This year we went to Breckenridge for our ski trip.
We actually went to Hays on Friday night, pulling in around midnight, and sharing a hotel room with the Luedke's because it was state wrestling and that was the only room left...but the weather was supposed to get bad Saturday morning so we decided to get a headstart.
There were a LOT of differences about this year. We rented a home through an AirBnB type site. It was awesome...SO ROOMY for all of us. BUT...it was at an elevation of 10500 ft, which is about 1000 feet above the town of Breckenridge, and we usually go to Winter Park which is at about 8000 ft. Needless to say....the altitude KICKED our butts! Every night someone was exhausted...and just going up and down the stairs in the house made us get out of breath!
The other big difference was we weren't in a ski in/ski out, so we drove to the gondola in town, paid to park (unless you had 4 in your car, so we had to borrow Gracie a couple times to put 4 in our car!) and then we had to get on an enclosed-moving-gondola to get up to the ski mountain! By the third day we were PROS!
This is our happy place. :)
Jace, Ella, and Gracie at the TOP of Peak 6...
COLD days...
We TRIED to get a group photo...nearly impossible...
Ryan took one, and then tried to take one with himself in it..
The guys!
Jed and I at the top!
Jace and Kyler at the end of the last day!
All the kids...Colton, Austin, Gracie, Kyler, Jace and Ella.
Patience of his father...as soon as he got to the bottom of the run he was ready to go again! No time to wait on anyone!
"Bored" kids got taught how to play SPOONS. Might be their new favorite game...
Jace chose this run...he "wanted" to try some moguls...so he lead and I followed. Moguls are easy when you are 4 feet tall...you just bounce in and out of them easy-peasy!
The pictures do not do this justice....it's steep. There are rocks sticking out, it's slippery...that little dot is Jed coming down the mountain...Jed, Megan and I literally skied/walked over rocks to get to the ledge to come down this side of the mountain....
Jace was determined to conquer a run that we had done once and didn't do so well on, so Jed and I took him back on it the last day. It was a small path through the trees, and he got going fast and wiped out, and his legs got twisted underneath him. So much that I was sure he broke his ankle. He didn't, thankfully, but he was sore for a couple days. But, like always, he got back up and it was slow at first but it was back to skiing! Always amazes me how tough he is, and how willing he is to try anything!
So, we liked Breck. But not sure it is for us. Seems to be more of a tourist type town, where you ski at day and stroll the town at night. And the altitude killed us. So much that on the last day it finally hit Jed, and he toughed it out all day but finally sat out the last run and Jace and I went up one more time, without him. Next year Jace wants to try snowboarding....so that might be interesting!!!
