Tuesday, August 11, 2009
vacation blog notes
This is my first ever post from vacation directly. I am so in the twenty first century now. I am typing from Durango, CO where we have spent two wonderful days doing what I have dubbed 'training' and a day at Durango Mtn Resort. The first day in town we spent on the Durango - Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, and today at DMR, mostly alpine sliding. Great days they were. We have been meaning to do these things, particularly the alpine sliding for years since we arrived in ABQ. I have just loved alpine sliding since I first experienced it years ago at Bromley Mtn as a kid, and later on while dating John at Song Mtn outside Syracuse. Oh, we also did alpine sliding at Stowe, VT the summer I was pregnant with Matty, I recall having something of a larger abdomen and having Drew in my lap while sledding on the sleds. It was still fun re-experiencing my youth.
The train ride yesterday was very scenic but very, very long. It was very nice experiencing the small town majesty of Silverton. What a neat neat town that is. I could have moved in in a minute. We ate lunch at a special place called Handlebars, called this for its large # of mustached customers. It was truly a taxidermist's museum, just filled on the walls and ledges up the walls with stuffed formerly alive animals. This is really a hunter's place. And what we can see CO is really a hunter's paradise.
The day today was just a blast. We worked hard to stay hydrated for so many reasons, and I have a mocha frappuccino which made my lunch so perfect. It was a perfect sunny day with the bluest of blue skies, and hardly any people there, as summer is just about over (Phoenix has already begun school I hear). The lines were nonexistent for much of the day- a summer enthusiast's paradise. This is a really neat resort in summer; really nicely done up, and the views, just to die for. The salad I had for lunch was phenomenal. Mongolian BBQ for dinner was cool; I liked showing the children another way to eat. I think we left determined to come back next summer, perhaps twice.
I would come early in summer and late in summer, when crowds are low. I guess what helped make it good and stress free was having all we needed, sunglasses and sun lotion-wise, having water galore, and even seeing a really neat hotel at the base of the lift with a pool and slide. It looked a superb way in which to enjoy the place next summer. Purgy's they call it, short for Purgatory, the former name of the resort back in the 70's when I read about it in SKI magazine from the east. I never dreamed then that I would someday live close enough to drive to it, and enjoy sliding in summer. Drew, Matty and John also enjoyed beating me down the alpine slide all day, this is a mighty competitive family for sure, there is just no denying that.
Tomorrow we head to Littleton to see Theresa Keough's family. That will be awesome, for it has been roughly 6 years since we have seen the; far too long for the children to remember her and the girls. We stayed in a hotel in Syr then for the funeral, and 6 month old Matty met her twins and Aunts Peggy and Theresa. I think Amy had recently given birth so she was not there?? Anyhow, we are quite excited to see Theresa and Frank and the girls, who look so darling from their Christmas card photo. Offered to take the girls to Elitch Gardens amusement park.
One of my favorite moments from this past few days when we were in Silverton having a very lovely lunch, when we had been given our waters. We watch our pennies carefully so that we can afford cool things when on vacation, and so often we do not have sodas with meals when in restaurants. It gets hard when the waitress asks the kids directly if they want sodas. Anyhow, we had told them we were having waters today, and the waters appeared. Shortly after that, Matty, always the optimist, asked the waitress innocently, "May I trade in my water for a Sprite?" I believe we all burst out laughing. That was classic Matty, always optimistic, often innocent and almost always in a cheery mood. That was easily the highlight of my day right there, far and away.
Today the highlight of my day was seeing everyone enjoy their days so much. Especially the alpine sliding, for which I have yearned for years now, and finally have the $ to enjoy. That was so nice. They enjoyed it just as much as I. I love racing down the mountainside very fast and they all enjoyed the speed, also. We enjoyed watching the many marmots ducking down into the holes in the sides of the chutes when we came racing down. They were all over the place. The temp was so perfect, not too hot but not chilly either, though the early morning temp was a bit nippy, I thought.
Another very funny moment was when I said something properly with the correct grammar on the chairlift at the end of the day. Matty knew I had said it truly grammatically, for I slowed down my speech to be very careful not to end my sentence with a preposition. Drew has really nailed us for this very common grammar mistake in the past few months, having gotten a lot out of English this year. So he is constantly correcting our grammar now, so much so that he tells us all the time he is making us better people! Also, Matty is so young still, but he is speaking without putting prepositions at the ends of sentences as is so common in America. In fact sometimes it is so uncommon to end a sentence this way that the correct way to say a certain set of words sounds really awkward and wrong.
Anyhow, this is our vacation so far, totally enjoyable.
The evening before we went on the train, when we had rolled into town, John read that the nighttime temp is going to be a low of 42 here! Yikes! So luckily we had a Walmart in town quite close by, and I headed out once the children were in bed to buy some warmer clothes for us. We were set. Matty made friends with a boy names Russell, and spent most of the train ride of 7 hours, back and forth, playing cards and other games with him. At some point in the day Matty called him 'Razzle' accidentally. Adorable.
Earlier today, John and I were riding the chairlift with the children riding it together in front of us (neat!!), and I was suggesting that he think about what to do for his and Matty's birthdays, which are quickly approaching (John's in 5 weeks and Matty's just 3 short weeks after that). It never occurred to me that we were being overheard as we were there all alone on the two person chair lift. But then two people were on the return chairlift opposite us, going down the mtn on a 'scenic chairlift ride' and shouted out to John "Happy Birthday!" How unexpected!
Off to sleep, I need to read a bit to relax and clean my sweaty feet and climb into bed. I am expecting all the altitude and sunshine and warm air today has worn us out more than we expect. Oh, I forgot the mini golf today right at the bottom of the alpine slide, and the marmots galore! and the good food and flowers all around Durango Mtn Resort, and the mocha frappuccino and the bungee jumping. And the bounce house. What a great day. Matty enjoyed the bounce house and Drew enjoyed two rounds of the bungee jumping and John liked the rock wall climbing. The bungee jumping was where they tie you up in waist and hipster harnesses and strap you into super strength rubber bands and fly you up in the air bouncing on a trampoline and bouncing so high on the rubber bands which are anchored to rods at the ground. We got pictures, this looked so fun. People can do flips and somersaults and just plain jump. We kept yelling at Drew, begging for flips, but he wasn't ready for that. We saw lots of dogs which the children and I enjoyed petting, as they miss, and I do too, miss Shadow so much. He is four months now and so enjoyable as he is so playful and is nipping less than 2 months ago, and having less accidents also. He is so affectionate.
The train ride yesterday was very scenic but very, very long. It was very nice experiencing the small town majesty of Silverton. What a neat neat town that is. I could have moved in in a minute. We ate lunch at a special place called Handlebars, called this for its large # of mustached customers. It was truly a taxidermist's museum, just filled on the walls and ledges up the walls with stuffed formerly alive animals. This is really a hunter's place. And what we can see CO is really a hunter's paradise.
The day today was just a blast. We worked hard to stay hydrated for so many reasons, and I have a mocha frappuccino which made my lunch so perfect. It was a perfect sunny day with the bluest of blue skies, and hardly any people there, as summer is just about over (Phoenix has already begun school I hear). The lines were nonexistent for much of the day- a summer enthusiast's paradise. This is a really neat resort in summer; really nicely done up, and the views, just to die for. The salad I had for lunch was phenomenal. Mongolian BBQ for dinner was cool; I liked showing the children another way to eat. I think we left determined to come back next summer, perhaps twice.
I would come early in summer and late in summer, when crowds are low. I guess what helped make it good and stress free was having all we needed, sunglasses and sun lotion-wise, having water galore, and even seeing a really neat hotel at the base of the lift with a pool and slide. It looked a superb way in which to enjoy the place next summer. Purgy's they call it, short for Purgatory, the former name of the resort back in the 70's when I read about it in SKI magazine from the east. I never dreamed then that I would someday live close enough to drive to it, and enjoy sliding in summer. Drew, Matty and John also enjoyed beating me down the alpine slide all day, this is a mighty competitive family for sure, there is just no denying that.
Tomorrow we head to Littleton to see Theresa Keough's family. That will be awesome, for it has been roughly 6 years since we have seen the; far too long for the children to remember her and the girls. We stayed in a hotel in Syr then for the funeral, and 6 month old Matty met her twins and Aunts Peggy and Theresa. I think Amy had recently given birth so she was not there?? Anyhow, we are quite excited to see Theresa and Frank and the girls, who look so darling from their Christmas card photo. Offered to take the girls to Elitch Gardens amusement park.
One of my favorite moments from this past few days when we were in Silverton having a very lovely lunch, when we had been given our waters. We watch our pennies carefully so that we can afford cool things when on vacation, and so often we do not have sodas with meals when in restaurants. It gets hard when the waitress asks the kids directly if they want sodas. Anyhow, we had told them we were having waters today, and the waters appeared. Shortly after that, Matty, always the optimist, asked the waitress innocently, "May I trade in my water for a Sprite?" I believe we all burst out laughing. That was classic Matty, always optimistic, often innocent and almost always in a cheery mood. That was easily the highlight of my day right there, far and away.
Today the highlight of my day was seeing everyone enjoy their days so much. Especially the alpine sliding, for which I have yearned for years now, and finally have the $ to enjoy. That was so nice. They enjoyed it just as much as I. I love racing down the mountainside very fast and they all enjoyed the speed, also. We enjoyed watching the many marmots ducking down into the holes in the sides of the chutes when we came racing down. They were all over the place. The temp was so perfect, not too hot but not chilly either, though the early morning temp was a bit nippy, I thought.
Another very funny moment was when I said something properly with the correct grammar on the chairlift at the end of the day. Matty knew I had said it truly grammatically, for I slowed down my speech to be very careful not to end my sentence with a preposition. Drew has really nailed us for this very common grammar mistake in the past few months, having gotten a lot out of English this year. So he is constantly correcting our grammar now, so much so that he tells us all the time he is making us better people! Also, Matty is so young still, but he is speaking without putting prepositions at the ends of sentences as is so common in America. In fact sometimes it is so uncommon to end a sentence this way that the correct way to say a certain set of words sounds really awkward and wrong.
Anyhow, this is our vacation so far, totally enjoyable.
The evening before we went on the train, when we had rolled into town, John read that the nighttime temp is going to be a low of 42 here! Yikes! So luckily we had a Walmart in town quite close by, and I headed out once the children were in bed to buy some warmer clothes for us. We were set. Matty made friends with a boy names Russell, and spent most of the train ride of 7 hours, back and forth, playing cards and other games with him. At some point in the day Matty called him 'Razzle' accidentally. Adorable.
Earlier today, John and I were riding the chairlift with the children riding it together in front of us (neat!!), and I was suggesting that he think about what to do for his and Matty's birthdays, which are quickly approaching (John's in 5 weeks and Matty's just 3 short weeks after that). It never occurred to me that we were being overheard as we were there all alone on the two person chair lift. But then two people were on the return chairlift opposite us, going down the mtn on a 'scenic chairlift ride' and shouted out to John "Happy Birthday!" How unexpected!
Off to sleep, I need to read a bit to relax and clean my sweaty feet and climb into bed. I am expecting all the altitude and sunshine and warm air today has worn us out more than we expect. Oh, I forgot the mini golf today right at the bottom of the alpine slide, and the marmots galore! and the good food and flowers all around Durango Mtn Resort, and the mocha frappuccino and the bungee jumping. And the bounce house. What a great day. Matty enjoyed the bounce house and Drew enjoyed two rounds of the bungee jumping and John liked the rock wall climbing. The bungee jumping was where they tie you up in waist and hipster harnesses and strap you into super strength rubber bands and fly you up in the air bouncing on a trampoline and bouncing so high on the rubber bands which are anchored to rods at the ground. We got pictures, this looked so fun. People can do flips and somersaults and just plain jump. We kept yelling at Drew, begging for flips, but he wasn't ready for that. We saw lots of dogs which the children and I enjoyed petting, as they miss, and I do too, miss Shadow so much. He is four months now and so enjoyable as he is so playful and is nipping less than 2 months ago, and having less accidents also. He is so affectionate.
