December 27, 2001, Thursday- time to rock and roll. Pull in the slides, put the outside furniture in the shed, give the flowers to the neighbors for water, pack the car and drop off Hobbes at the kennel.
Got to Mom's across the state in time for lunch, then took her shopping for Becky's birthday present and new shoes for Mom. The first item went well, but the second was a flop. After four shops in two malls, nothing fit right. Definitely a bad foot day. But dinner at Wolfgang Puck's topped a nice day, and then we headed south to Miami. Our Holiday Inn was waiting with free parking until our return in 12 days. Nice touch in a locked parking lot. Parked right next to the security gatekeeper's shack. If anything happens it has to have been an inside job.
Our hotel is right under the arrival flight path into Miami. Every few minutes the pictures shake in the room. Can't wait to see the kids and everyone starting tomorrow afternoon. Yeh!
December 28, 2001, Friday- poor Sue…she was up all night. I slept like a baby. The overhead aircraft seems to stop flying over our hotel at 11 PM. But, 5 AM came too fast. We caught the 6:20 van to Miami Airport and by 7 we had gone through security and were at the gate area. Nobody was around. What a pleasure. Grabbed some coffee, Danish, a newpaper and by 8:30 we were loading…but the good news was that at 7 we checked the counter, schmozed the clerk, and we were moved up from row 25 to the front emergency row….lots of leg room and only two seats across. Comfort!
Arrived at the Avis desk in DIA and got our contract while Susan got the luggage. Hopped on the shuttle van and the driver forgot to lock the gate on the ski storage rack. Around the first curve, the gate opens and a set of skis comes across Susan's knee and leg. Hopefully nothing serious happened, but we filled out an accident report in case something develops.
Headed up the hill in our rental Olds. From Georgetown to Vail, heavy snow, slippery roads, slow to stopped traffic. Welcome back to winter driving!
Stopped at Phil and Karen's where they were nice enough to let us invite Debi, Craig, Ben, Steve and Becky to join us for dinner. It was hard to get a word in edgewise…..
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It's now midnight in Colorado, and we been up since 3 AM local time…time to hit the sack….
December 29, 2001- Saturday- it felt like we were on vacation. We arose at 7:30 and Karen had fresh muffins cooking in the oven. Yum! We relaxed and caught up with what was happening in her and Phil's life. Debi joined us in mid morning and we thought that some exercise was in order. Out the door and up and down Potato Patch Drive. Many new homes have been built during the last four years. Fortunately we survived the altitude change from sea level to 8750 feet without being winded.
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Took Debi out to lunch at the May Palace and got a chance to catch up one on one with her. Next, down to Edwards to drop off our luggage for a one night stand. We helped Fran and Allan plan their Banff and Jasper trip for next August. Felt good that our travels came back into focus and let us relive our week with Debi, Becky and Steve last July.
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Continuing the grand tour, we arrived at Anna and Art's at 5, just as Brad, Rach and Jake had come in from visiting Shelby in Santa Fe. By 7 Debi, and Ben joined in the fun of a good dinner. At 10:30 we left to return to Fran and Allan's home in Edwards….certainly a visit around type of day.
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December 30. 2001, Sunday- Fran and Allan are the most gracious hosts. Steve and Becky had the golf course guest room while Sue and I used the eastern suite. Fran had the full hotel goodies available for breakfast. Steve acknowledged that some of his house crashing in Vail is much dirtier, some are too cold, but these accommodations were "just right". By 10:30 we had consumed too much and all headed to Eagle Vail for some snow shoeing and hiking. Two hours later we reached "the bridges" our turn around point. A more lovely trail couldn't have been found.
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Lunch followed at Pazzo's in Avon, and then Susan and I headed up to Art and Anna's for more "family fun" with the Jake Man. He is still incredible…watching his eyes and hands thinking through everything he is doing….marvelous!
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Rach prepared a great corn chowder soup….one of my favorites. By the time we turned in at midnight, our cheeks were sore from laughing.
December 31, 2001, Monday- hit the road at 7:45 for our trip to Sue's eye doctor in Littleton. Roads were icy and slushy until Georgetown. Glad we had a full tank of washer fluid.
At the eye doctor Susan couldn't read the chart at all. Three weeks ago she could read at 20/40 but today, "where is the chart". She was devastated. Rock bottom. After these weeks and months of anticipating the eye tweaking this week, her vision was terrible. Depressions set in quickly. Next came the doctor who said, oh yes…often a haze can cover the eye, but since you had similar reading in October and in early December, we can still do the procedures on Wednesday. Wow, the dark curtain was lifted and sunlight returned to the world. You couldn't believe the different mood swings that can transpire in a few minutes.
Lunch at Zadie's and then back up the hill for New Year's Eve. Steve and Becky brought up all of the ingredients for world class sushi, from the seaweed rolls and wooden mats, to the tuna and salmon, wow! And the wasabi…to die for! Dinner was so much fun…we didn't stop eating until after 10. Half of the movie "What Planet are you from?" before and the other half after watching the ball fall down for New Year's …and before you knew it, 1:30 had come and gone.
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