Anyway, we left on December 10, bright and early. Our flight to Denver was on time, and it was a clear day for flying. We landed in Denver around 10:30 a.m. and headed to Hertz for our rental car. The first car they gave us wouldn't even stay on at idle, so they upgraded us to a larger one and sent us on our way in a 4WD GMC Envoy, which was spacious enough for all of our gear. We decided to stop for lunch pretty soon, since our bodies were on Houston time, one hour later than Denver time. There was a "Del Taco" at the exit we chose, so we thought we'd try it out. Unfortunately, being from Texas, we are accustomed to the Tex-Mex flavors that we eat frequently, and Del Taco just didn't quite measure up (the fact that they had a couple of burgers on their menu should have clued us in, or perhaps the advertising slogan that trumpeted, "world famous crinkle cut fries" on the cups). At any rate, we won't likely patronize Del Taco again! The drive over to Avon was uneventful, as the roads were clear and it wasn't snowing much at all.
Our first stop was Christy Sports, where we picked up our pre-rented equipment. Tim chose to try snowboarding instead of skiing, so he got his boots and board all set up. We had asked for basic skis, but the manager of the store thought we should try out the sport skis, and he upgraded our rentals at no charge. Wow, two upgrades in one day--we must have been living right!
After a trip up to the resort to show Tim around a bit, we found our home for the week at Beaver Creek West Condos. We had a two-bedroom, two-bath unit that sells for around $500,000 in that market. Anywhere else, it would look like a comfortable two-bedroom, two-bath apartment, but this is SKI country, and everyone knows that the most important factors in pricing real estate are location, location, and location! You'd think that for 1/2 million it would be a luxury property, but there were some interesting quirks, like a couple of drawers in the kitchen that were installed in such a way that one couldn't be opened more than an inch, and the other only opened fully if the oven door was open below it.
The washing machine backed up into the bathtub when it was draining, and the toilets were hesitant to flush fully. Now I'm making it sound a lot worse than it really was; it was actually quite comfortable for the five days and nights that we were there. 
The views from the front entrance were lovely, and the back balcony overlooked the pool and hot tubs. I wonder why nobody was lounging in those chairs by the pool?
Anybody who's ever been skiing understands the allure of a hot tub, even if said tub is located outside where the air is freezing and it's often snowing. The warm bubbly water is awfully soothing after a day on the slopes! There were some kids staying at the condos who were brave enough to swim and play in the heated pool, but we stuck to the hot tubs. After getting situated in our new home, we made the obligatory trip to Wal-mart for groceries and spent a quiet evening anticipating the next few days.
Our first day on the slopes was Tuesday. Tim had signed up for three full days of snowboarding school, so we parted ways with him and took the lift all the way up to the top of the mountain, where there are loads of green (easy) runs. Ben and I managed to complete five runs before calling it a day. The next day we did six, and the third day we were up to nine runs before we were worn out. Tim, in the meantime, was learning how to stay upright on a snowboard. He was pretty battered and sore after falling a lot at first, but he started getting the hang of it, and by the third day, we were crossing paths with him and his instructor on the trails. On Friday, we all went up to the mountaintop together and went down a few runs. But Tim was really sore and tired, so he actually went on down to Starbucks and waited for us to get our fill of skiing. All in all, in four days of skiing, Ben and I each only fell once. I guess that means we're getting better at skiing, or maybe we're just getting better at not trying trails that are too difficult for us!
Here are a few more pictures from up the mountain. I would have taken more, but it turns out that my camera refuses to work when it's too cold, so I only got to take pictures early in the day before the camera froze up!
Tim learned how to bundle up against the cold.
The Spruce Saddle Lodge at mid-mountain is a welcome resting place.
It wasn't very good weather for outdoor dining!
We don't normally eat out very much when we stay in a condo with a full kitchen, but Tim really wanted to try some new places. One night he treated us to dinner at the Gashouse Inn, where he ate elk, buffalo, and quail (Ben and I had salmon). We also found a neat pizza place that specializes in fixing the pizza for you to take home and bake. The Chicken BLT pizza was delicious; I can honestly say I had never had lettuce on a pizza before!
Saturday was the day to come home. We had thought we might catch a few more runs that morning, but we decided to do something else. Tim really wanted to tour the Coors Brewery in Golden, so that's where we went on our way to the airport. Ben and I didn't much care about the brewery, but Tim thought the three free beers that they offer to each tour guest (over 21) sounded pretty nice. He had been there once before when he was only 12, and he wanted to go back this time and test the products. We indulged him and sat with him as he sipped his freebies.
Then it was time to head home. As we approached the Hertz return place, every warning light on the dashboard of the Envoy lit up, and the gauges went blank, making it look like the tank was empty. When we pulled up to return it, the electric locks wouldn't work, and we couldn't even open the rear liftgate to get our stuff out. We were just glad that it waited to malfunction until we were only 1/2 mile away from our destination! Our flight back to Houston was delayed, and we ended up getting home around 11 p.m., tired but happy after a very pleasant trip!
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