Crested Butte Vacation Day 1 and 2

This year we were once again blessed to be able to go on our family vacation to ski in Crested Butte, CO. We left early Thursday morning (Jan 12th) for the 8 hour drive to somewhere south of Pueblo, CO, to stay the night at a friend of my parents.  They built a beautiful house up in the mountains to retire in.  Must be nice, although I don't think I could handle being so secluded day in and day out.

Our first, and thankfully only hiccup, of the trip came when we tried to get up this small hill en route to their house.  Our car was so loaded down in the back that it couldn't quite make it on the icy path.  We tried three times and finally just had to call Paul to come and get us.  After we unloaded our car a bit, we were able to make it up with flying colors!

That evening we had beef stroganoff with real heavy cream for dinner.  It was pretty good, but I prefer it made with sour cream. 


The next morning we loaded up and headed back out on the road.  By 10am we had made it to Canon City and stopped in to by some wine at the Holy Cross Abbey.  We bought the Syrah and the Reisling.   By 12:30 we had met up with Eric and his entourage at the Gunnison airport to pick up Brian. We all said our quick hellos then had lunch in downtown.  Afterwards we made the 30 minute trek to Mount Crested Butte and our house for the next 4 days.

On our way in, we got our first real look at just how little snow Crested Butte has received so far.  It was really weird.  Lots and lots of brown grass.  And when you looked at the mountain it was especially wierd.  Grass, then snow where the run is, then grass again, and then snow where another run is!  I though to myself that skiing on that was going to be interesting.

So, after we unloaded the car, we loaded back up and headed to the ski resort to rent our ski boots and skis.

 A closer look at the mountain and the snow and it didn't look too bad....Tomorrow is the first day of skiing!!!