Family Visit to Snow Country!

Littleton, CO + Snow Mountain Ranch

Thursday, March 4

Mr. E and I shut down a bit early on Thursday for our 5pm flight to Denver. Our plane was only booked about 1/3 full, so there was plenty of room to spread out and quite a few totally empty rows towards the back of the plane. We had arranged a car service from the airport to A's house because that was less expensive than a car rental from the airport for the weekend. Everything was on time, and with no checked bags to wait for, we arrived at the house around 9:30pm MT and chatted with R for a bit before A got home from her soccer games. Then everyone to bed since we were all working the next day.

Friday, March 5

I was up early enough to say good morning to A, F, and C on Friday before they left for school. Feline cutie Nugget went with them as he was off on his own adventure to stay with a friend for the weekend while we were all up in the mountains. The boosted wi-fi in the basement was very helpful for my morning YouTube workouts on the big screen TV. 

Mr. E set up his workstation at the small built-in desk area in the living room, and I used the bar in the basement as a DIY standing workstation for the day while R was in his usual home office space opposite the living room. Mr. E and I took a break for lunch and to pick up a rental car at a nearby location, and then we welcomed home A, F, and C just after 4pm. 

The evening was split among different activities for all of us. A and I watched a wonderful virtual event with Isabel Allende, offered through the Jefferson County Public Library; E went off to meet up with his cousin D in Centennial; F and C settled in upstairs to watch a movie; and R welcomed a couple of friends over for games, drinks, and snacks in the basement. 

Saturday, March 6

On Saturday, I repeated my YouTube workout routine before we all packed up the cars with lots and lots and lots of stuff for our snow country adventure. We headed out around 9am, stopping to pick up breakfast and coffee on the way. Our destination was the YMCA Snow Mountain Ranch facility, where A and family have been multiple times in both warm and cold seasons. The drive takes about 2 hours, and we stopped at the Safeway in Fraser along the way to stock up on food and beverages for our 2-night stay in a cabin. E and R took charge of the shopping, while A and I headed on up to the Ranch with F and C. 

We were too early to check in for our cabin, so we spent time instead at the snowy playground, where E and R joined us a bit later. For lunch, we attempted to go to the Commons, but we had forgotten that the lunch service closes at 1pm, so we were just a bit tardy. Instead, we ended up at the Buckboard Grill, which had somewhat limited offerings. We made do with sandwiches, salad, pizza, and kids meals. And luckily, by the time we were finishing up, our cabin was ready!

I bought a few souvenirs at the gift shop before we drover to our cabin, #32 "Orion," to get familiar with our home for the weekend. The cabin had a spacious great room with couches and easy chairs, dining table and chairs with room for 6, gas fireplace, and very well-appointed full kitchen with plates, glasses, utensils, cooking supplies, coffee maker, toaster, and dishwasher.

We had just enough time to unpack before heading off to the ice pavilion for our 3:30pm curling lesson. So fun! The ice was a bit wet due to the relatively warm (high 40s) and sunny weather, so our instructor, Sam cleared off a side section for us to play. It was definitely a DIY form of curling, more like bocce ball, with no brushing and with curling "stones" made out of recycled bleach bottles that were weighed down with sand. But it still worked! C got a little bored after our first round, so he and A decided to try the nearby snow tubing hill instead while the rest of us finished off our hour-long time on the ice. 

R and F then joined in the snow tubing, but C was done so hung out with Mr. E and me at the top of the hill while the other three enjoyed the thrill ride and raced to see who could go farthest (A won!). We then went back to the cabin to relax a bit. Mr. E did meal prep for later while the rest of us read or played games. 

Then Mr. E, F, and I went to our indoor archery lesson at 7pm, where we were delighted to find friendly instructor Sam once again. The other people who had signed up were no-shows, so we got the entire 45-minutes to ourselves. This was F's first time doing archery, and Sam was very patient as he explained and reinforced the process several times. Mr. E and I shared a target, and F got his own side. He even managed to hit off the little rubber duck on top of the target, making him eligible to pick out a prize the next day. Sweet!

When we got back to the cabin, A and R had set the table and started to work on dinner so that we could all sit down together to eat before it got too late. C was already in bed, as he was exhausted from the day's activities. The altitude (8,500+ feet), fresh air, and strong sun definitely can wear you out a bit, and I was in bed before 9:30pm.

Sunday, March 7

We didn't have any specific appointments booked for Sunday, so we could just make up our plans as the day went along. I was up first and was lucky enough to see the amazing sunrise over the mountains as I opened all of the curtains.

I used my laptop for YouTube workouts in the living room, and C joined me once he woke up and wandered out of their bedroom. I finished with yoga in Mr. E's and my bedroom so that I wouldn't be in the way of the others as they started to get up and prepare breakfast. R was in charge of the food, which is his routine on weekend mornings. He made a lovely breakfast spread with eggs, waffles, bacon, and leftover potatoes from the night before. I cut up some apples and grapes to go with the rest of the meal, and we made do with our Starbucks Via instant coffee to get us caffeinated for the day.

All of us were done and ready to head out for the day around 11am, and our first destination was the Nordic Center to rent snowshoes for F, Mr. E, and me. A and R have their own pairs, and C is too little to do this on his own and instead rode in the backpack on Mr. E for our 2-hour snowshoe excursion. The weather was ideal -- high 40s, sunny, no wind. We all shed layers before we started and lathered on the sunscreen for protection.

A took C and F back to the cabin for lunch when we were done, and Mr. E, R, and I headed back to Fraser (about 20 minutes away) to pick up a few more supplies at Safeway and find a spot for lunch. I grabbed sushi from Safeway to eat at the local brewery, accompanied by a watermelon-flavored hard seltzer that I shared with Mr. E, and Mr. E and R ordered from the taco food truck parked outside. R sampled a couple of the local beers and bought a souvenir pint glass.

Once we got back to the cabin, we decided to split up for our afternoon activities. Mr. E and A returned to the Nordic Center to rent cross-country skis; R and F returned to the snow tubing hill; and I took C to the lovely heated indoor pool. We were the only people there for about 30 minutes before a group of young men came into the deep end. Eventually, two women with three kids joined us in the shallow end as well. After about an hour, we finished up, dried off, and drove back to the cabin, where the rest of the family had already regrouped.

Mr. E took on responsibility for dinner this evening, cooking up sweet potato fries, salmon, steak, and veggies. We all munched on some bread, crackers, fruit, and cheese as he was cooking. We were also able to participate in Virtual Bingo via Zoom. The staff person running the game was once again our pal, Sam! And we were the only family that had registered to play, so A, C, F, and I took turns rotating the cards that they had picked up earlier. 

To finish off the evening, we had an early mini-celebration for F's birthday (March 11) with some special sweet treats. He was very excited about the chessboard we gave him! (Many thanks to A for the suggestion)

Monday, March 8

More YouTube workouts for me in the living room, but a cloudy sky this morning obscured the sunrise. We had a faster breakfast of cereal, eggs, fruit, and leftover salmon as we tried to use up as much food as possible so that A and family didn't need to take it all home. Mr. E and I said our goodbyes around 9:30am after we all packed up the cabin and the cars. We dropped off the recycling on our way out of the camp and then took off towards the airport. With one stop along the way for second coffee and snacks at Starbucks, we made the drive in about 2 hours and had a very efficient rental car return process. 

We had nearly two hours before our flight, so we were able to walk around the airport to try to find a convenient spot to wait. Unfortunately, none of the lounges was accessible to us, so we ended up at the Vino Volo in Terminal C, not far from our gate. I enjoyed a wine flight and a glass of white with my beet and avocado salad and then had time to chat with Mom while Mr. E went off for a bit of a walk. 

Our return flight was nearly full, so we actually had to sit next to someone for the first time in our travels since the pandemic began! We were home with Calypso before 5pm, which gave us plenty of time to unpack, go through mail, make a grocery run, and settle in before the work week started up again.