Well, another year in the books at Steamboat Springs, CO!  Damn, what a great place, great skiing, beautiful area – and the opportunity to spend time with Child Unit 2 and friends!  It does not get better.

You know it has to be a worthy place to go if it gets me up before the sun.

First and foremost, having the opportunity to spend time with our son Drew was beyond great; what a fine young lad.  Because the poor child has a job and is responsible (unlike his father), we weren’t able to spend a lot of time together, but we did enjoy our limited time and a great meal at the Truffle Pig, one of the many restaurants at the foot of the mountain.

We stayed at the Ptarmigan Inn, which is right on the mountain and literally ski in/ski out.  Nice.

The skiing conditions were really good, although I won’t lie – I struggled getting my sea legs.  I either need to ski more, adjust my attitude, or hang up the boards.  I used to just point my “210’s” (downhill skis) down the hill and ski my brains out.  Maybe there are more brains now… or less.  Debatable.  Actually, let’s go with rhetorical.

In my years of absence from the ski community, I seemed to have lost touch with what the current ski fashion is all about.  Time for me to re-think ski apparel.  Remember kids:  Just say no to aluminum foil.

The good news:  Après ski is still alive and kicking.

I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but it snowed on our last day – making it kind of sketch for skiing.  So we made the day into a road-trip and tooled around the area – from Steamboat up towards Clark, Hahns Peak, Steamboat Lake, and the Elk River, all in an area close to the Wyoming border.  What a stunning area.

All these activities require sustenance.  Fortunately for us, we had contracted out with Chef Davide, an infamous chef from Manchester By The Sea.  Dinner was served at the Colby Ponderosa, a very exclusive, invite-only retreat in Stagecoach.  Culinary treats included Davide’s own Chicken Parmesan, and perhaps even better his Beef Stroganoff.  Ooh la la!  Money well spent on this bad boy – divine food, but the guy is almost as fickle as Gordon Ramsey.  Chefs are an odd lot.

To mix things up a bit, we went to Mountain Tap in downtown Steamboat, which I can’t decide – is either a brewery with a pizza parlor, or a pizza parlor with a brewery.  Either way, this place was GREAT!  The beers were fabulous – as were the pizzas!  Yum!!

All in all, a fabulous trip.

I tried to end this post by adding a video clip of the band Main squeeze that played at the base of the mountain, but technology has exceeded my abilities.  Imagine if you will a dance party apres ski at the base of the mountain.  Rock on, Garth.  And go ski somewhere!