Family Arrives

Wednesday, noonish, my brother and his family arrived to visit with us until Saturday. We prepared a pasta salad and bbq'ed chicken for their early afternoon arrival. After a leisurely lunch, we worked through the logistics of getting 7 bikes to the top of Vail Pass for the ride down. We loaded up all the bikes and the Vespa carrier on my brothers truck and off we went!  Hubby drive the Vespa to Frisco where it was dropped off and then all 7 squished in for the 14 mile ride up to the Pass. Once at the top, we unloaded and set off with my nephews leading the way!  A little too tame for them but we always enjoy the ride along the creek and lakes. We had a short stop over in Copper Mountain for coffee and frappachinos. Once we reached Frisco, we split off from Hubby as he rode over to the Vespa to ride it back up to the Pass in order to retrieve the truck.  It always scares me to think of him out on I-70 competing for space with truckers and motorists. He says he can go 70 mph on the flat with the wind at his back but slows down considerably on the hills and into the wind.

Meanwhile, the six of us rode back to Tiger Run. It was a little difficult for my niece but we were proud of ourselves for all making the 250' climb over 6.5 miles. While doing the ride my brother and I challenged each other to ride the much more difficult reverse path to Copper Mountain the next morning.  After a yummy dinner of pulled pork poutine (fries, gravy and pulled pork) we did a campfire and pool time.

At 7:30 the next morning my brother, sister-in-law and I set out for the 14 mile ride up the 700' elevation change. There were several 5 minute rests along the way and my capitulation about 2 miles from our destination. With encouragement from my brother we finally made it!  We rewarded ourselves with lattes and bagels or muffins. And then began the ride back. Although it was primarily downhill to Frisco, the few hills and those from Frisco back to our starting point were a struggle indeed. When we finally arrived I immediately laid down for a nap. 28 miles, an amazing accomplishment for me given the high altitude and little training on hills!

After recovery we decided to walk around the historic area of Breckenridge while the two older boys tried out local beers. We also went up to the ski hill and either played mini golf or rode the chairlift. We enjoyed a steak dinner that night, played an energetic card game (my reaction time is seriously declining) and had a second round of pool volleyball or hot tubbing.

Friday brought another beautiful day and a morning breakfast bike ride up to Breck for breakfast for the four adults. We picked out the Columbine Cafe based on Yelp reviews and were not disappointed. Hubby did well on the ride in spite of his difficulty with catching his breath even while resting due to the much higher altitude, his sore shoulder, bad back, and bad knee. He is a trooper and kept up extremely well considering all his ailments. Upon return to Tiger Run, we got the kids going to drive back up to the ski hill for a downhill mountain path ride from the top of the mountain. The views were stunning and we ran across a lovely young woman who offered to take a group photo!

The descent did not turn out so well!  My brother blew a tire about a third of the way down requiring him to walk the bike down the mountain!  A little further down, my SIL lost her balance and fell on some sharp rocks. Amazingly no serious injuries!

After meeting up at the bottom, we decided to ride down from the ski hill to where we had parked our trucks. Storm clouds came in quickly and about half way down it began hailing. It was a hard decision to choose between flying down the hill with the hailstones stinging us or go more slowly and get soaked but we decided to do the quick plan. Breathlessly waiting at the bottom, Hubby, one nephew and I waited out the storm in the truck. The rest of the group made it down after the storm stopped having taken cover under a bridge.

We did dinner out at Chipotle as our Canadian visitors had never experienced the challenge of building monster burritos. Just as we entered the restaurant we were able to see a beautiful double rainbow which was so vibrant that it was breathtaking!

 We finished up our time with them around a campfire eating peanut butter cup s'mores (yummy!!!)   We said our good byes having enjoyed the time we had together which was not juggled with the usual myriad of people when we go up to Calgary. Such a very sweet family and I hope they enjoyed their time as much as we did!