Steamboat Lake, Colorado, December 27-29
Our good friends Brian, Stephanie and their baby girl Sage were in town from Georgia. What better way to spend time with our out-of-state buddies than making a trip up to the Kois Cabin in Steamboat Lake (about a 5 hour drive from Denver). Brian is from Colorado, but Stephanie is a true southern belle straight from Atlanta who has never been snowmobiling, So we left Broomfield around 5:30pm and headed to Beau Jo's Pizza in Idaho Springs. Unfortunatley, we also hit all the skiers too as we had to wait a bit to get a table. But it was worth it. The Idaho Springs Beau Jo's Pizza is amazing - mountain pies at their finest.
One of my favorite things to do is see if I can hold my breath through the Eisenhower Tunnel. But usually I'm driving so I don't try it (my wife doesn't want me to pass out at the wheel because of a silly game). But since I wasn't driving, I got to try it. And guess what - I did it. I know, you're all so jealous.
But what you really should be jealous of is the sweet ride what got to drive in. Brian's brother let us use his Dodge 2500 pickup truck. This thing is fully loaded including DVD player with 3 screens (2 in the back and 1 in the front). I've never been in a car with a DVD system, but now I'm sold. Those things are mircale workers in terms of keeping everyone entertained. Rilynn was so impressed as well and now is thoroughly spoiled and will probablhy want one in our car too.
We arrived at the cabin just before midnight. Brian and I hiked in through waist-high snow. I went inside to flip on the heaters while Brian took a snowmobile to get the girls. But it didn't take long before Brian got stuck. Rookie mistake, but I can't blame him because I would have done the same thing too. We were supposed to cut a trail first before trying to pull a trailer with all our supplies. Oh well. After several minutes of digging and pulling, we were good to go.
After we got everything and everyone inside, we tried to go to sleep. But it was only 32 degrees inside. Brrr, that's cold. Everyone threw on a bunch of blankets and we eventuaull got some rest. When we got up in the morning, the cabin had warmed up to 40. A little better, but not much. Brian got a fire going and that really helped. By lunch, it was a nice 70 degrees.
The day was perfect for snowmobiling. Blue skies, no wind and tons of snow. It was incredible. Several times throughout the day I just stopped and looked at the beauty around. I am very blessed to have a place like the cabin to get away from it all with good friends and enjoy God's creation.
Rilynn did some snowmobiling too. Before I put her in my lap, I told her that if she needed something, then she should tap my leg. Seconds into our ride and she starts to tap my leg. I stop the snowmobile to see what's wrong. All she had to say was, "I love you daddy." I am a lucky father.
The evening was spent building towers out of dominoes, playing Go Fish with RIlynn and eating delicious chili. After the kids went to bed, we introduced Brian and Stephanie to the wonderful world of Catan (Catan = the awesomest board game ever invented). We definitely have a convert in Brian, maybe because he won, but we are still working on Stephanie.
The weather changed completely the next day. Instead of blue skies, calm winds, and great snowmobiling snow, we had whiteout conditions. The snowmobiling wasn't great, but we still got out a bit and had fun. Because it was snowing like crazy, we decided we better head home early just to be safe. And it was a great thing because had we stayed any longer, we wouldn't have been able to get out of the cabin.
It was a long, slow trip home. It took us over 7 hours and at times, was very miserable. But despite crying kids, cramped muscles and traffic jams, when you're with good friends, life is good.
Check out the photos
Video montage
