C-to-the-O! (revisited)

Well we made it!  We left Wichita on Wednesday around 5pm en route to Fort Collins, CO.  The trip was for the most part uneventful.  We used the Garmin GPS that I gave Chris for Christmas, which we named Penelope.  A little past Colby, Penelope took is off 70, onto a dirt road, and on into the boonies.  Now, I'm always one for an adventure, but it WAS a bit odd :) and I've seen too many scary movies, so I had to keep my thoughts in check (no, our car wasn't going to break down and a crazy family wasn't going to come and feed us to their mentally insane family member :)  you see? too many movies :)  During our drive in the backroads, we had to slow down twice for deer (both times there were about 6 or 7 grouped together).  Thank you Jesus that none of them decided to love on our car :)  We drove through quite a few sleepy 

little towns, and saw a passenger train (which prompted us to agree that we should take a train to Chicago sometime).  We got to the Boling's at about 12:30am... It was SO good to see Justin and Elaina!  They are so great, but we don't get to see them very often :(  They so kindly made up a bed for us (look closely, there's mints on our pillows, haha!) 

 

We woke up to this beautiful scenery right outside the house (it's kind of hard to see in the picture, but it was a great view!)  It makes me wonder if you ever get used to waking up to the mountains?? I would hope not :)  Our wonderful host and hostess left out some breakfast for us (they both had to work in the morning, but we decided that we would meet up for lunch).

We headed to Old Town Square Fort Collins (so much cooler than our Old Town, sorry Wichita) and walked around the shops for a while, then met up at Coopersmith's Pub for lunch (a great local joint!)  After lunch (about 1:30-ish) we said adieu to Justin and Elaina, (I completely forgot to get a picture with them, boo) and started the drive to Breckenridge.  Oh, and we drove a good distance on Shields St! :)

The drive through the mountains was beautiful, and this Kansas girl learned sometime new - Chris said that if it doesn't have a tree-line, then it's a foot hill; what makes it a mountain is that is has a tree line. 

 

We FINALLY got to Breck at 4:45!! Yea!  Got settled in our room, went to Safeway in Frisco to get some snacks, then walked a few blocks down to where all the little shops and restaurants are.  We ate dinner at a quaint, but delicious Italian restaurant, Giampietro (I thought we needed some carbs for the next day of snowboarding :)  We had an appetizer of garlic cheese bread, with this amazing marinara sauce, and Chris had a cup of cocoa to warm up :)  

Chris had chicken alfredo, and I had Shrimp Pesto 

Afterwards, we strolled around and did a little window shopping, then went to bed around 10 to get all rested up for our big day! :)

Friday: 

This morning we woke about 7:30, grabbed some continental breakfast, got all of our gear on, and headed to the mountain.  We are staying at a ski-in, ski-out lodge, (which I didn't really know what that was), but you basically go out the back door and ski down a run-type thing to the Gondola, which takes you to the the Mountain, pretty convenient (and you don't have to worry about parking).  I was nervous starting out, but Chris is a great teacher, and I think I caught on semi-quick..... maybe?  I never quite got the hang of going straight down (I was enjoying going down with the board horizontal), but I felt in control, and I could slow down and stop (which, of course, is a big plus! haha!)  Oh, before I forget, I have to tell you, every time we got in position for the ski lift to come, when it would "scoop" us up, my sweet husband would instinctively put his arm out across me (I guess to make sure I wouldn't fall off )  What a guy! :)

This picture is after our first run! :)  It was rough for me; I would just fall over when I thought I was going to fast, haha!  And it's not like I can just pop right back up :)  Oh, and I KNOW why you're not suppose to ski while pregnant now!  On one run, I caught the front edge of the board and totally wiped out, and it happens so fast, that you don't have time to put your hands in front of you, so my ribs and stomach got it pretty hard, it knocked the wind out of me *ouch*!  

Chris was sweet and took a pic of me taking my time down the mtn. :)  Tomorrow I will take some pics of him!  We left the slopes at about 2... We were both getting kinda pooped, and we wanted to save some energy for tomorrow!  Back at the room, we compared bumps and bruises, but it was totally worth it!  After relaxing a while, we walked down to the town again.  We did a bit more shopping... Chris broke his goggle lenses today on a brutal wipe-out, so we got him a new pair (of lenses, that is :), and he also got a pair of sunglasses (his Oakleys were stolen when his truck got broken in to).  I got a pair of gloves and a headband thing to keep my ears warm (my ski hat was making me feel clausterphobic, and my gloves were not keeping my hands warm).  For dinner we stopped at Fiesta Jalisco (can you guess what kind of food? :)  It was okay... Nothing to write home about, but their salsa was impressive, very fresh and spicy, the way we like it :)  Chris got an enchilada/chimichanga (those who know C, this is not a surprise :) and I got the chicken fajitas.  After our bellies were full, it was time to go back to the room for some more R&R :)  

I can't believe it's almost over :(  It always happens that way though, it takes for-EVER to get here, and once it's finally here, you blink and it's gone.  But we already have some great memories, and we are having a blast together, so it's worth it of course! :)