christmas travels

the girls were up at 4am this morning, but we managed to hold them off until 5am. After the frenzy of gift opening and happy dances, we got busy with cleaning up and packing to head to the airport. The girls did take a few breaks to play with their new toys and to show Gazoo her new remote controlled mouse. The trip to Denver was quite unremarkable, but it took us a very long time to leave the airpot. The luggage didn’t come for an hour and then renting a car was such a hassle. It’s a car, not a first born child. Rob practically had to give the lady a DNA sample in order to be given a car. We did upgrade to a Subaru, which is a much better choice than a Dodge Charger for the roads up to Steamboat. The kids could not fit all of their stuff in the backseat, so we all had a bit of a meltdown.

The ride out of Denver was unremarkable. After about an hour, Rob wasn’t feeling well, so we switched drivers. Then things got interesting. The interstate was covered in snow! After we left I70 to head north, the roads were scenic and quite clear until we headed up and up to the pass. I think when we got up to the highest point we, were at 10,000 feet! The road has disappeared under a blanket of white, making it quite difficult to spot. Every time a car passed going the other way, a spray of white was blown up at us, blinding me, making the road even harder to find. We stopped at the Continental Divide on Rabbit Ears pass for a photo. With the temperature reading 2F and the wind chill being quite frigid, we did not stay out of the car for very long.

We finally arrived at Jim and Marty’s house in Steamboat and were welcomed by about 20 relatives who had already arrived. Despite being exhausted, we settled in to dinner and gift exchange before going to bed, many, many hours after having woken up …