This will be a very long post, with lots of pictures, so just sit back and enjoy!
While Bill was in the hospital recovering from surgery, his sister, Crystal, sent me a text asking if we would like to join her family in Steamboat Springs for a vacation before school started. Bill and I both thought that sounded wonderful, but we knew that it would just be impossible financially. When we let her know our concerns, however, she insisted we come... and not spend a penny! They have a time share and wanted us to come stay with them in a three bedroom condo. They made the arrangements for the first week of August. There was only one snag. We had already purchased Will's ticket to fly out to stay with my parents for almost the same time period. Jeff and Bill said they would drive Will back to the Salt Lake airport mid-week, then return to Steamboat Springs.
I thought, 'That's crazy! That is a 12 hour round trip in the middle of a vacation! No way!' But everyone insisted it would all work out. Their oldest, David, also had to return to town for his work schedule, they said.
So it was settled. We left on the morning of Monday, August 1st.
We stopped in Vernal for lunch. This is David and his little brother, Marcus. We were maybe an hour into our driving when I started really feeling bad about having to do the drive twice because of Will's flight. I was feeling really guilty about it and wishing we had come up with some other solution. But Crystal had been very adamant that she wanted Will to come along in order to be company for David.
Our next stop was in a tiny town called Maybel, for gas. We jokingly called it 'Mayberry', then had to explain to the kids why, since their lexicon of TV knowledge didn't extend that far back.
This is the town. One of those tiny little communities that probably exist just about everywhere.
When we got to the condo, we sent the older boys off to play right away, knowing that they would only have one full day of Colorado adventures before they would have to head back again. While we were unloading suitcases and groceries, the little boys got into everything they could find. Marcus was soon using the drawers in the living room as his own personal jungle gym, while we quickly lifted any and every blinds set little Alex could reach to prevent him from destroying them. A couple of days later, Marcus would get himself stuck in the lowest drawer and need to be rescued.
Marcus was very keen on getting out to the pool, so Crystal told him he could get in the 'little pool' inside the condo... the tub. He put on his swim suit and started just splashing up a storm in that 'pool'. Alex crawled in and started watching him from the side. Before you know it, Alex was belly laughing over Marcus' antics and I am not sure which of them was having a better time!
Notice that the water JUST covers the jets? Um, yeah. Marcus wanted the 'bubbles' on, so I pushed the button for him. Suddenly, HUGE JETS of water were roaring and blasting him! Water was EVERYWHERE! Both Marcus and Alex got scared and half the tub of water was on the floor of the bathroom! I couldn't stop laughing while trying to console Alex. Crystal thought it was hysterical, too! She found later that there was another knob that controlled the pressure of water flowing through the jets. It had been set on 'high'. Oops.
I took this shot from the living room balcony of Will on the Master Suite balcony. There was a hot tub on that balcony that everyone enjoyed.
The view from the living room balcony. The pool is part of the complex. There was another outdoor pool, as well as an indoor pool, a fitness room, several hot tubs, a steam room, and a sauna. We tried them all! I DON'T like steam rooms, but Crystal, Helena, and I used the sauna on more than one occasion. It feels really great to get all hot in the sauna, then jump immediately into a cool pool!
On our first full day in Steamboat Springs, we decided the big boys should choose the activities, since it would be their only day. The first activity of the day was tubing down the Yampa River. Bill and I volunteered to stay at the condo with the little boys, since they were too young to participate, and since Bill's cast prevented him from participating as well. Jeff and Crystal took all the bigger kids down the river while Bill and I took the little boys to the pool to play. I sent my camera with them, but it got left in the car, so there are no pictures of that. Darn.
The second activity of the day was to ride the gondola lift at the ski mountain.
Sarah and Helena in the gondola. Helena will be a senior in high school in just a couple of weeks. Yikes! Sarah is going into 8th grade.
The views were, of course, beautiful! I don't have a picture of it, but while we were riding up in the gondolas, we saw a baby bear in the meadow below us! REALLY! I have no idea where its mother was, but it was gamboling through the meadow, with hikers on the trail a quarter mile above it! After that, I was quite anxious to make sure that everyone in our group stay together!
Will was very excited to see all the ski slopes and wants very much to come back to Steamboat Springs during the ski season. This ski resort dwarfs all the resorts near us at home! This picture really doesn't do it justice. The slopes seemed never ending! The picture above is only one tiny portion of the entire ski mountain.
While on a little nature hike, a portrait snapshot war broke out.
I'm not going to lie. The nature hike was a bit stressful, when it didn't need to be. It is my fault, really. We got to the mountain late in the afternoon and were warned that the last return gondola trip would be at 4:30 pm. If we missed it, we would be stuck on the mountain for the night. Though, really, I am sure they have had to deal with people who missed the deadline before... they are all about tourism and it is bound to happen. But that wasn't my thought process at the time. I was very conscious of the time and was constantly worried that we would walk too far and not make it back in time. Bill doesn't worry about that kind of stuff, and it usually turns out OK, but I just worry anyways and it spoils the time we do have. Bill is off adventuring, and I am stressing and trying to reel him back to stay close to the lift. Really, though, what's the point of going up there? Just to stand by the lift and ride it back down? I wish I wasn't such a stick in the mud!
Halfway into the hike (which wasn't very fun, the path was too broad and sunny, we didn't have water, and the view didn't vary), Jeff, Crystal, and I decided we had gone far enough and were going to sit and wait for Bill and the kids to come back. I was extremely tired and thirsty with a sore throat from a cold I couldn't shake and just wanted to go find a water fountain back at the lodge. After a little while, an older couple with their dog came by and informed us that the hike actually made a loop back to the lodge and we were at the half way point. They recommended we go forward, not back. That also meant that the others weren't going to return and would, in fact, beat us back to the lodge. Harumph!
So, we set off down the path... and I am so glad we did!!! The second half of the trail more than made up for the miserable first half! It was shady. It was varied. It was beautiful!
Back at the lodge I finally managed to find a water fountain! That stupid cold was making it hard for me to enjoy the day because my throat was just on fire. We did make it onto the gondolas with just a little time to spare.
The final activity for the day was the Alpine Slide. It was on a different ski slope on the other side of town. You ride an open chair lift up to the top, then slide down a windy slide on little sleds that you can control.
The slide was amazingly long! As we rode up the first time, we saw a child crash! There are two tracks side by side. His mother was on the other track. She quickly pulled his sled off his track, then had him sit in front of her on her sled and took him the rest of the way down the mountain. I guess that is why we all had to sign liability waivers beforehand, eh? In fact, Sarah crashed on her second trip down the slide and got a huge abrasion on her elbow.
Helena and Sarah on the lift to the slide.
Will and David on sleds waiting for their turn to race each other down the mountain.
When we got back to the condo, Crystal told me that she was under the impression that Bill didn't really want to have to spend 12 hours driving, so she was going to drive it with Jeff and leave Sarah in charge of the two little boys for the day. Then she said she would just take the two little boys with them on the drive, too. She was trying in every way to bend over backwards to make sure we had a great time. The only trouble was, I could NOT have any kind of fun knowing she was going through so much inconvenience for me! What kind of person would that make me? When I was already guilt ridden about it in the first place! And, of course, I felt it was important that Will have one of his parents see him off at the airport.
So, I took Bill's place in the drive back to Salt Lake. I went to bed at 11 pm, but couldn't fall asleep until midnight. Jeff had taken some Benadryl to help him sleep the first part of the drive, so at one in the morning I took a 5 hour energy drink in order to make the drive to Salt Lake. It is amazing how quickly that time flew by in the dark of the night. Just me and my thoughts for mile after mile!
At one point in the night, Jeff was awake with me as I blazed right over a skunk! Not one of those stinky road kills, either! A live skunk that was crossing the road! I blasted right over the top of it going 80 miles per hour... and did not hit it at all! That was one LUCKY skunk!!! It literally went right under us and all four tires missed it! Man-oh-man! I am SO glad we didn't hit it!
All went well with dropping David off at their house, and dropping Will off at the airport. I've gotta tell ya, the airport is not a welcoming place anymore! It is amazing how much more security there is now than there was even two years ago! However, despite all the hype about physical searches and radiation machines, Will went right through minimal security without a glitch and was soon waving goodbye from the far side of the screening process.
Jeff drove us back to Steamboat Springs, while I told him story after story about life growing up as a Weierholt. I can't sleep during the day, and certainly not in a moving vehicle! At one point, a bird swooping in front of us miscalculated and we hit it. Guaranteed it was killed. So sad, but what can you do? On the way home from the entire trip another bird was killed in the same fashion, also while Jeff was driving. So, one skunk survives, two birds don't.
When we got back to Steamboat, Crystal said that the grown ups were going to go out to eat while the girls watched the little boys and ordered pizza. We went to a little Italian restaurant that was actually in the basement of a building. The atmosphere was very pub-like. I wish I could say the food was excellent. In fact, it probably was! Everyone else liked their food. I just couldn't taste a thing. My sinuses were so blocked that no smells or tastes were able to get through for most of the rest of the week. However, I will say this, we had a fantastic time; partly because I was so loopy. By then I was going on 36 hours on only one hour of sleep. I was beyond tired. When I get to that point, I just get a little punch drunk. I am sure the others found me quite entertaining. They certainly laughed at me enough to be having fun! ;-)
The next day was spent by most of us by walking the main street of town and doing some shopping. Bill didn't join us. He went on a hike in the mountains alone. I don't like when he does that, especially since he had a gimpy arm! But he is a grown man and I am not his mommy.
There were some cool statues in front of one store and we all took turns posing with one or the other of them.
Ah! F M Light & Sons! They had little mini billboards lining the route into town for miles and miles! By the time we reached town we were certain of one thing... we had to visit F M Light & Sons!! It is a cowboy store. I bought Bill some super hot buffalo wing sauce so he could have a little piece of this well advertised store.
While walking around town everyone got hungry, so we stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. I LOVED my food, as did nearly everyone else. I think only Jeff was disappointed with his meal. This is a picture of Helena, Crystal, and baby Alex.
Thursday evening was spent at the pool. Helena and Sarah played 'peek-a-boo' with Alex, who was drying off in my lap.
On Friday morning, before heading back home, there were a couple of left over tickets for the Alpine Slide, so Helena and Sarah went down it one more time. Helena took Marcus with her on her sled and he had a blast!
It was really an amazing vacation! It was wonderful to put aside my worries about Bill's injuries and how to make ends meet for just a little while. I knew I'd have to face it all again when I got home... how to pay the bills without any money coming in... but it was just great to spend one week just playing and having fun with family! Really, Jeff and Crystal... I can't thank you enough!!
