Well I had a fun eventful Thanksgiving this year. Wednesday night Adam (my boyfriend) and I drove over to my grandparents house and celebrated with them, my aunt and uncle, and my two cousins. Food was almost ready when we got there, so we chatted over a few drinks then stuffed ourselves with the usual. This year my grandma made the best gravy I have ever had. It was all fun casual conversation throughout the night, hearing funny stories and then trying (and failing) to play a game of apples to apples. By 10pm we were all slightly tipsy and talked out, so we went to bed, spending the night there.

Waking up at 6am the next morning Adam and I said our fair wells and started the 2 hour drive to Vail to celebrate with my dad, but before we could go we had to make a pit stop. Thanksgiving is opening day at Mary Jane (ski resort adjacent to Winter Park,) and we just had to go. It was already a great opening season, with enough snow that there was quite a bit of coverage. I would say the first opening season in a couple years where I didn’t hit a rock. Amazing. We were one of the first people at the mountain, meaning great parking spot and opening chair. It was a fun two hours of exploring the open terrain, finding untouched powder spots throughout. If you don’t know this already about me- I love skiing. It is my favorite sport without a doubt, and always puts me in the best mood. Since we were expected for the typical early thanksgiving dinner we left by 10:30 happy and only slightly winded.

An hour and a half later we made it to my dads house, greeted by their brand new puppy- Nigel. He is so f-ing cute, I wanted to steal him. Only a 10 week old brown labradoodle.  The plan was to celebrate at a neighbors house just up the street. They have been hosting thanksgiving for the last three years and always turns out to be a fun event.

 

Once dressed and my appetizer was prepped, we were ready to go up the street and start
drinking, eating, and socializing. Mike and Lori our hosts, were in charge of the turkeys- yes plural, and they are some of the tastiest turkey ever. Bacon wrapped…grilled slowly for hours. Adam wouldn’t stop saying oh-my-god. It was a fun night, staying up till 11 then heading home.

 

The next day we slept in slightly, and then got ready to go skiing for the day in Vail. Since moving away from there at 18, it’s basically impossible for me to afford a ski pass, so I try and get one or two days through friends discounts every year, and here was one of my days. And of course, per usual, it was a blast. I couldn’t believe how much of the mountain was open this early in the season, but like I said, this has been a great opening season so far. My dad is an expert of the mountain so he was taking the two of us to places that most people can’t find. Let me tell you, they are not easy runs. For me at least they are..but Adam was having a hard time keeping up with both of us. After we stopped for a quick beer, we actually ended up loosing Adam until the end of the day. Ups.

Any-who I had a blast, and my body felt great. Once 3:30 rolled around it was time to stop skiing and start apre-skiing. (Happy hour) We went to our favorite spot – The George, where they have any drinks- yes ANY, for just $4.75 and food for just $10. My best friend Emmy and her boyfriend ended up meeting us there, and we didn’t leave until about 6.

Then on the home, we stopped at a brewery, had some more drinks, ordered a pizza took it home and hot tub. Everything I love to do in one day- Ski, eat, drink, and hot-tub.

The next morning-Saturday, I was a bit on the hungover side so we slept in and then got brunch before leaving to head back to Boulder. We knew a storm was coming in so we wanted to beat it before Eisenhower tunnel closed down, but we weren’t so lucky. It started to snow by the time we were leaving Vail and then almost to Silverthorn it was a full on blizzard. Then-bam it happened. Stuck in traffic…for over 2 hours! We were on the hill just coming into Silverthorn and we knew a crash must have just happened because we were completely stopped and then one cop, two cop, five cops pass us, a fire truck, ambulance, C-Dot, and hazardous materials car. Then 5 tow trucks….not a good sign. We had no idea what was actually happening because the whole two hours we were in the car it was a complete white out. Once traffic started to move again over 5 inches of snow had accumulated at the base of the car. Not exaggerating.

Here is a video of what happened: We were literally less than 10 minutes from the crash site. only about 20-30 cars ahead of us, can you believe that! So fucking close, it could have been us. Luckily there were only minor injuries.

This one is a longer video & if that one does not work here is a youtube clip.

The pass was of course closed, so cops had traffic get off at the Silverthorn exit, and we had to come to the conclusion that we were not getting home that night.

So now what? we thought. Well lets go see the new Harry Potter! So we did 🙂 and I loved it. Thankfully my dad has a friend in Silverthorn who was out in Denver, so she let us stay at her place. This was huge because all the hotels were booked, and we would have had to stay at a shelter at the middle school.

Anyways it ended up being a fun night, and we got to leave at 7 in the morning, getting back home with no problem.

How was your thanksgiving?

Cheers!