Colorado: When Visitors Come...

When you live in a popular vacation destination, visitors are bound to emerge in droves. We average about two to three groups a month which keep us busy but we love playing host. This past weekend my all-time favorite guests came to visit: my little sister and brother-in-law who plan their vacations around where ever I end up living.

After arriving late Thursday night, they went skiing the next morning with Justin as their guide/babysitter. I was unable to accompany them as I was still recovering from a bad cold. But afterwards we checked out the International Snow Sculpture Championship held annually in Breckenridge where teams from nine countries sculpt elaborate designs out of 10x12 foot snow blocks. (See left picture of China's creation which won first prize - GO CHINA! The right picture is Germany's sculpture which collapsed seconds after being judged. Click on the link to view the photo gallery of all the teams' sculptures.) We cooked dinner, watched Namesake on DVD (a sentimental movie about an Indian immigrant family that all first and second-generations can relate to), and were in bed by ten.

On Saturday morning Justin and I took the kids on their first cross-country ski trip. We taught them how to gear up, stay hydrated, glide in nordic track motion, use the fish scales on the bottom of the skis when going uphill, and hope for the best when going downhill. (Check out the money shot on the left of my sister falling. hehe) I even taught her how to use your pole to tap a tree branch above your head after skiing right past it so the snow falls on the person behind you. Her ineffectual attempt got snow all over herself instead.

After we exhausted them with skiing, we drove two hours to Glenwood Springs, home to the world's biggest hot spring. Our scenic route involved driving through and around the Colorado Canyon on one of the world's most expensive roads ever built (left picture.) Then we made our way to the Yampah Vapor Caves, a natural underground hot steam bath (right picture). After sweating in the 110-degree caves, we finished our eventful day with a hearty dinner and good wine at the Italian Underground. Sadly the kids left the next morning at seven which made me feel like an empty nester for a brief moment. But it didn't last long as we got ready for another ski excursion at Berthoud Pass before making our way to our friend's Superbowl party.

One interesting observation my weekend guests made was how drastically different my lifestyle has become from the last place they visited me in Tokyo where we were drinking and partying until the sun came up and ate ramen to cap off the "night." In mountain country, on the other hand, we were all in bed by ten so we can wake up early to go skiing - that's why primetime tv starts at 7 instead of 8. Well, when in Rome...