Tuesday, March 17th

Once again, we split up for the day. Drew and Manny spent time at the gondola base and downtown. In the morning Thom, Mom, Dad, and I went to Walgreens to get some stuff for Thom.  Thom's face is incredibly sunburnt. It is so bad it is oozing and pussing. Definitely second degree sunburns. Lesson learned.

This afternoon, Thom rested and worked out at the condo. Mom, Dad, and I went to the Strawberry Hot Springs.  It was a natural hot springs resort. It was rather small, but very cute. The water was very hot! They had three pools. One which was very hot, the next which was bath temperature, and the last which was water from creek (so very cold).

Then we headed back to the condo. We had to leave early so Dad could get back for a meeting Wednesday morning. We left at about 4:30 and made it home at 4:45 this morning. Thom and I drove home the rest of the way and got some much needed sleep.

It was a great trip!

Monday, March 16

We split up today to do our own things. Thom and Drew hit up the mountain again. I think they both enjoyed it much more considering they weren't babysitting me and having to go incredibly slow.  At approximately 10:00 when I contacted Thom they had already been down 12 runs. That is much more than we could do yesterday! Drew wore his GoPro the entire time so he has some awesome video footage of the day.

Mom, Dad, Manny and I started our day going to the downtown area of Steamboat Springs. The downtown area is approximately 5-6 blocks long.  They have all sorts of shops.  Book stores, sheep skin stores, outdoorsy stores, souvenir stores, cooking stores, all sorts of stores! Dad got a new pair of shoes, Mom got a bracelet, and I got a cool Roald Dahl book. The book store that we stopped in was by far my favorite. It was a locally owned and had a little coffee shop inside. It was very cute.

After our trip downtown Mom, Dad, and I took a walk on a bike path. Steamboat Springs is covered in bike paths. The route we took went right next to a little creek. It was beautiful. It was surreal because we were walking in t-shirts and shorts, but were surrounded by snow.

Then we went to the grocery store to get things for dinner (chicken and biscuits).

After the grocery store we went down to the base of the gondola. That is a very fun place to be. We all enjoyed sitting, people watching, sipping on a drink, and listening to live music. It was Dad's highlight of the trip.

After meeting up with Drew and Thom we went back to the condo for dinner. 

Sunday, March 15

Wowza! What a day!

We started our morning with a delicious breakfast made by Mom. She made potatoes with peppers, sausage, and eggs. I created a sausage and cheese biscuit.  It was delicious.

Drew, Manny, and Dad headed out at 8:00 to get to the mountain. Thom and I were moving a little slower so we didn't get there until about 8:30. We met Manny, Drew, and Dad at the top of the gondola.  Dad and I decided to wait and let Manny, Thom, and Drew go down the mountain one time while Dad and I waited at the top. The point of this was that right away in the morning the snow is actually more ice.  So Dad and I felt it was more safe for us to stay at the top, let it turn to a little slush, and then go down.  Dad and I enjoyed the scenery and beautiful weather while they went down the mountain.  Manny had never been snowboarding before, so he moved quite a bit slower than Drew and Thom.  Drew and Thom met us back at the top of the Gondola. Then we started heading down....yikes! Dad and I fell quite a few times! We both started to get the hang of it, but it was definitely tough! The route the boys took us down was rather narrow and steep at some points. Thom was really patient with both of us.  About 1/3 down the route Dad was really struggling and after talking with a safety patrol worker decided it would be best for him to go back down to the bottom of the mountain to try the bunny hills a few times. Dad really gave it his all! I was so proud of him. He fell multiple times, but just got back up and continued to have a great attitude! I know I was getting frustrated! Dad ended up getting a ride back up to the gondola by a snow mobile.  Thom and I continued down the mountain. I fell a few more times as we went down, but actually did pretty well! I had a huge fall. So large, that the safety patrol came over to make sure I was ok! I'm bruised, but still moving!

Once we made it to the bottom of the mountain Thom and I met Drew up at the gondola ride to head to "Tomahawk" Drew and Thom's favorite route.  We were able to take a green over to another ski lift to head to our desired route, but Tomahawk is a blue (more intermediate) so I was quite nervous. Having it be my first day I really wanted to stick with just greens (easiest) but the safety patrol guy thought I could do Tomahawk.  So that's where we headed. Before heading there I asked Thom and Drew said the beginning of Tomahawk was a very steep hill. I asked if it were any steeper than the one I just did; they said no. I asked if it was longer than the steep hill that I had already done; they said no. They are LIARS! The beginning of Tomahawk was a HUGE GINORMOUS INCREDIBLY STEEP hill! Thom said I just needed to go back and forth and I would be just fine. I started out doing fabulous! Then I fell. hard. So much that it scared me. Then came the tears-why? I was scared! So after calming myself down I started out again. Depending on how you look at it, it was both successful, and NOT successful! I completely lost control. I couldn't go back and forth anymore. I literally FLEW down the hill. INCREDIBLY FAST! I was an arms flailing, screaming, mess as I flew down the hill. However, I did NOT fall! :) The rest of the route was absolutely beautiful! We then took Baby Powder to the ski lift, to Broadway to a ski lift, to Arc up to the gondola where we met Dad for lunch.

Turns out once Dad made it to the bottom of the hill he returned his skis and was spending his day just enjoying the views.  We had a quick lunch and I went back to the bottom of the mountain via the gondola with Dad while Thom and Drew headed back to the top before the lift closed for some real fun.  After returning my skis Mom joined Dad and I. It was beautiful out! T-shirt weather.  We enjoyed a drink while people watching and waiting for Thom and Drew. It was enjoyable. Thom and Drew joined us after a bit. Thom did not put on sunscreen so he has a very...interesting...sunburn (think ski goggles).

Once everyone was together we headed back to the condo and headed to the hot tub. 

After the hot tub we enjoyed another delicious meal made by mom-tacos!

Tomorrow I think Drew and Thom are going on the mountain again while Mom, Dad, Manny, and I head downtown for some shopping! 

Saturday, March 14 (Pi Day)

We left bright and early at 2:20 from West Des Moines. Drew and Manny (Drew's friend) got the back back seat, Thom and I had the captains chairs in the middle, and Mom and Dad switched back and forth between the front seats. Dad drove the majority of the way.  We stopped in Cheyenne, WY at the Sierra Nevada Trading Post. Dad likes to stop there. Due to the time of year they had lots of great sales! I got a pair of Brooks shorts for only $12! We finished our drive and arrived at the condo at approximately 2:20, but had an hour and half stop at Sierra Nevada Trading Post, so we made great time!

Once we were in we got into our rooms. What Dad booked seemed a bit small for all of us so he requested another room so Drew and Manny are across the hall, Thom and I are connected to Mom and Dad's room which has a nice size kitchen.

Once we got settled we headed to Christy's Sports to rent our skis.  Boy, were they busy! It took us about an hour to get our skis. I had white skis with white boots. I liked mine. Once we got our skis we headed to buy our lift tickets. Drew got a 2 day ticket, and the rest of us (Dad, Thom, me, and Manny) all got one day tickets. Thom plans on doing 2 days, but in fear of being injured he only purchased a one day--you don't save any money with a two day!

After we got our skis we went out to dinner at Blue Sage Pizza. We got chicken wings and a Maui Wowie Pizza (ham, pineapple, pepperoni, jalapeños). It was delicious!

We then returned to the condo to drop off Drew, Dad, and Manny while Thom, Mom and I went to the grocery store to get food for the next couple days.

Once we got back from the grocery store Thom, Manny, and I went out to "practice" skiing. We tried it right outside our condo in the little lot they had, but the snow was incredibly soft! We just kept sinking! We gave it our best shot, but came in about 20 minutes.

Then Drew, Thom, and Manny decided to go out to the downtown area. I stayed in and worked on my college class.

We all went to bed early because of big skiing plans the next day!