Thunder Mountain Steamboat Springs

Despite what you're probably thinking right now the title to this blog isn't intended to scare or startle you. Today was the drive up to steamboat to visit my brother, Boo, at school!!! YAAAAAAY.

Day 8's drive was our shortest because in order to get to steamboat we had to detour off our original route a bit and fortunately it was only about 3 hours! The drive was beautiful, too. We headed through the mountains and ...

... into lush farm land. The 5 or 6 hours of rain had turned the road into a mud path. It was mainly made up of sticky sand and it clogged up my chain set in just a few minutes. This meant riding in granny gear, as it’s the highest cog and can’t be clogged, or stopping and cleaning the cogs out with a toothbrush I brought for this occasion. I had to stop quite a few times, it was painful, annoying and without a doubt my hardest day to date. I got 40 mile ...

Had an easy morning. We headed into the ski area and took the Gondola up to the mountain top. We met Kelli , her son Dustin and her nephew for lunch on the top of the mountain. It was $9 for the ride and with that you got a $9 coupon towards lunch. Everyone was dressed up for St Pats. Afterwards we went back to the hotel for a nap and then ...

... find Kelli. We met at a bar called "Slopeside". Everyone was sitting outside at tables set on the snow. The sun was out and it felt really warm. I think I saw Jessie from the Batchelor there with some of his friends. We partied the night away and got home aroune 10.

... little tourist shops...the funniest being a fair dinkum shop that wasn't touristy at all but stocked Stetsons, rabbit coats, lots of fringed leather jackets and a full wall, seriously, a full wall, of cowboy and cowgirl boots. I felt strangely drawn to them! After that we decided to hike up the ski run mountain and were rewarded with more amazing views at every turn...simply stunning! and then, becuase we earnt it, we headed to the hotsprings ...

... is The Nordic Lodge. We stop and are told that they have a suite for US$ 110. It's a really nice room, so we splurge. The owners are indeed Norwegians, and extremely pleasant. Rabbit Ears goodbye! After a wash and brush up, we sally forth into Lincoln Street to search for sustenance. Steamboat is similar to Park City and Jackson in ...

... polite and whilst not exactly a laugh a minute they helped me with info when asked. One day, when descending happily into a fairly large town, I passed a line of stationary traffic. At the fornt of the queue was an officer stopping everyone as a line of black cars pulled out, with lots of black suits around. I asked the officer if anything interesting was happening. He replied "It's the Vice-President Sir", to which I replied, "Oh, is that the guy who shoots people ...

... money out for the price it was advertised only to them stuff around and find more when the tax was then added. · Tipping does create brilliant service. The waitress's make sure that you have everything you need and really are running their own little businesses. Cannot complain about one restaurant we went to. · Patriotism is everywhere. Really nice to see and not overdone. Proud to fly their flag.

... time of our life! Our first stop is Colorado Springs tomorrow night, where an old coworker friend, Roberta, lives. She's opened up her home... I'm really excited to get the show on the road and see all the cool cities and friends that I haven't seen in a while. I've uploaded a few photos that don't particularly go with this week, but I've added comments to the photo to explain what it is. Enjoy! Giddy up, Heather

... the evening with the women staffers making blankets. We made one for ourselves and one for charity. You'll never guess my pattern?! Bulldawg paws baby! All in all, today was exciting, challenging, somber and rewarding. Let's hope all my days off are as great as today was. Also... You have to view the photos in album view if you want to see the videos of Solomon the chipmonk and the falls. Giddy up, Heather