Greeting
us at Buttermilk were the gorgeous view and the groves of Aspen bordering
the ski lifts. The weather seemed to be non-commital as it changed from
sunny to snowing to sunny continually over 20 minute cycles. It made
it difficult to decide what to wear -- jacket, vest, jacket, vest.....argh.
Preparing
for the day....we posed for a picture while we were still fresh. The
heavy snow would like take its toll on us.
As
this picture of Shawn shows -- it's sunny and bright. The snow was good
on top of the mountain but started to get slushy toward the bottom.
The ride up the quad chair took about 15 minutes...with the 2 mile run
to the base taking about an hour. It was a great hour! Shawn and I pushed
the time limit and finally brought the lesson to close in time for me
to spend about 15 minutes for lunch before preparing for my afternoon
student.
Eric
had already skied the morning but was ready to tackle the hill again
in the afternoon. We had a great time touring the slopes and every lift
(except one) on Buttermilk. We even "downloaded" off the Summit
Express to save Eric's legs for the next day. I enjoyed skiing with
both Shawn and Eric and it was a rush for me to see their improvements
during the short time I was able to spend with them.
At
the end of the day, we had a tough decision -- where to have dinner.
Todd was tasked with finding a place and he chose the Sage. The only
real requirement we had was that whatever restaurant we went to had
to accept our meal vouchers. Well....this upper-crust restaurant fit
the bill. Of course, we were letting our hair down from two full days
of lessons -- something Ted was taking seriously as he popped open a
12-pack of Miller. We finally packed everyone into my truck and headed
down to the Sage. We were impressed by 
the
faire -- lot's of food we've never heard of with prices that rivaled
the national debt. So Paul decided to ask for a chili-dog with everything
on it. That took our waitress, Elaine, by surprise and the fun just
never ceased after that.
We
were "loud" enough to have the table next to us request to
be moved to a quieter location in the bar. Some people just don't know
how to have fun. The staff certainly played along with us. It was a
blast. Dinner was varied...we had clam chowder, fish, and chicken....with
a chocolate bread pudding for dessert -- comp'd by the restaurant because
were instructors with the program. In addition, they took 20% off the
bill because they liked our fun-loving attitude. It was a great dinner,
lots of fun, and a great staff. We had to get a picture of everyone.
Of
course, being and employee of Winter Park, Mau didn't want anyone to
know where we came from. I think she might have been embarassed by us.....Nah!
OK...off to the Instructors'
Appeciation Party. We were treated to music from John Oates. This kickin'
band kept the dance floor full and rockin'. Just about everyone was
there. Just another excuse to party!
