewery tours, but he was a trooper and rallied for a few nights out on the town. The conditions were beautiful; sunny with packed powder. We missed the fresh powder by a few days but we were just glad to be there. The crowds were subdued and the weather was perfect.

Here is the first run of the day.



I guess I was more out of shape than I thought. We had to stop a few times on the first run and avoid the moguls to stretch out. We were there for the half day so it didn't matter. We just enjoyed the views and tried to remember we were in Dallas that morning.

No, that is not Zach Galifianakis from the Hangover. On the second day, I stopped at a local barber and got it all chopped off. It was fun while it lasted but truth be told, I was looking forward to a shave & haircut.

This next clip I placed the Flip camera in my goggles and filmed a run going down the back side on Yonder Gully. There was still some nice powder left. I was shocked to see the video turned out. I thought about adding some high amped music to it, dropping in a helicopter shadow and speeding up the frames, but who am I kidding. I was able to edit out all of the names of the runs we were on like "Lame Boy, Little Fluffy, Snow Queen and Gentle Bird." We had a good time.

That night we stayed in Denver. Thanks to my overconfident and rather obstinent sense of directions, we got lost in Denver. Todd was ready to kill me. The poor guy was beat and just wanted to go to sleep. The next day we awoke to sunshine and blue skies. After a lovely continental breakfast provided by our friends at La Quinta, we jumped in the car and headed up to Breckendridge. I was pleasantly suprised at just how beautiful Breckenridge was. We wasted no time hitting the slopes and made the most of a perfect winter holiday.

That night we stayed in Beaver Creek. We had a chance to catch the Cowboy Game at a local bar named the Dusty Boot. The next day we explored more of Breckenridge, including the famed Breckenridge Brewery. They have some of the best beer made in America. I had a chance to sample my favorite beer, Small Batch 471 sitting only a few hundred feet from where it was made, delish!