Thanksgiving weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We spent a couple of nights at Stacey's parents' home, we ate well on Thursday and the moms did the 4am Black Friday thing. That afternoon we jumped in the minivan and headed for Avon/Beaver Creek, where my family had a couple of rooms at the Sheraton in Avon. Though we didn't ski (my Bro-in-law, Omar, did), we had a fabulous time. It snowed the whole time we were there--it was a veritable Winter Wonderland. We went to a nice tree-lighting ceremony at Beaver Creek on Friday evening. Right when Santa came out on the Zamboni, they cued the fireworks and the big snow began to fall. They couldn't have staged the snowfall any better. We caught a Gingerbread house display (competition) and enjoyed the evening, topping it off with a rousing game of Acquire, which I acquired for my B-Day (thanks to Stacey's mom!).

On Saturday we went out and did some sledding, followed by some swimming (we opted for the indoor pool), and closed with a couple of games (we like games!).










On Sunday we hit the bilingual Vail Branch for Sacrament Meeting, then we hit the road. This is where the weekend got really memorable. Between the continuous snowfall and the Thanksgiving traffic, the roads were ultrahorrible. It took us 2.5 hours to get from Avon to Dillon, a distance of 38 miles. When we pulled off in Dillon for a potty break, it came to our immediate attention that just getting back onto the Interstate was going to be a 90-minute, stop-and-go adventure. Decision time. Through sheer dumb luck (or maybe inspiration?), our potty break took us to a Borders bookstore directly across the street from the Comfort Suites. It didn't take long for those wheels to turn, and I ran across the (traffic-snarled) street and booked us a room. That may be one of the top five decisions I have ever made. Within a couple of hours, I-70 was closed, all the hotels in town were full, the red cross had set up a shelter in the rec center, and everyone on the road was miserable. Given Sarah's penchant for carsickness, we made the right choice. It took my poor sister and her family 9 hours and 45 minutes to get from Vail to Colo. Springs, a distance of 170 miles.

We, meanwhile, hung out at the bookstore for hours (quite fun, really), went swimming, bathed, and got some dinner at the Chimayo, where there was no line (though Ruby Tuesday's had a 90 minute wait). The icing on the cake was the serendipitous fact that the hotel room not only had the two queen beds, but also a hide-a-bed, which means that all six of us had a bed to sleep in.










The next morning we got up, had our continental breakfast waffles, and drove home in under two hours (which wouldn't even have gotten us the ten miles to the Eisenhower Tunnel the previous day). Sarah still got carsick, but all in all it was fabulous.