2024/2025 Crested Butte

We started driving at 9 AM and arrived in Amarillo at 2 PM. Our first day's drive was about 8 hours and 45 minutes. We checked in La Quinta, Trinidad and went to the downtown restaurant Mission at the Bell for dinner. Trinidad downtown was festive. Free city shuttle was running. We had a fun time checking out Trinidad downtown and went to sleep at 8:30.

We woke up before 6 AM and then got our breakfast. Norah had altitude sickness so we delayed our drive and shopped at Walmart next-door. We arrived at Crested Butte at little after 12 so we chose to eat lunch at CB. The restaurant on Elk Avenue called the Hideout tasted really good. I texted the owner to see if we could check in early and he said no problem so we got into our condo before 2 o’clock. Will had a chance to ski for a few hours on the arriving day. The Vecchiones met up with us and we had dinner together at the Secret Stash. 

Monday we skied with Lyndon and Anthony. Tuesday Reeves and his brother met up with us. We skied together Wednesday too, and then met with the Vecchiones at the Wooden Nickel to have dinner.

Thursday, we decided to take a break day and hike to the Snodgrass Trail with our sleds. It was a lot of fun to slide down the hiking trail from the Aspen forest. Will did a couple of hours skiing in the afternoon while I drove in the snow to the Clark market for some grocery. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon we met up with the Vecchiones again to sled on the local sled hill. It was super fun with many kids sledding together. We had a reservation at Slogger and had a really good dinner. 

The Brous family's flight got canceled so they came to ski again on Friday. We had a fun day skiing in a big group. When Anthony was taking all the kids to the sled hill after the ski day, his minivan slid into the ditch in front of our condo. They stayed at our condo and had dinner while waiting for the tow truck to show up. It took about 3 hours for the tow truck to come. A couple of days later, another car got stuck and had the same long wait for tow. 

Saturday I took a break because my boots were hurting my toes. I went to buy new boots after 15 years using my old ski boots.  The other three family members skied. The mountain got very crowded on this day, Saturday after Christmas. In the afternoon, I hiked to the Skyland Boulder. I took the shuttle to Hunter Hill Road and then walked about 2 miles to the big boulders. It was snowing and the snow was deep. 

Sunday we all skied and then took a long lunch break. Monday Norah and I stayed back in the morning and then skied with Will in the afternoon. Jackson took a break in the afternoon. 

Tuesday we checked out at 10 o’clock and headed to the sledding hill before our Dog Sled tour dog at 12 o’clock. When we got there, they just came back from the previous tour. The dogs were barking loud, all wanted to be picked to be the sled dog. Jackson, Norah and I got a chance to drive the sled. We really enjoyed our dogsled tour. 

After the tour, we went to the Hideout for lunch before the drive. The food was good as before. We left Crested Butte at 2:15pm and arrived at our hotel Best Western Raton, New Mexico around 6:40. This hotel has a restaurant called Mulligan, where we had our New Year’s Eve dinner. 

Tuesday, January 1st we started our drive at 9 o’clock in the morning and then got home around 6:30 PM. Another great family trip in the books!