In 2022, we returned to our last Christmas lodging in Poncha Springs. Annie is such a great host and we kept in touch through the year. (410 Quarry Station, Poncha Springs, 81242) When she told me a week ahead that the house was empty and ready for us, we decided to leave one day earlier than planned.
On Saturday Dec 17, we started our routine drive to Colorado. We left at 9AM, stopped in Wichita Falls for Chick-fil-a with a detour, and arrived at 8PM MST at our house. Norah was struggling with car sickness/altitude sickness the last hour. Fortunately she fell asleep close to our destination and didn't wake up for dinner at the house. Going back to a familiar house made us feel like going home. Annie left a welcome package for us. The house is so well stocked that we really don't need to bring anything extra. It even has the woods for the wood burning stove.
Norah woke up with high energy Sunday morning. So we were ready to go skiing! This is the third time we skied Monarch Mountain. We loved the layout of this small mountain. It claims 800 skiable acres, with 130 acres of Mirkwood closed currently. All runs funnel to the same base and there is no chance of losing our kids to a different base. There are 4 lifts from the base, Garfield, Tumbelina, Pioneer, Breezeway. And one lift from mid-mountain, Panorama. Pioneer has the similar drop off spot as Garfield but is as slow as a beginner chair. Tumbelina is only serving green and blue runs. We stayed mostly on Garfield, Panorama and Breezeway during this trip.
Both kids picked it up fast on the first day. After one full day of skiing, we drove to Salida's Safeway for grocery shopping and dinner at Boathouse Cantina. We skipped restaurant dining for the last two years. We all loved Boathouse back in 2018 when we dined there. It is as nice a setting as we remembered. Window looking over the Arkansas River and S Mountain with Christmas tree lights on it. After dinner, we walked over to the Riverside Park to match what's in our memory. It was too dark.
Monday Dec 19, we continued to ski and improve. Both kids (especially Norah) are excited to warm up so she could ski with B-rad tomorrow. On Tuesday, we dropped off both kids to B-rad at 9:15. Will and I got to ski by ourselves from 9:15 to 11:55. We enjoyed the black runs on Garfield and Panorama. When Will took Jackson's ski to be waxed after skiing, he dropped me off at Vino Salida. I wanted to check that place out last year since it is right across the street from our rental house. I ordered a flight and gulped it down when they came to pick me up. A unique wine tasting experience!
After three ski days, we took a ski break on Wednesday to Mount Princeton Hot Spring for a soak. It was cold (10-20F) and I was worried about kids being cold before we went. But I need not to worry. Both kids loved the creek-side pool. Jackson marveled at how relaxed he was in the pool. Hot water bubbled up from the bottom of the creek bed. Cold water mixed in with the rushing creek. The naturally formed pool provides great soaking, mountain and creek views and rocks as entertainment. We hopped and settled into a nice pool. Will went to the gas station at the parking lot and got us pizza for lunch. It was such an idyllic setting. Snow started to fall. We stayed in the pool for 5 hours till we reluctantly said goodbye.
Thursday Dec 22 was forecasted to be a frigidly cold and very windy day. Six inches of snow fell overnight. The temptation of powder snow drove us to the slope and the ski conditions were pretty good. Only Garfield was open in the morning. Norah and I found Powderline last time we skied. It had unskied powder even before the storm. We went there again and it was just us. One of Monarch's best features is the crowd. No matter the date and the snow condition, we never encountered a big crowd here.
The cold got to Norah after lunch and she would like to go tubing instead. I took her to the tubing hill. It charges hourly but the ticket guy gave us an extra half hour. Compared to the Steamboat Spring tubing hill we did a few years ago, every tubing place seemed miniature to Will and I. But Norah enjoyed the tubing activity nevertheless. She was 1 year old at Steamboat Springs after all. We did some reading at the lodge waiting for Jackson and Will. We were able to get the same or very close by table each time. That also tells how small the crowd is.
Friday Dec 23 was almost a blue bird day to our delight. Monarch opened Breezeway so Geno's Meadow was open to us with its fresh powder in the trees. Kids practiced their powder ski skills on the mountain. Steel City (the bigger terrain park) was also open today. Jackson also practiced his jumping skill. This is the 5th day of our skiing. We started to feel tired towards the end of ski day. The powder snow also presented new challenges -- many times I found the kids stuck in the tree well. When I took off my skis to help, the snow went to my thigh. Annie, our host, convinced me to start a fire in the wood burning stove. What a delightful experience! The warmth of fire radiated towards us. It became the center spot for our apre-ski activities.
Saturday Dec 24 was another break day. The welcome book from our host recommended Green's Creek as a winter hike. We didn't think it would be snow covered so I only brought my hiking shoes. But within a half mile of the trailhead, the road started to be covered by snow. The hike was many times more beautiful with the snow covering everything. Snow on the ice over the running creek was such a peaceful and beautiful sight. We hiked and played in a snowball fight and made a snowman. Snow was very light and airy to make a good snowball. We enjoyed this close experience in the snow just 15 minutes from our house.
After we took a break at the house and changed out of wet socks and shoes, we went to Riverside Park in the daylight. The big river was running without slowing down in the winter. We followed the river walk until we saw a big buck drinking water at the end of the walk. When we moved down to the riverside, he disappeared. S mountain was by our side and started with its glowing Christmas light. Salida is such a beautiful mountain town. We opened gifts tonight so we could head out early to Copper the next day.
We woke up at 6am on Christmas morning and left at 7am. Sunrise was at 7:20am. When we were heading north, we saw these red, orange and yellow lights peeking through the clouds. It turned out to be a marvelous sunrise! We stopped to take in the scene and saw the top of Mount Princeton covered in pink lights. We were so lucky to see the magnificent sunrise and sunset on Christmas day! We chose today to avoid the crowd on Copper mountain. It was not too crowded and 3 times the size of Monarch. We enjoyed the Gondola ride, the long blue runs and big terrain parks.
Monday Dec 26 was our last day at the mountains. Norah and I decided to go soak in Mount Princeton Hot Spring again and the boys wanted to ski the last day. I took a plastic lid and six dice with me, inspired by a family we saw last time with waterproof Uno cards. Norah threw a four of a kind plus a pair on the first throw. We had fun with our soaking and went back for a late lunch. We picked up the boys at 4pm.
Tuesday we drove from 8:45am MST and arrived home at 9:45 CST. 12 hours total drive time both ways. We ate our dinner at home so we didn't stop for more time on the road. Another successful ski trip in our bags!
Norah ski 100cm, ski boots size 20.
Jackson ski 120cm, ski boots size 21.
Going:
748.2 miles, 11:35h, 25.5mpg, 65mph
While we were there:
548 miles, 15hours ??, 26.2mpg (incl drive from Dallas)
Returning:
740.6 miles, 11:15h, 28.4 mpg, 66mph
No comments:
Post a Comment