Marshall Fire -Superior 12/30/21

Thursday, December 30 2021

The day started off mundane enough. We were nearing the end of winter break. Initially we had planned to go to Jackson Hole, WY this week, but I had goofed and not gotten the boys’ lift tickets soon enough, and they sold out. So to make up for it, I had tried to plan several in-town activities. We had spent the first part of the week at our condo in Keystone, but had returned home to Superior Tuesday evening. Today’s only planned outing was to see the new Spiderman movie at the theater down the street from our house. 

By mid-morning, it had become extremely windy. The I-think-it-may-blow-out-the-windows kind of windy. Gusts nearing 100mph. We had experienced a couple of days like that in the past few weeks. Our new house sits up high, on the end of a building of townhouses, and has several big, exposed windows on the west side. I wasn’t quite as nervous about them blowing out now, as they had survived a few intense wind-days already. But it was still something to see – one of many things I love about the new place is that I actually CAN see what’s going on outside, with all the windows that we didn’t have before. 

I mentioned that it was good we didn’t have any plans outside today, but Brian was a little bummed because he had thought he might go for a run later. Despite being cool outside, the sun had quickly begun heating up the downstairs, and at one point I opened a window. Brian quickly chastised me for that decision and closed it, which we would be grateful for later. 

After an early lunch at home, we left for the movie theater. We were in a bit of a rush, and I slacked a little on my usual clean-up before leaving, there were still plates on the table and dishes in the sink. We’d be back soon enough, I’d deal with it later that afternoon. 

A while into the movie, I got a strange alert on my watch. (I had just gotten a new Fitbit smartwatch for Christmas, and it alerts me to texts and emails, even though I had put my phone on silent, like a good movie-goer.) It was something from Boulder County about evacuations due to wildfire, but I couldn’t see much detail on my tiny watch screen, and of course didn’t want to pull out my phone in the middle of the movie.  I assumed it couldn’t be related to our area. Boulder County is large, and includes a lot of wooded, mountainous terrain that would be prone to such things. 

But at least one said it was a reverse-911, weren’t those more location specific? I still thought it was unlikely to be anything we needed to worry about, but it was stressful enough that I was having a hard time concentrating on the movie. There was a lot more movement inside the theater than normal, lots of people coming and going, and some that never came back. I was starting to get nervous. I had just decided that I needed to step outside and check my phone, when the movie turned off and the lights came back on. 

I knew then. It had to be the fire and it had to be close. I was frantically trying to explain to the rest of the family what I had been seeing on my watch, and that we needed to go now. Before we were even down the steps and out of our theater, I realized I could already smell smoke. Out in the lobby it was chaos. There were no announcements, no information, no direction, just confusion. 

As we got closer to the doors, we could see the apocalyptic scene outside. The smoke was looming all around us. A large plume rising to the west, straight down Flatirons/Coalton Blvd – right where our house was. And the entire northern half of the sky was smoke, not even a plume, it was just enveloping us. Above us, around us, everywhere. Dear god, if a fire had gotten loose in the crazy wind (which it obviously had), it could level the town in under an hour. We were trying to stay calm and focused, but panic was starting to take hold. 

I immediately started coughing from the smoke, before we were even outside. But we ran anyway. As fast as we could, to the car.  Everyone was running now. A line of police cars and firetrucks were racing through the parking lot in front of us, sirens blaring. I don’t even know how many, they just kept coming. 

They were trying to direct traffic on the main roads, but it was a standstill. Brian was driving and I was trying desperately to get information on my phone. But it was so hard to breathe. Coughing fits kept coming and my throat was on fire. SO much smoke. It didn’t help that my heart was racing and my hands were shaking, so hard to concentrate on what needed to be done. I think at some point during this I managed to make a harried Facebook post about the fact that we were evacuating. We had to try a couple of different exits from the mall parking lot before we found a place that we could actually get out. 

All I had managed to find out so far was that all of Superior was under mandatory evacuation, and that there were multiple fires. No wonder it felt like we were boxed in on almost every side by the smoke. 

I should have checked my phone sooner, and gotten us out of there. I was mentally kicking myself. I had assumed that the theater wouldn’t just let us sit in there and burn, but shouldn’t have counted on that. In thinking back on the situation later, I was quite appalled that they waited so late to get us out. And in a place where they knew most people didn’t even have their phones turned on to get the notifications themselves. It was completely irresponsible. And now we were trapped with the fire seemingly surrounding us. 

There was a desperate Facebook post by the Boulder OEM saying to flee north or east. But north looked to be the worst of it from where we were. The only clear patch of sky we could see was to the southeast. 

Most people seemed to be trying to reach Hwy 36, but no one could go anywhere. We decided to try to slip out through Interlocken instead. I work back there, and it’s part of Brian’s usual running/scootering route, so we were familiar enough with it to wind through parking lots and side streets, and get out of the congestion on the main roads. 

We still had no idea what was going on. Where the fire was, which way it was headed, the smoke just kept growing. It was tense, and we all probably snapped at each other more than we should have during those 15 minutes of terror. Trying to figure out which way to go, how to make sense of the little information we were getting. 

Once we got through Interlocken and out onto Hwy 128, the air was a little clearer. And there was a steady stream of cars, but not the gridlock we had been in before. Most of the traffic was going the other direction, which made us question our plan a bit, but from here I could see where the smoke was coming from and felt confident that we were headed to safety. So we stuck with it. We were currently headed west, which was technically towards the thickest smoke, but it was now north of us – traveling parallel to it.

From the ridge along Hwy 128, we could now see the smoke plume covering most of the city. It looked like it had started in the open space down the street from us, but there were surely houses burning now from the looks of it. I thought I could just barely make out our street from up there, and it wasn’t quite in the smoke cloud yet, but frighteningly close. 

We turned south on Indiana, and there we hit traffic again. It was moving, just very slowly. I had started to relax a little, feeling like we were out of immediate danger. Though we were watching the smoke get thicker and closer behind us, felt a little like we were being chased. 

The wind was still ripping, debris flying through the air all around us. No wonder the fire had spread so quickly. We may have escaped the wildfire, but worried we would now get taken out by a falling traffic light. Several of them were already dangling precariously.  

Around this time, the car alerted us to the fact that we were almost out of gas. Seriously??? Tried to stay calm, we were far enough away now, we could spare a couple of minutes to fill up. We knew of a gas station where Indiana ends at 64th. But everything down there was out of power! Was that related to the fire, or just the wind? 

We kept going and eventually managed to find one that was open. While Brian pumped, I made a desperate trip inside to stock up on what food I could manage to carry – sandwiches, fruit, water, etc. I had no specific plan for it, but I also didn’t know what the next few hours would hold for us. I don’t know if the lady checking me out noticed that I was still shaking, but she quietly mentioned that she was just sick watching the fires to the north, and I told her we were evacuating, and that’s why I was stocking up on food. She wished us well, and to be safe. 

Until this point, our only goal had been our immediate safety, and getting to a place where the fire was not. But what now? It seemed highly unlikely we would be going back home tonight, if we still had a home to go to at all. So we decided to head to our place in Keystone. 

Unfortunately, we had been out in Brian’s new car, the Taos. It does have AWD (we would never consider anything that doesn’t, living in Colorado.) But we hadn’t put snow tires on it yet. We always take the Outback when we come to the mountains. I had generally seen that there was snow coming to the mountains today and tomorrow, but the Taos was what we had, and it made the most sense. Afterall, we had supplies there. Clothes, toiletries, charger cables, food. 

I had checked in with my parents by phone and text to let them know we were evacuated and safe, but couldn’t talk long because we were still working out logistics. We were close to Hwy 56 – we planned to take that east to I-70. It was a route we used to take all the time, until discovering that we actually prefer taking Hwy 93. But the intersection was blocked, flashing lights everywhere. What now?? We thought we had escaped the worst of it. 

As we got closer we could see two semis, overturned on the overpass. But we could still get on going west, so we’d make that work. Driving down the on-ramp, we saw another semi truck speeding through the other direction. It was on fire. So many things that, in isolation, would have seemed like a big deal. But all we could muster was a quick “huh”, and move on. Brian later said it felt like the scene in War of the Worlds where they are trying to escape and everything everywhere is going wrong, but they don’t have time to deal with it. 

As we headed into the mountains, we realized two rather immediate problems. Brian didn’t have his medicine with him. At least one of them was rather time-sensitive and dangerous to skip, and he would need it tonight. We also didn’t have a parking permit for our condo building, because we keep it in the Outback. We’ve actually complained about the lack of consistent parking enforcement there, but it was a holiday week. And they probably were checking. Just our luck we’d get towed after fleeing a fire.

Brian’s mom called as we were coming into Silverthorne, having obviously been concerned about seeing the news of the fire and evacuations, and was relieved to know we were safe. We planned to stop at Walgreens in Dillon, to see if they could help us with Brian’s medicine. As we came into Dillon it was just starting to get dark, and I saw the power go out on the south side of Hwy 6. All of it. Why was the power out here?? We were 70 miles from the fire, and there was no significant weather. At least Walgreens was on the north side of the highway, and the lights were still on there. 

Luckily, the pharmacist was very kind and understanding, and was able to get us an emergency fill of all his meds while we waited. We wandered the store for a bit while they worked on it. Finally starting to relax, almost feeling euphoric that we had made it this far. 

But the one thing I haven’t mentioned yet, that had crossed my mind a few times, but I had refused to give space to take hold, was MinnieLu, our guinea pig. Obviously going back home for her had been out of the question. The one comfort I had had throughout the trip up here was that I was still able to connect to our Nest thermostat on my phone, which meant that house had to still be standing, and MinnieLu safe. But as I checked it in Walgreens,  it was now saying “Offline”.  Owen was wanting assurance that it was still okay, all I could do was hug him and tell him we had to hope for the best now. 

With medicine in hand, we headed on towards Keystone, and thought we would go on into the village to get dinner. But as we got close, realized everything over there was dark – they must be out of power too. How had we already passed our condo building, I didn’t even see it or notice as we drove by. Oh. Because it was dark too. The power outage extended all the way out here. 

Not knowing what else to do, we drove on back to our powerless condo, only a few dim emergency lights illuminating the hallway. In my head, I had pictured this as a homecoming filled with warmth and relief. Our haven that would welcome us with safety and comfort, and familiarity. Definitely not this. Instead, we sat there. In the dark. Cold. Hungry. Watching our phones slowly die. 

Alternating between wanting to keep them off to conserve power, and wanting to cling to them constantly as our only source of connection and information. We received a Summit County emergency alert that the power outage here was, in fact, due to the fire in Boulder County. They were having to divert power, and said we would have rolling blackouts throughout the night, up to 60 minutes at a time. 

It had already been almost that long, so we were hopeful it would be back soon, and we could cook some dinner. But one hour turned into two, and then three. Still nothing. We finally decided to give up waiting and ate some of the sandwiches I had picked up at the gas station. Unfortunately we don’t have a flashlight here, and our phones were nearly dead already. 

Information coming in was all over the place. People were already posting photos, videos, and lots of rumors. Had the fire crossed south of Coalton Rd? There were videos of it already in Rock Creek, in the park just across Coalton from us. And rumors that the Safeway had already burned down (which later turned out to be false, thankfully, though the fire was right behind the building.) But if Safeway had already burned, it seemed impossible that it wouldn’t spread just across the street to us.  Many were also saying the Calamante, the subdivision just west of us, was burning. 

Owen had been holding up pretty well on the way here, but had become very distraught once getting to the condo. He just kept staring at a picture of MinnieLu on his phone and crying quietly. I tried to comfort him as best I could, but I couldn’t give him the only thing he wanted – a guarantee that she was safe. 

I wish we hadn’t gone to the movie. I wish we had been home when it happened. We could have brought stuff, including her, with us. (And we could have come in the right car)  I wasn’t going to be able to forgive that decision if something happened. We never leave her overnight unless we have a pet sitter checking on her every day. She isn’t used to being alone for a full 24 hours. Even if our house was safe, she must be terrified. My heart sank every time I saw her empty cage. She’s always here with us. She should be here with us now. At the very least, our power was out, since I couldn’t connect to the Nest. And it was getting cold there. 

It was also getting cold here in Keystone, and no sign of power here yet either. We tried to settle into bed to get some sleep. But of course it didn’t come easy. The temperature was dropping fast. Our bed is right in a corner with two (old and leaky) windows. One might think, then, that we sleep under a warm, heavy blanket. But our only blanket itself is quite thin – and heated. With electricity. Which we didn’t have. I was kicking myself for a lot of things that day, one of which was not having an adequate supply of non-electric dependent covers on hand.

Trying to force myself to sleep, the thoughts of course ran wild instead. What if our house did burn down? Other than MinnieLu of course, what else was there that I would be upset about losing? We recently downsized, and got rid of a LOT of stuff. The vast majority of what’s in our house is functional, not sentimental. There’s no room for anything else. The few sentimental things I kept are in bins at the storage unit, which was thankfully in the opposite direction of the fire. But I have really been enjoying using my grandmother’s glass canisters in the kitchen. And my antique marimba. That couldn’t be replaced. And logistically difficult things like passports, car titles, etc. But the bigger issue would be the displacement – Owen separated from his friends and community if we had to find temporary housing somewhere else. 

As the hours dragged on with still no power, I became convinced that we had a more immediate problem even than the fire. Why wasn’t our power back on here? They said an hour. It had been over 5. There must be a problem. What if it was worse than they thought, and they just couldn’t get it back? A snowstorm was coming in, temps predicted to be below zero. We wouldn’t last long here without heat. And being in the Taos, our ability to drive out might be questionable if the weather was bad. 

So many doomsday thoughts floating around in my head. Maybe we should have stayed in town and gotten a hotel room instead. This had seemed like the obvious choice at the time, we didn’t know the misfortune was going to follow us here. Maybe we were just too dependent on infrastructure that we had no control over. And it was going to abandon us now.  

I think I was floating in and out of a daze/almost sleep for a few hours. Sometime before midnight (11:30 maybe?) I suddenly became aware of a glow on the other side of the room. The Christmas tree. The lights! They were on!! It was like coming out of a bad dream. We were saved! 

I quickly got up and started plugging in everyone’s phone, and ran the thermostat up, might as well build up some heat in case we lost power again. I think I actually managed to get some sleep after that, but according to my fitbit the next morning, it was still the worst night I’d had since getting the watch. (Had my first “failing” sleep score. No surprise.)

Friday, December 31 2021

The morning, which came far too soon given my poor sleep, did bring some relief. From all reliable accounts, it appeared that the fire had not actually crossed Coalton Rd. Some had already snuck back into our neighborhood (against the pleas of authorities) and offered confirmation that the Summit Townhomes were untouched. But the news for the rest of the town was sobering. At least 600 homes confirmed lost, with warning that the total would almost certainly rise as they assessed more neighborhoods.  From the pictures and maps posted, it looked like the flames had come within about 500 feet of us, just on the other side of Coalton. Far too close for comfort. One wind gust in the wrong direction, and our whole neighborhood would have been gone. 

We made some breakfast, and later a trip to Target to grab some things we had not come prepared with. We also talked to the property management office about our parking pass situation, and they kindly gave us a temporary pass for the Taos, without even mentioning a replacement fee. Large-scale disasters do seem to bring out the kindness and generosity in most. 

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I also called the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, where we had tickets to the traveling Lion King Broadway show tonight. It was a rescheduled show from when we had originally booked it in Summer 2020. It seemed unlikely that we would be able to make it back for it. Fortunately they were very understanding, and offered us a full refund. 

My main concern was still MinnieLu. She was likely safe at the moment, but I didn’t know how much food she had, and worried that it was getting dangerously cold. Heat was not expected to be back for several days. I asked for help in a couple of places on Facebook, and within a few hours, Animal Control got back to me. They of course were out in full force, trying to rescue stranded and lost pets. I couldn’t convince them to actually take her some place warm, but they did give her plenty of food and added some blankets and towels to her cage. I wasn’t sure it would be enough, but I was incredibly grateful for their help, at least. 

In the afternoon, the boys decided to go skiing for a few hours. There was fresh snow, and might as well get something out of being up here unexpectedly. So I dropped them off at A-Basin. I had continued to watch for updates, and was surprised to hear, just before I went to pick them up, that they had actually lifted the evacuation for our street. 

Could we possibly get back there tonight? There wouldn’t be heat, so we would need to come back here to Keystone to sleep, but we could rescue MinnieLu, and do some mitigation to make sure the pipes didn’t freeze. Or at least give them some hope. Everyone seemed to be on board with that plan, so we quickly got ready to go. 

Yeah, there was something about a snowstorm coming in. It had been snowing a bit all day. But it didn’t seem that bad, and the Taos was handling it surprisingly well. Slipped a little in places I didn’t think the Outback would have, but it was making it okay. We would just slip down there, take care of a few things, trade out cars, and be back here in time to watch the ball drop on TV. (It was NYE, afterall). Simple as that. 

I should mention here that we are NOT cavalier when it comes to winter driving in the mountains. We actually pride ourselves on always being informed and prepared.  Always being objective and making the right decision, based on the information we have. Our car (the Outback at least) is as equipped for winter driving as possible. And it’s a beast. We know the route. We know the alternate routes. We know how to use the CDOT website to analyze road conditions. We know to have emergency supplies in the car at all times. 

I’m rather ashamed to say that we didn’t follow any of this. Of course it wasn’t our fault that we didn’t have the Outback. But we could have brought supplies. Food, blankets, the inReach. We could have looked into the warnings that CDOT was already issuing about hazardous travel conditions. We could have stopped to actually consider whether this was too risky to be worth it. But we didn’t. All good sense went right out the window at the revelation that we could possibly solve our two biggest stressors right now. 

The first part of the trip actually wasn’t too bad. Snow was falling, road a little slick, but nothing that even the Taos couldn’t handle. I did notice coming up to the tunnel that our time-remaining, according to the navigation, had actually increased since we left. Traffic must be getting worse, not a big deal. As we got closer to Idaho Springs, the map suggested taking Hwy 6 through the canyon, instead of staying on I-70. We’ve taken that route many times to avoid traffic coming into Denver, so it didn’t seem unreasonable. It had just gotten dark. 

But as we were coming up to what we knew should be a right turn on the highway, the navigation insisted that we go left. Wouldn’t even provide an alternate route that went right. We could see that traffic was already backed up to the right, that was probably why. We had never gone left here before, but at first glance on the map it seemed to make sense. 

We were immediately guided onto a steep, curvy road that looked like it was going to climb the side of the canyon. There was already a foot of snow on the ground, and more falling fast. We passed a car off the road, having slid into the ditch. Then another. And another. And one a couple cars in front of us was stuck in the middle of the road. I think one of the off-the-road-already drivers was trying to help push him. The car in front of us gave up and turned around in the middle of the road to go back down. Almost got stuck and slid off trying. And it was an AWD too. 

We had been nervous about this route before, but now we got a little panicky. And made the sudden decision to turn back as well. We should have made it at the first hint of trouble at the bottom of the hill. We later looked up more detail about the road we were on, and it would have been disastrous to continue. There’s almost no way it would have been passable as it climbed higher, and had steep dropoffs that would have made sliding off the road more than an inconvenience. 

Why we fell for it in the first place is beyond me. Never take an unfamiliar route in the mountains in the middle of a snowstorm. So many bad decisions tonight. But, we made it back down without incident. But we were feeling a bit shaken, and suddenly wondered if this snowstorm was going to give us more adventure than we wanted. 

The map wanted us to now backtrack to the interstate again, but perhaps because we were now annoyed with her for almost getting us killed, we ignored that suggestion and joined the line of traffic on Hwy 6 (that had gone right, instead of left)

It was very slow-going, creeping around the windy path through the canyon. But at first we didn’t mind. At least there couldn’t be a dramatic crash at these speeds. It was about another 12 miles to where Hwy 6 met Hwy 93. Just 12 miles until we were home-free! But with each painfully slow mile, we became more concerned that we might not make it. 

It was snowing so hard, getting so deep. So many cars off the road, in the ditch, stuck. One after another. We all held our breath everytime we felt the tires slipping, wondering if this was about to be the end of our journey tonight. It was the most stressful winter driving I’ve ever experienced. (Well, Brian was doing the driving.) The miles crept down so slowly. Watching them go by tenths. At least try to get as close as we can to Hwy 93 before falling off the road, I thought. We might get help faster if we are closer to civilization. Finally we were under a mile. So many close calls, but we were almost there! Surely Hwy 93 would be in better shape. 

The map actually suggested a different route – Indiana back into town. Which was almost identical to the way we had come yesterday. We almost did it, but remembered the very steep and long hill you have to climb at the end of Indiana, and were not at all sure we could make it. Hwy 93 has some hills, but they are more rolling than steep. 

Our elation at making it out of the canyon to Hwy 93 was short-lived, however. Why we thought that would be the end of our worries, I don’t know. I assumed they would have plowed it. Or that since it was more “in-town” it would be better. But there had been no plows, and plenty of the stretch we had to travel through was still quite rural. 

I hadn’t thought it could get more stressful than coming through the canyon. But it did. A few brave souls were adventuring this road with us tonight. And many of them – not making it. We came so close to not making it. So many times. Sliding towards the ditch, panicking. Thinking this was it, just hoping for a soft landing. Cursing the fact that we hadn’t even brought extra jackets. Or food. Owen had already said he was hungry as we were leaving town, we told him we’d find food at home, he could wait another hour. Might be waiting all night. 

Several times we passed large vehicles (RVs, campers, box trucks, trailers) that were flipped over at odd angles on the side of the road. I suspect they were victims of yesterday’s windstorm, unrelated to the snow. But it was creepy. Seeing their silhouettes suddenly emerge in the darkness. Like coming up on a sunken ship in the ocean. 

Again we were watching the miles creep down until our next turn. Onto a highway that I suspected could be more treacherous than this one, if that was possible. I now knew that driving back to Keystone tonight was out of the question. And our house was likely too cold to sleep in. I should have already been scouring the internet for a nearby hotel room, but it was seeming far more likely that we wouldn’t be making it back into town at all, and was resigned to being stuck on the side of the road at some point. Hopefully not injured. 

What in the world had I gotten us into? Why in the world had I thought this was an okay thing to do? I had put our whole family in grave danger to take care of a few (now-seemingly) minor issues. The guilt was intense. And the stress. I don’t think my heart rate has ever stayed that elevated for that long, in the absence of any physical exercise. It was exhausting, physically and mentally. 

With so many moments when all hope seemed lost, I don’t know how we managed to escape each and every one. What astounds me looking back was that there wasn’t one or two tricky spots that almost got us, the danger was constant. We would recover from one close-call, just to be in the middle of another. They just kept coming. For hours. 

Somehow we made it to our turn at Hwy 128, that we had used to escape the fire just yesterday. The western part of it, which we had to traverse this time, is very hilly and windy. And steep. It didn’t even seem possible that we could navigate it tonight. But the only other route into town was through the worst of the burn-area, and still closed. My only hope was that the evacuation instructions for re-entry had specifically said to use Hwy 128. Maybe they had prepared for this and plowed it? 

Indeed, we saw two plow trucks as we were coming up to the turn! Sadly, they immediately turned back towards Hwy 93. The abandonment I felt at that moment was devastating. Why would they not plow the road for us?? We were so close now. Within 10 miles. But they would probably be the hardest 10 miles of the trip. 

Again, a few cars were trying the same thing. And again, a lot of them were not making it. Again, we held our breath, willing the car to get us through these last few miles. More panicky moments when it started to fail. But again, somehow pulled through. I don’t know what force in the universe we had pleased or how, but it just seemed impossible that we managed to get out of every single near-disaster. (Someone give Brian an award for snow-driving!)

We finally, miraculously made it into the neighborhood. Police cars still everywhere, blocking off all but the few streets we were allowed to be on. At least if something happened now, help was close by. And the relief we felt when we finally pulled into the garage (of our not-burned-down-house), the car and its inhabitants still in one piece, though shaken, was immeasurable. I think we may have all been crying a little. The trip had taken a little over 4 hours, instead of the usual 90 minutes. 

We had a happy reunion with a bewildered and cold MinnieLu. She’s usually so squirmy when I try to hold her, but she happily burrowed into my arms this time, still as could be. Like she was hoping I would forget she was there and not put her down. Poor thing. I’m sure she could smell the smoke and sense that something was wrong. And then it got so cold. 

Now I could actually focus on solving the problem of where we were sleeping tonight. Thankfully, I was able to get a room at the Residence Inn just down the street. I figured everything nearby would be full already with evacuees. 

We quickly set about gathering what we needed, and doing what we could to protect the pipes. We shut off the main water to the house, and drained all the faucets as best we could. I’m sure there was still some water hiding in there somewhere, but hopefully it would be enough. And we had to clear snow off the Outback, since we definitely wanted to switch to it given the road conditions. Even though we were just going down the street. There was at least a foot of snow on it – it was incredible!

Our plan was to check into the hotel, then go pick up some food. It turned out that the hotel did not have hot water, I was warned at check in, but they did have heat. Because they also had no gas, but luckily the heat was electric. That was good enough for me, showers could wait!

It seemed that everything in the area was closed. A combination of it being NYE, and the evacuations. Not even Walmart next door was open. The McDonald’s app claimed that the one nearby was open, so we put in an order. But when we got over there, they were clearly closed. We figured we’d have to get out of the immediate area to find something – with the fire, everything here had obviously given up on the day. We jumped on US 36, which was snowy but driveable (especially in the Outback). 

Arby’s claimed to be open, but as we went to the drive through, we were told that they had just closed. We almost made it, darn! The only thing I had seen so far in all our driving that was open was the 7-11 next door. Not willing to waste any more time and get any farther away, we resigned ourselves to eating a gas-station dinner for the second night in a row. Some NYE this was turning out to be. It does seem that we always have a rough time/bad luck on NYE. The only year that stands out as NOT having this happen was when we went to Disney World. Maybe we should just do that every year. 

We made it back to the hotel with our stash – the kids weren’t thrilled with the options we brought, but we made do. Deciding to forgo any pretense of a NYE celebration, we collapsed into bed without fanfare by about 10:30pm. The bright spot of the evening of course, was MinieLu. Who was getting plenty of attention and treats. She would have to sleep in her travel carrier tonight, but that was a good bit above freezing to death. 

 I had thought that I would surely sleep well tonight, after a rough night the night before, and generally being exhausted. But instead my mind wouldn’t slow down. It kept replaying each of the close calls we’d had on our trip home, imagining how the outcome of each could have been so much different. I tried to reign in those thoughts and focus instead on gratitude that it hadn’t happened that way, but wasn’t often successful for long. According to my Fitbit, it would end up being an even worse night of sleep than the night before. 

So, after all was said and done, did I regret that we had made the trip? I mean, we ended up getting there okay, and we did rescue MinnieLu who was very glad to see us. And hopefully saved our pipes. So maybe it was worth it, in hindsight. But objectively speaking, had I known it would be that bad, the risk would not have seemed worth it, and I wouldn’t have suggested it. As painful as it would have been to make that decision. 

Saturday, January 1 2022

By morning, the physical toll this was taking on my body was evident. I felt constantly shaky, dizzy, like my muscles had become too weak to function properly. I’m sure it was the combination of stress and poor sleep. And not great eating. My whole body felt permanently tense, and I couldn’t get it to relax. 

We picked up a heater-fan next door at Walmart (got one of the last ones!) and set about the task of trying to warm the house up. It was 42 degrees when we arrived, so last night was likely not a problem. But it was only going to get colder today and tonight. We needed a little padding before heading back to Keystone. 

We turned on every electric object in the house that could produce heat. The new fan, the oven, stove, a hair-dryer, even a clothes steamer. We managed to raise the temperature a full 10 degrees. Hopefully that would be enough. I was quite annoyed to see what a mess I had left the kitchen in, we’ve been so good about NOT doing that since we moved. But now the water was off, so there wasn’t much I could do for the pile of dirty dishes. They would have to wait some more. 

The house definitely smelled of smoke, but it wasn’t overwhelming. I suspect it will clear out on its own. And I noticed most of the windowsills have a bit of ash and soot in them, that will likely need a little extra attention. But otherwise, everything seems to be intact. 

We tried to put in our McDonald’s from last night again, but it turned out that even though open, their fryer wasn’t working. So we stopped at a different one on the way out of town. I have to say, even though I usually consider McDonald’s a last resort, that first bite of french-fry was heavenly. An actual hot, prepared meal. For the first time in two days, lol. 

We took a longer route back to the mountains, staying entirely on the interstate as we were not willing to risk Hwy 93 again this morning. But it was uneventful. The boys had hoped to get back in time to ski today, but we weren’t quite going to make it. Brian enjoyed doing some ice skating, though. And we had dinner at Pizza on the Run, which was what we had wanted to do the night we came into town after the fire, but found the power out. 

Sunday, January 2 2022

I thankfully, finally got a decent night of sleep. Knowing we had done all we could to prevent a pipe disaster at home, and having MinnieLu safely tucked into her cage here next to us. Xcel energy is supposed to be reconnecting the gas today, but someone has to be home. And we are up here in the mountains. So, I don’t know when we will be able to get ours going again. I have to go back to work tomorrow. If we still don’t have heat tomorrow night, we’ll have to figure out what to do, I guess. 

I still get nervous every time I see something that looks like smoke. While driving last night, Brian asked if I was traumatized, after I think I nearly wrecked the car while focusing on a harmless plume of steam coming out of a building. I don’t think I went through anything traumatic enough to qualify. But the slightest whiff of smoke from a fireplace makes my heart race and my whole body tense up. 

But, hopefully the worst is all behind us. (And hopefully I’m not jinxing anything by saying that!) All’s well that ends well. Of course, I know it didn’t end well for so many in our community. Final report was 991 homes lost, between Superior and Louisville. But I don’t think it’s unfair to celebrate your own escape from disaster. I wouldn’t have denied that to anyone else if I had been on the wrong side of probability. All we can do is work to solve the problems that are presented to us, even while being grateful when they are not as bad as someone else’s. And at least this time, ours could have been far worse. Maybe gratitude should be my guiding theme this year. 

2020 (Need I say more??)

Actually, Yes, I think I need to say a LOT more, lol!

The year started auspiciously enough, with the four of us ringing in New Years from our condo in Keystone. Our location was perfect, as we had an uncrowded and unobstructed view of the New Years Eve fireworks over Keystone Lake, right from our own balcony. We had spent a fabulous Christmas week here as well, enjoying several unique experiences like an evening sleigh ride to a western themed dinner on a ranch, a snowshoe hike to the Halleluiah Hut, and exploring the Dillon Ice Castles. We had been thoroughly making use our new weekend home here, spending almost every weekend in what felt like a winter paradise. We would typically drive up Friday night, and stay until early Monday morning, when work called us back home. We skied during the day, hit the bar for drinks and dinner after, then wrapped up the evening at the pool and hot tub. It felt a lot like being on vacation for almost 30% of every week.

It had been fun starting the year before to watch the changes that the resort went through during the seasons. The warm, sunny, and busy days of summer had slowly given way to fall. The air turned cool and crisp, and things became quiet once again. It was nice for a few weeks during that time to feel like we had the place to ourselves. As the first snow came and the lifts began to open, it slowly sprang back to life, the number of people increasing gradually with each passing weekend. And then it was Christmas, and suddenly it was overun, packed in like sardines everywhere, more people than you could imagine possibly fitting in one resort at one time. But it was okay and every one was happy anyway, because, SNOW. And then it just kept coming, more and more snow, piling up and up, over the tops of windows and so deep that it was hard to imagine even the most fiery inferno ever being able to melt it all. I had really come to love all the versions of Summit County. It felt like home. There was an eerie feeling though, that this was too good to last, and we voiced this concern at least a few times during the winter. Of course it didn’t stop us from basking in the glory while we did have it. 

 

Owen was on the Breckenridge Ski Team, and practiced with them every Sunday. He had a couple of competitions in January and February, and won second place in the downhill racing competition for his age group! He had become quite the shredder – routinely seeking out the hardest and most difficult terrain so that he could show off his mad skills to the often-leery bystanders. 

Lily was on a different path this winter though, and being heavily involved in extracurricular activities near home (theater, video production, etc), usually didn’t make the weekend trek to the mountains with us. She had applied for early graduation the previous fall, and was now starting her last semester of high school, with plans to attend Johnson & Wales University in Denver.

The first part of the year wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies though. We did have a string of bad luck with our trusty Outback, and on a couple of different weekends it left us stranded in the mountains, with no good way home. It was a strange electrical issue that no one seemed to be able to completely solve. On one occasion we ended up taking the Bustang Regional Bus back to Denver, turning what should have been a 90 minute commute into an almost all-day affair. 

On one particularly problematic weekend, we attempted to take the Bustang back to Keystone, being without the car. But because of weather, the bus turned back at Georgetown and returned us to Denver instead. We decided to sleep for a few hours, and try to make the trip in the Jeep early the next morning, as Owen had a ski competition that day. We made it in plenty of time, but unrelated heartbreak was about to unfold.

Once we arrived, we realized that our beloved 5-year old guinea pig Pika had suffered a stroke, and being early on a weekend morning, there were no vets open in all of Summit County. So there was nothing we could do but watch him struggle and try to provide what comfort we could until he passed about an hour later. He was such a personable little creature, and had really become part of the family. He definitely left some big shoes to fill. 

In mid-February, we finally decided that the Outback needed to be replaced. I went to the dealership by myself on a Friday afternoon hoping to have new wheels for the weekend. I made it happen, and we gave the new Outback a “proper” break in by heading the mountains in the middle of the year’s biggest snow storm. Several road closures, one avalanche,  and 7 hours later, we finally pulled into the parking lot at our condo around 2am, lol! (Of all the possible weekends, Lily had picked this one to come with us- ha!) On Sunday of that weekend, we drove over to Vail, and the boys got caught in the epically bad lift line that ended up making the news. But the snow was glorious. Lily and I spent the day snowshoeing, wandering the village, and hanging out at the Vail library. 

We had a new guinea pig to bring on our adventure this weekend (she spent much of the 7 hour car ride cuddled in Lily’s sweater) She was still just a baby, and we finally settled on the name Minnie Lu. I was skeptical that she would ever be able to live up to Pika’s personality, but it was fun to have a furry friend again. Over time we would bond as well, and she is now very much a part of the family. Just as noisy as Pika if not more so, and very opinionated about her snacks! She has us trained exceptionally well. (And yes, I’m aware that it should probably be the other way around.)

I had been working for almost two years on a Master’s degree in Data Analytics, and was now in my final semester. In preparation for job hunting in a few months, I started setting up profiles on LinkedIn, Indeed, etc. And sure enough, I started hearing from recruiters right away. But, not for data positions, as I had expected. It seemed the only thing that mattered to anyone was my experience in education. So, I was getting lots of hits about teaching jobs. I ignored most of them, as that wasn’t what I thought I was looking for.

However, one intrigued me enough to respond- it was supposed to part time and maybe temporary – just something I could fill some extra time with until graduation. It was at a very small private school that happened to be just down the street from us, working one-on-one with middle and high school students in science and math. And suddenly, I was employed, not feeling entirely sure of what I had just gotten myself into. Almost immediately, my hours went from the promised 15-20 per week, to over 30. But it was off to a good start, and I was glad to have stumbled onto it. It was very good for me to finally have a sense of purpose and accomplishment again – to feel like I was actually competent at something, and contributing somewhere in a meaningful way. 

I’ll always associate the start of that job with the beginning of what would ultimately define the year – within days of starting, the gossip “around the water cooler” had turned to the mysterious virus sweeping China, and rising fears that it might find its way here. I remember those first few weeks, with all of us just trying to keep our heads down and keep things stable and “normal” at school, quelling panic and doomsday talk as much as possible.

We carried on as usual at home – Lily and I attended the Spongebob Musical in Denver, Owen was still going to his basketball practices and games multiple times per week, we still skied on the weekends and hung out at crowded bars afterwards. All the while suspecting that this virus was closer than anyone seemed to want to admit at the time. But not really knowing how to do anything about it – we couldn’t even imagine at that point giving up the lifestyle we had come to know and love.

On Sunday, March 8, Brian and I skied together at Keystone while Owen was at ski team practice. He usually stayed and skied at Breck on Sundays, but had decided to ski with me today instead. We didn’t actually stay out too long, as the snow was terrible. I joked that I should have brought ice skates instead. Knowing there would be plenty more days to ski, with better conditions, we headed back after just a couple of hours. We had no idea on that sunny afternoon that it would end up being our last ski day of the season.

Then, on that Thursday evening, watching what we thought was a routine Denver Nuggets game on TV, it was announced in the second quarter that an NBA player (on the Utah Jazz) had tested positive for the virus, and shortly after, that the NBA was ending the season, effective immediately. The Nuggets game, already underway, was the last to be played. At least for me, that felt like the beginning of the end – the moment when I realized how “turned on its head” the world was about to be. For months afterwards I couldn’t even watch old clips of NBA games being played without getting that same sinking feeling in my stomach. 

Brian’s work and the kids’ school announced they were going fully remote that evening. My school was hoping to be able to stay open, as we were small and didn’t present the risk of the higher occupancy workplaces. We made a desperate trip to the grocery store at almost 9pm that night, after the flurry of social media posts showing long lines and empty shelves. We would be glad for that the next week. 

We still came to the mountains that weekend. Owen was supposed to have his “Big Mountain” Ski competition on that Saturday, March 14, the one he had been most looking forward to. But that was cancelled on Friday. They were still planning to practice on Sunday, which was the main reason we drove up. Brian had been worried he was coming down with some sort of cold, so we opted not to ski at all on Saturday, and did a snowshoe hike on Swan Mountain instead.

By Saturday afternoon, all of the ski areas had announced they were closing indefinitely at the end of the day, as a new report had come out warning of a massive outbreak in Summit County. All residents and visitors were urged to quarantine for two weeks due to likely exposure. In a bit of a panic, we tried to gather up our stuff quickly and head home, having no reason to stay any longer. I remember pulling out of the parking lot of the condo that afternoon, tears almost welling up as I looked back at the building, not knowing what the next few weeks would hold, or how long it would be before we were back at our favorite home. The world suddenly felt so unstable. At the time I was heartbroken to think it might be 3 or 4 weeks. It would end up being almost 3 months. 

We decided to drive back over Loveland Pass, thinking the interstate might be a mess with the sudden exodus from the mountains. We’ve been over the pass more times  than I can count, and it had never bothered me before. However, as we neared the top, I suddenly felt like there was a pile of bricks on my chest. Why was it so hard to get a breath in? I tried not to panic, but sudden respiratory distress at a time when a respiratory pandemic is taking hold is understandably cause for alarm. Fortunately it subsided as we came back down, and I didn’t give it much more thought. At least not for the next 24 hours or so. Brian was feeling decidedly sick by the time we got home, but I was still naively hopeful that it was just a cold. 

The next day was a rare weekend day at home, and not really knowing what else to do with myself, I set about a major cleaning of most of the house. It was fortuitous timing, as I wouldn’t feel up to cleaning anything for several more weeks. On Monday, I woke up feeling a bit “off”, but wasn’t too concerned until around lunchtime, when Brian noticed I seemed feverish. (My boss wouldn’t let me come in to work because of the quarantine orders for Summit County.) Sure enough, my temperature was over 100. I took some Tylenol, still convinced it was nothing. Two hours later it was 103, and another dose of Tylenol didn’t phase it. There was also a growing tightness in my chest that I couldn’t otherwise explain. I think it was then that I had to face reality. I was sick. And so was Brian. 

For weeks, we had been telling the kids (both at home and at school) that the numbers coming out of China – the 4% fatality rate, were really nothing to be too worried about. “Was 4% of the population really going to die?”, they kept asking. But that was only if you actually got sick with symptoms, and that was still very, very unlikely – or so we kept assuring them. Suddenly, we WERE sick, with what we could only assume was the virus, and now we were staring that 4% down the barrel, rather than assuming it was some far-off statistic that didn’t apply to us. And our doctors wanted nothing to do with us. All they had to offer over the phone was the general advice to rest, hydrate, isolate, and call 911 if we thought we were dying. There were hardly any tests at all available at that point, and they were reserved for those working in health care, or patients  in the ICU. So we just had to hunker down and hope we got through it. 

The next 4 weeks would pass in a blur. A long, unpleasant blur.  The first week, the fever was the biggest challenge. I couldn’t keep it down. And it always brought with it a hopeless, bone-crushing fatigue. On so many afternoons, I would lay helplessly in bed, so miserable and uncomfortable, but unable to hardly move. I was pretty sure that even the house catching fire would not have been able to rouse me. By the second week, the fever was lower (though not gone), but my lungs were continuing to take a hit. Every single breath hurt. And sometimes it felt like I went minutes without being able to get a full breath in at all. The pile of bricks that I had felt on my chest as we came over the pass that night was back, this time to stay. You always take breathing for granted until you can’t do it effectively anymore. By the third and fourth week, the lung pain was starting to become intermittent – occasional sharp, stabbing pains rather than the constant dull ache. But enough to be incapacitating when they did strike. And my throat swelled up so much that I could barely talk or eat. Breathing was still far more of a challenge than it should have been.  It really did feel like we were facing our own mortality on so many nights – wondering if our lungs would hold out until morning, or if we would die in our sleep. 

And I don’t mean to be ignoring Brian’s symptoms during this time, he was doing just as poorly, if not worse than me. He did end up in the emergency room briefly at one point after having some heartbeat irregularities, but there was nothing they could do for him and told him to follow up with a cardiologist. 

It was hard to keep track of everyone. Honestly, I didn’t keep track of much during that time, including the kids. They fortunately seemed to be spared the majority of the symptoms. But I rarely knew what they were doing. I think they were both doing school online at that point, but it wasn’t something I could really pay attention to or help with. 

During these weeks we had watched the world change, mostly through the lens of social media. I think there was a Stay-At-Home order issued at one point, not that it mattered for us, as we were in full lockdown mode regardless. And debates about masks and ‘social-distancing”. It felt like such a disconnect watching how everyone else reacted to it though – my Facebook feed was full of people posting cute patterns for making masks, and boasting about their achievements at baking bread and making cute color-coded schedules for their kids. And proudly showing how good they were at overcoming boredom, as it was for the greater good and their own safety. “You’re not stuck at home, you are SAFE at home”, the internet kept telling me. Or, “It’s worth a little boredom to stay safe!” But it was too late for my own safety, and I didn’t have the luxury of boredom. 

Every day was a challenge to merely survive – to somehow get through the bare minimum of providing food for the family and keeping a handle on dishes and laundry. We relied completely on various delivery services to bring us food, and the demand far outmatched the supply. Delivery times were hard to come by. It was stressful, at a time when I could hardly manage stress at all. Oh, and I was trying (against better judgement) to work a few hours each day. My school had been forced to go remote shortly after I got sick. I wasn’t truly in condition to be teaching classes at all, but I was still the “new teacher”, and  so afraid that if I disappeared now, I’d never be put back on the schedule again. My boss was very accommodating though, and reduced my load significantly, and didn’t balk on the many days when I had to completely bail on all my classes at the last minute. 

To add insult to injury, being sick wasn’t my only challenge during this time. Unable to take my Rheumatoid arthritis medications, and with my immune system in overdrive anyway, it got bad. The worst it’s ever been. There were entire weeks when getting out of bed or walking across the room was an unimaginable task. Everything always hurt. Joints that I’m not even sure I realized existed before then would ache with an intensity I cannot describe in words. After several weeks, I begged my doctor for help, but of course all she could tell me was what I already knew – that I would have to make a calculated choice between the risk of permanent joint damage, and decreasing my immune response to the illness. 

On the night that I finally decided to go back onto the prednisone, I slowly and painfully maneuvered myself downstairs around 2am after not being able to sleep at all (my meds were in the kitchen). I wasn’t willing to face the stairs again so soon to go back up, so I fell onto the couch thinking I would rest a bit first. And quickly realized I was stuck – so swollen and stiff that I physically couldn’t get back up. Or reach my phone, which I had unfortunately left a few feet away. So I just laid there and cried, until I finally fell asleep, and Brian found me there in the morning. The prednisone did bring a little relief later that morning, and I would become frighteningly dependent on it for the next several months. I had thought that it was less risky than my Humira (the injectable medicine which attempts to alter your immune response, rather than just masking the symptoms, as steroids do). Studies a few months later would show that I made exactly the wrong decision. Oh well. I didn’t die. 

By late April I started feeling like maybe I was through the worst. I still had no endurance, and the occasional pangs in my lungs. Brian was recovering more slowly, and still had many bad days. It was hard to imagine ever feeling totally normal again. Around this time, Lily’s school surprised us all by declaring that the seniors were going to finish early – as long as they had all of their assignments for the week turned in, they were going to consider them graduated the next afternoon! On one of my first outings leaving the house (after 6 weeks), we picked up a small cake and flowers at Walmart to throw together an impromptu graduation lunch.

It all seemed so unfair though. We had been looking forward to graduation for months, so excited that she was graduating early, and she was even set to give a speech at the ceremony. We didn’t get an 8th grade graduation, as she moved to an online school a few months before the end of the year. It hadn’t bothered me too much at the time, as I knew high school graduation was the “real deal” anyway. But now that was taken from us as well. So I still haven’t gotten to see her walk across a stage. I can hope for college graduation, I guess. 

I also finished my Masters degree around this time, and it was made official with very little pomp and circumstance – just an online stream that briefly displayed my name for a few seconds. Fortunately I only had one class this semester, and it was just a group project that had taken blessedly little time or effort on my part. It was an unfortunate time to graduate with a degree in Data Analytics though. So many were being laid off, and no one was hiring. Certainly not hiring anyone with no real experience. But, at least I had the teaching job, hopefully I could hold onto it, and hopefully the pandemic wouldn’t be the death of our little school. 

In late May, we were feeling well enough to get out of the house a bit more. Still had to take it very easy, in small chunks, as to not get exhausted. We spent an afternoon at the Denver Botanical Gardens after they reopened from the shutdown, and finally made it back to our condo in Keystone. We just made a brief day trip the first time to check on things, not sure how we would handle the elevation and not willing to risk an overnight emergency yet. We were the only ones in the whole building that day, and it was bittersweet to be back. I had started to feel over the past months that it surely wasn’t even here anymore – we had abandoned it, and it was like a part of brain stopped believing in object permanence. So much had happened and changed since that afternoon when we left – there had been a sense of doom that day but we still had no idea what we were in for. Of course the snow was gone now, and spring had thoroughly taken hold. 

Owen went to a skateboard camp in Denver around this time too. It was technically a week before the governor allowed camps to begin, but it was a small group, they were only outdoors, and all wore masks. It was good to see some life coming back to the city, and to start feeling like we could participate in it again. 

By now I had gone back on the Humira, in an attempt to get my RA back under control, and not depend solely on the steroids.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t working. For years it had managed my RA fairly well, but perhaps getting sick had fundamentally changed something about my biochemistry, and now it was rendered useless. So, we played medication roulette, and tried a new one. I was warned it could take a few months to work though, and in the meantime, was still completely dependent on the prednisone. The refill nurse once balked at giving me another round, as I had filled the month before, what should have been a 3-month supply. But luckily my doctor intervened and set her straight. I hated it, but had no other option at the time. 

One big bummer of the year I haven’t mentioned yet is all of the travel plans we had. We usually travel a lot, but this year was going to be one for the books! For years, we had promised the kids that we would go back to Disneyland (in California) before Lily’s graduation, so we had that planned for March. Two weeks later, she was scheduled to go to Disney World (in Florida) with her school choir. And then in May she was going to New York with her theater group. Over the summer, was our long-awaited Mediterranean cruise! I had never traveled across the ocean before, and Owen was so excited to try “real” Italian pizza. We were also scheduled to make a side trip through England on the way home. And Owen had been excited for almost a whole year to go back to Camp Woodward over the summer – he had talked about it non-stop since his week there the summer before. And we were going to ring in New Years at Universal Orlando. Well, of course every one of these adventures fell victim to the pandemic, one by one. We tried to reschedule Disneyland a couple of times, thinking maybe they would be able to open back up by summer, and then by fall, but those both got canceled as well. And our favorite summer weekend hangout, WaterWorld didn’t open at all, so summer was looking especially bleak. 

By early June I was feeling so restless, I thought surely there was some kind of vacation we could pull off. We had lost so much, and been through so much, we just needed some kind of light at the end of the tunnel to look forward to. So, at a loss for other ideas, I planned a beach vacation to Sandestin, FL. We hadn’t been there since shortly after we were married, and thought it would be fun to show the kids. We were still not up for any type of strenuous or stressful adventure, and this seemed like the perfect way to relax, and easily stay away from crowds. 

The weekend before we were scheduled to leave, we came back up to our condo in Keystone. It was the first time we had stayed the night there since before getting sick. The boys brought their bikes – Brian finally feeling like maybe he was up to a couple of hours at the Frisco bike park. Lily and I dropped them off on Sunday morning, and headed to Target in nearby Silverthorne, as we had lots of shopping to get done, to prepare for our trip in just 6 days. We gathered up all the usual beach necessities, and were almost done checking out when my phone rang. It was Brian’s phone, so I assumed he was letting us know they were done. I handed it to Lily, and told her to talk to her dad while I finished and paid. But the conversation, from the end I was hearing, started out so strange. She was telling someone “No, this is her daughter, do you need to speak to her?”. And I laughed a little at her being so formal with her dad. As she handed the phone to me, with a slight panicked look, she said it wasn’t him, it was “some lady”. 

And my heart sank. There could only be one reason for a stranger to be calling me from his phone. I could barely remember the conversation, even right afterwards. It was like suddenly the lights were too bright and the sounds were too loud and everything was happening so fast. I was trying to follow what she was saying but it was like the air was suddenly buzzing and I couldn’t focus. Something about a bike crash. He had hit his head. He was in the ambulance already, still unconscious. But she was a fourth grade teacher (Owen had just finished fourth grade) and she assured me she would stay with him until I could get there. The drive from Silverthorne to Frisco of course never felt so long. I had no details on what had happened or what his injuries were, just that I needed to get there as soon as humanly possible. We could see the ambulance in the parking lot from the highway, but by the time we worked our way down there, they had already left for the hospital.

I collected Owen, and both of their bikes, and tried to convey to the nice lady and her family how grateful we were for their help. I wish I had more time to thank them, but we were obviously in a hurry to get to the hospital and check on Brian. Luckily, the only hospital in all of Summit County is directly across the street from the Frisco Bike Park, so we were there in a few minutes. I had actually been well aware of its location for some time – having somehow suspected in the back of my mind that we would end up here eventually. Of course, my assumption was that it would be for Owen, after one of his crazy ski tricks gone awry. But it had felt inevitable, one way or another. 

At first they weren’t going to let me go back to see him (COVID rules) but for some reason changed their mind and said I could go, though the kids had to stay in the waiting room. I was glad to see when I got back that he was starting to wake up. Still very groggy and disoriented. He just kept repeating the same things over and over  – that he must have crashed, and asking where Owen was. And thought that it was still March. He was convinced that Owen must be in another bed in the hospital, and I had to assure him at least a dozen times that he was the only one that crashed. Initial scans showed that he had a broken collarbone, and a brain bleed. They said they were not equipped to deal with the brain bleed there if it continued, and would have to send him to Denver. But they were hopeful that it would stop on its own in a few hours, so we just had to wait and see. It was especially concerning for him to have internal bleeding because he is on blood thinners, so they were being very cautious.

Deciding that he was stable enough to be left, I took the kids home so that they weren’t stuck in the waiting room, then came back. He slowly gained more awareness, but still had no memory of the crash. Just knew that he was attempting a jump, and felt a little unsteady as he was coming down to land. And then woke up in the hospital. 

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Fortunately, a second scan later that evening showed that the brain bleed had stopped on its own, so he was discharged and told to follow up with his doctor at home. So, having spent one single night in our condo, we were once again in the position of rather hurriedly packing everything to go home unexpectedly early. Over the next few days, we began to heavily question the wisdom of our planned beach vacation. It had already seemed a little risky and irresponsible to be getting on a plane to fly across the country. And now we had the compounding factor of his concussion to worry about. His doctor was actually in favor of him going – thinking the relaxation and forced time off work would do him good. But we read so many horror stories of people trying to fly while recovering from concussions. And we still weren’t even feeling 100% after being sick for so long. By Wednesday, we had to make the call that it just wasn’t worth the risk, and cancel yet another trip. Sigh – another one bites the dust. 

We had both taken the week off work already, so I was still determined that we were going to make something of it. Some quick research led to a whole new plan overnight (literally, I couldn’t sleep from worrying about it and got up at 1am to figure everything out, lol!) We spent the first part of the week in town, enjoying some of the local attractions that had recently opened up. We went to the city pool, Butterfly Pavilion, Aquarium, and the Denver Zoo.

 

Then we drove up to Glenwood Hot Springs to spend a few days soaking in the naturally warm waters. We even rented a cabana one day and spoiled ourselves rotten, lounging about and being lazy.

While in town, we also took the gondola up to the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. The kids rode a few rides, and we did a cave tour. We had done the same one many years ago, but Owen was too young to remember the first time. We drove to Aspen to hike a short loop at Maroon Bells (and just happened to get there in time for a private, guided hike by a naturalist).

 

On the way home, we stopped by Georgetown to ride the famed Georgetown Loop Railroad, and then spent the last night back at our condo in Keystone. So, we were able to pack a lot into a few days, but also managed our pace well and respected the fact that we were both still recovering, from multiple issues now. So, there was also a lot of rest time in the hotel room too. 

As soon as we got back, Lily started a summer job, working at Sonic. My school had also decided to start bringing us back in person – starting at first with only the teachers. On our first day back, I remember being more scared and nervous than I had been on my first day when I started the job. At this point I had been teaching remotely for more weeks than I had been in the building. I had no idea how this was going to work, or what to expect. But we all slowly began to adjust to a new normal, and within a few more weeks, we had our first kids coming back into the building. It was so good to see life in there again – to hear their laughs and squabbles, to watch them chase each other down the hall. (While we constantly yelled at them to pull up their masks and stay 6 feet apart, lol)

We started routinely going back to the condo every weekend for the summer. And quickly fell in love with A-Basin as our own summer playground. The boys had always loved skiing there, but perhaps we hadn’t appreciated its appeal in the warmer months enough until now. We could take the Black Mountain Express chair lift part of the way up the mountain if we wanted (or hike that section, which was beautiful as well), and then hike further all the way to the top. We did some variation of hiking the mountain every weekend. The scenery never changed, but we never tired of it.

There was a peace that we seemed to find there, that alluded us anywhere else. And a comfort that came with the familiarity of it all. A true haven in the midst of an otherwise crummy year. It was never crowded, and knowing that a tasty hot lunch was awaiting us at 6th Alley (the restaurant in the base area) after our hike always helped to combat fatigue and sore feet. It was the one place that we still felt safe eating out – we would mostly have the dining room to ourselves, and the staff got to know us as well.

It was a different experience up here this summer – the lodge connected to our building was closed, so no evenings in the hot tub. And Keystone didn’t open it’s downhill mountain biking park, much to Owen’s disappointment. But we were grateful to have the escape every weekend regardless. And came to really enjoy laid-back days just soaking in the view from our balcony. 

As mentioned earlier, Lily had been accepted to Johnson & Wales University in Denver, and near the end of June she took her placement test and got to select her dorm room. It was starting to feel more real- she was really going to be moving out in a couple of months! Or… maybe not. A week after she selected her room, I got an email announcing that they had decided to close the Denver campus, and would not be accepting a freshman class afterall. She was devastated. They encouraged accepted students to transfer their enrollment to either the Charlotte or Providence campus, but it would take a few days of soul-searching, and general re-searching, for her to decide what she wanted to do. She had no interest in any other schools in Colorado. And the application deadline for most other schools had passed anyway.

So, Providence it was! We had thought she would be moving to a dorm room in Denver the next month, now she was moving across the country. At 16 years old. Where we knew exactly no one. During a pandemic. I had never even been to Rhode Island, and of course there would be no option to visit or tour the campus first. As if this whole thing wasn’t already logistically hard enough, I had a slight emergency with my toe a few days before we left and had to have a minor procedure done- leaving me hobbling around in a surgical boot for the whole trip! 

She and I flew to Providence with as much of her stuff as we could fit in the maximum allowed checked baggage, and spent two days there finding pretty much every Target and Walmart within driving distance to gather up everything else I thought she might need. This had all happened so fast, and we didn’t even know much about the dorm or building she was moving into, so planning and shopping involved a lot of guesswork. But she doesn’t drive, and being in the middle of downtown, I knew her options for “normal shopping” might be limited, so I was determined not to forget anything. 

On move-in day, she was assigned a one-hour time slot in which we could haul all of her stuff in, and then I would be kicked out. And we had managed to completely fill the rented mini-van. Oh, and this was the ONE day of the whole trip that it poured rain. So I had to attempt to balance each load on the roller cart with an umbrella over it. Keeping myself dry was not a consideration. I obviously wasn’t able to help her with any set-up or unpacking, as it took every bit of our allowed hour together just to get the van unloaded. So, as introduction to adulthood, she would have to face that alone. 

Flying home alone the next day was surreal. I hadn’t flown without kids since having kids. I didn’t quite know what to do with myself, lol! The first few weeks were a bit of a roller coaster for her as she learned to navigate a whole new life on her own, but she ended up settling in well and making some really good friends. They even got out and explored the city and surrounding areas a bit. She also  ran for, and won, a seat on the SGA. And the school was able to keep everyone on campus until Thanksgiving (which was the original plan) with no major COVID outbreaks. So I’m counting this adventure as a win!

Back home, we began adjusting to life as a family of 3. I had always promised Owen that once Lily moved out, he could have her room, which was much larger than his. So, the transition was immediately underway. But, was far more tedious and time consuming than I could have imagined. So much cleaning out. And furniture to move. And walls to paint.  Maybe I’m getting old. This stuff isn’t as easy as it used to be! But after a couple of months, we finally had two “new” bedrooms settled upstairs. Lily’s old purple room had turned blue for Owen, and we turned his green room pink for her, when she did come home for break. 

Owen’s school had made a rather last minute decision to start completely online, after having initially announced a hybrid, in-person/remote model. He was understandably bummed, and it was even worse that on the newly modified calendar, the first day of school fell on his birthday. He did get to celebrate that afternoon with a few friends, and a custom-made Mount Everest cake. I was worried when he requested it, but after the year he had been through, I knew I had to make it happen, so I found a local bakery that was up to the task.

We felt very fortunate these last few months that he has so many friends in our neighborhood. It was a lonely few months, but made tolerable by the fact that he could head out on his bike or scooter in the afternoon, and more often than not, find someone to hang out with. He will spend hours at a time now, out roaming the neighborhood with friends. We’ve been tempted to look at moving to some of the newer developments in town (and have even considered moving to Keystone full-time), but this is the primary reason we always decide against it. With no in-person school, and all extra-curriculars and sports cancelled, not having neighborhood friends would be unbearable for him. 

Sometime in the middle of summer, we were very glad to see that the NBA actually re-started the suspended season – at Walt Disney World, of all places! Like the marriage of my two favorite things, lol. We were so glad to be able watch games again into the fall – it was something to break up the monotony, and gave us a little bit of “normal” back on so many nights. Although in the end, our Nuggets were taken out by the Lakers in the conference finals. The Lakers would go on to win the championship. They’ve always been my least favorite team, but I found myself rooting for them eventually- after losing Kobe Bryant in the tragedy at the beginning of the year, it felt right that they won it this year, of all years.

As we headed into fall, my work schedule began to pick up again. It had been a little thin over the summer. But with most public schools remaining online, there was suddenly an influx of parents looking for something different for their kids, and willing to pay for the privilege. So our numbers skyrocketed. And our building was not even close to being big enough. Classes were happening in the hallway, the front lobby, the kitchen, and even outside. More space next door was promised to us eventually, but probably not until the second semester. We would have to make do until then. But hey – job security, right?? My boss couldn’t even hire new teachers fast enough.

Throughout the late summer and fall, Colorado had unfortunately been plagued by wildfires. The smoke was so thick in town most days that it was unpleasant to be outside. It seemed like salt in the wound, on a year when all indoor fun had been canceled, to take away our opportunity for solace outdoors as well. 2020 – the year that kicks you when you’re down.  The two largest fires in state history were both burning in October, at the same time, only a few miles apart. We did make it up to Estes Park one weekend while the fires were still a bit further away, to spend an afternoon with Brian’s family. Two weeks later, Estes was evacuated.

(Image above from Denver Post)

An then of course, election season was upon us. And in typical 2020 fashion, that couldn’t pass without more than its fair share of drama either. I am not generally much of a political person in my daily life, and I’m not going to go on a long political rant here, but I’m also not gonna lie. I lost sleep many nights worrying that our country had seen the end of democracy. The fear that we were actually going to be taken over by an overgrown toddler wanting to play dictator was very real. And it was sickening to me how many people in our country seemed to be completely okay with this idea. I understand the desire to be on the winning side, but it would never be more important to me than the very ideals our country was founded upon. Fortunately, good sense seems to be winning out and I am cautiously optimistic that there will be a much needed administration change in January.

Near the end of October, Owen’s school allowed the kids to come back in person, and it was very good for him to get out of the house and get more time with his friends. Unfortunately, it didn’t last, and by mid November, they were all back online again. Remote learning has been very hard on him. Honestly, he’s not exactly the “academic type” like Lily always was, he’d much rather be skiing or playing Fortnite on the Nintendo.  Being stuck at home in a room by himself behind a computer screen makes it nearly impossible for him to focus and be successful.

“School” is definitely the most dreaded word in his vocabulary right now. And the emails from his teacher just keep coming. This assignment is missing, he failed that one. Or just didn’t show up to class this afternoon. Sigh.  I really hope they are able to go back into the building after break. At his (virtual) parent-teacher conference this fall, his teacher seemed surprised to read on his letter that his favorite subjects were “recess, lunch, and PE.” I guess that’s not really what she was expecting from that question, lol! But it’s been his answer for years. And online school takes away all 3 of those things. Poor kid.

We did manage to find some fun in the fall, though. We spent an afternoon at Anderson Farms. In years past Google had always hosted the family picnic day here – so of course our limited time here didn’t compare to that. But it was nice to get out anyway, and we even got lucky with a relatively smoke-free day, which was rare at the time. Owen had also been spending a lot of time at the skate park on his scooter, and Brian and I spent a day together at the Denver Zoo.

I haven’t mentioned it too much in this story recently, but my rheumatoid arthritis had continued to be a major problem throughout much of the year. Simple tasks were maddeningly difficult, and everything always hurt. The new med I started over the summer, which my doctor had thought  was very promising, had still not begun to help. I was warned it could be 3-4 months before full effectiveness, but after more than 3 months, I had no relief at all. And was still completely dependent on steroids. Which of course, came with their own set of side effects, which were often miserable enough that I had to stop taking them for days or weeks at a time. We even tried a new steroid, but it was no better. It was frustrating. And discouraging. And on more than one occasion  I let myself fall into a well of self-pity over the issue. When the meds that always worked before suddenly don’t, and then the new (supposedly “better”) stuff also doesn’t work, you have to start to wonder if this is just it. Maybe my body had changed in so fundamental a way that modern medicine simply wasn’t going to be able to help me. And I was going to be doomed to live with this level of misery forever.

So there were many evenings and whole weekends spent lying on the couch, feeling sorry for myself, and worrying that this was simply my future. I specifically remember Halloween night. I was in far too much pain to go out with Owen at all, and was actually grateful that everyone was setting up tables in their driveway this year for the kids to help themselves to candy, as there was no way I could have been up and down off the couch to answer the door multiple times. But it was a rough evening for me, and I felt like it was a sign of all the fun I was going to be missing out on from now on. I can’t say for certain, of course, but I do blame getting sick. It just seems like too much of a coincidence that I wasn’t having any trouble before then, and haven’t been able to find a solution since. I’ve recently started yet another med, and am actually seeing maybe-possibly-hopefully promising results. But it’s too early to really know just yet.

In late November, the ski resorts cautiously began to open. It had not been a good snow-year so far, and with the pandemic in full swing, it was hardly the celebration we were used to. But, the boys enjoyed getting out on the slopes a few times, anyway. I had already purchased a pass for both Keystone and A-Basin, having had to commit back in the summer before I realized how drawn out my RA battle was going to be. I haven’t been able to ski yet, but I haven’t given up hope. The seasons is still young. Hopefully it doesn’t get shut down by the pandemic before my joints decide to cooperate.

Lily returned home from Providence the weekend before Thanksgiving, having successfully managed her first solo flying adventure. And she even had a long layover in Chicago to navigate on her own! We had initially planned to spend Thanksgiving with Brian’s mom, but in the weeks before, Colorado’s COVID cases had skyrocketed, and out of an abundance of caution, we decided to forgo those plans and we brought her some prepared food instead, and visited for a few minutes outside when dropping it off. We also visited with both sides of the family over Zoom. During the call with Brian’s family, we had a minor disaster with the turkey and they got to listen to our smoke alarm going off, and general chaos of us shouting in the background, lol. Lily was a great help in the kitchen though. It was another rough RA day for me, and I wouldn’t have been able to do much without her.

Every year, our favorite holiday tradition is going to the Blossoms of Light at the Denver Botanic Garden. Fortunately, they were still able to hold the event this year, with a few modifications. I did miss being able to walk around sipping my hot apple cider, but was still so glad that we got to go. In a year when so much has been lost, our standards have become much lower. In previous years, having to make the concessions we do now would have caused great annoyance. Now, we are glad for whatever fun we can get, however we can get it.

Our plans for Christmas are still to visit my family in Florida. I recognize that this will not be a popular choice with many. But at the end of the day, I have to make a gut-call on the right thing to do. And this feels like the right thing to do. We will be as careful as possible, of course. But at some point, life can’t be put on hold forever. Because we simply don’t have forever.

As the year is nearing its end, everyone is collectively wishing 2020 out the door. I can only hope that 2021 is a relief. If this year has taught us anything, it should probably be that things can always get worse. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer for how to “fix” things. States go back and forth on restrictions, shutdown, etc. Some say it’s not enough, some say it’s too much. And I can honestly see both sides. I can promise you that this virus is real, and very contagious, and scary. And taking precautions to mitigate it, even if it means some slight inconvenience, is absolutely worth it. (Yes, looking at YOU, anti-maskers. Stop being a selfish ass and put the damn thing on. I promise its not that hard. I have to wear one all day.)

On the other hand, I can’t help but wonder what other harm we do with such severe shutdowns. There will surely be long-lasting and possibly devastating effects to the well-being of so many that can be traced back to having lost so much of their livelihoods this year. We already know mental health is deteriorating, and physical health may follow with the loss of jobs, insurance, and ability to stay active.

We are in the questionable position of possibly having some immunity, but certainly nothing is guaranteed. Even assuming that we did have the virus in the spring, long-term antibodies are not well understood, and there have been documented cases of re-infection. So we have to operate under the assumption that we could still get sick, and/or spread it again. We are tired of pandemic life. We want things back to normal. But we also know that caution is necessary. The best we can hope for right now is to strike a balance. And hope to goodness that the vaccines work, and that people aren’t too stubborn to take them. We WANT to be done with this thing, folks! Why people insist on trusting a random meme on the internet over the expertise of thousands of scientists who have dedicated their entire career to solving exactly this problem is beyond me.

Things are definitely different than they were a year ago. In fact, our life is practically unrecognizable. Brian and Owen are stuck working and schooling at home (which they both hate, the loneliness is real). Lily is currently home for break, but will presumably be headed back to Rhode Island next month (definitely wouldn’t have seen that coming last December, lol!) And I have found my way back into a career field I thought I had long left behind.

Our daily life is slower now. We don’t eat out. We don’t go to movies or shows. Shopping is only for necessity. Without the mad schedule of practices, lessons, and rehearsals filling the afternoons, I usually change in my pajamas as soon as I get home at 4pm. In some ways, I have been grateful, as I’m still not convinced I would have the endurance to manage what we did before. But I miss it too. I miss how full of “life” life used to be. Now, most days seem the same as the one before. And it all blurs together.

I wonder if we will ever go back to “normal”. How much will have simply been lost or changed by the time we declare this mess over? I know there has been some sentiment that we shouldn’t go back to normal, that this was a wake-up call for change. But I have to say, our “normal” a year ago was pretty damn good. And if we get it back, I will be eternally grateful.

Hopefully in a few years, much of this year will seem like a distant memory. And hopefully, at that point I can be proud of how well we pulled through, and managed to find joy even when it was in short supply.

So my wish for 2021 is simple. More joy. Less bad news. May it be so!

 

Disney World – December 2018

Full Photo Album – Click here!

Day 1 – Arrival & Disney Springs (Wed, Dec. 26)

We made it to our hotel (Wyndham in Disney Springs) right around 3pm, and got checked into our room. We changed our hotel plans for the first part of the trip several times, but finally settled on this because I had enough Wyndham points to get all 4 nights free. Can’t beat that! And it was an easy walk to Disney Disney Springs.

Brian, Owen and I went to the pool almost immediately. It was rather cool, and very windy, so we spent most of our time in the hot tub, though Owen swam in the pool quite a bit too. It was nice to have the chance to relax after several tedious hours in the car.

Our plans for the night involved dinner in Disney Springs. Brian and I were having a “date night” while they kids were going to explore on their own.

We split off from the kids once we were in Disney Springs, and were still a little early for our dinner reservation at Terralina Italian Kitchen, so we wandered around, stopping occasionally to watch some of the groups performing in various areas. We also saw one of the amphicars take off. Brian was a little amazed at the atmosphere here – he hasn’t spent much time at Disney Springs, and probably never at night. I think he thought it was just a place to shop, and was very impressed that that it felt more like a big party.

We checked in at the restaurant, but had a to wait a bit for our table. Once seated, it went well though. Our server was friendly and the food good. At first, they said that my eggplant parmesan had been burned and it was going to take 20 minutes to make another, but less than a minute later it showed up, not burned at all!

We walked around some more after dinner, and stopped for another round of drinks at the Paradiso bar. Brian danced a little at one of the dance parties going on near the entrance, and we walked through the Christmas Tree trail. Oh, and we watched the volcano at Rainforest Cafe erupt. We were so close I could feel the heat from the flames!

I had been checking the map, and it looked like the kids were back at the room already, so we headed back as well. They had fared okay – Owen bought a keychain and I think Lily got some makeup from Sephora. And they had pretzels for dinner – lovely, lol! Oh, and Owen lost a tooth while they were out! I didn’t even know that he had a loose one. I had to warn him that the tooth fairy might need a little extra time, being that we were so far from home and it happened so late in the day, ha! But we were all in bed at a mostly reasonable hour, ready for our first park day in the morning.

I have to tell the funny story that happened right before bed – Owen was asking about what we were doing tomorrow, and I just mentioned that we were going to Animal Kingdom. To my great horror, he replied, “What’s Animal Kingdom?” ?!?!?!?!?!? How could he not know what Animal Kingdom is??? We are a “Disney Family”. We go to Disney World “all the time”, according to my parents, and pretty much anyone who knows us, lol! Weren’t we just there a couple of years ago? Well… actually…..no. We didn’t do AK last time. In fact, I realized that we hadn’t been there since 2014, 4 years ago. No, closer to 5 years ago, since it was in March. So he was only 3. No wonder her doesn’t remember. And then… Oh YES. I remember that trip. It was the one where he threw a 2 hour screaming fit about leaving the Boneyard and almost ruined our whole day. That felt like so long ago. He’s always so “chill” now, it’s hard to imagine him ever being capable of such a thing. But I felt like we had failed him a little, since he acted now like he had never even heard of it. Oh well, “first times” are always fun, and apparently this might as well be his!

Day 2 – Animal Kingdom (Thur, Dec 27)

We had decided that we were not going to do any early mornings on this trip, so we didn’t start getting ready until well after 8am. The timing worked out well though, because Earl of Sandwich, just across the street in Disney Springs, opened at 9am, and we were there shortly after that. It’s one of my favorite places to eat breakfast- I had gotten spoiled last year at Disneyland having one right next to our hotel. So it was a quick and uneventful meal, and we made it back in time to catch the 10:00 bus from the hotel. (They only run on the half-hour).

Last time we were at AK, our magic bands hadn’t worked, and we wasted over 30 minutes in guest services trying to resolve it. We never really did, but they had worked for the rest of the trip. So I was nervous that it was just something about their scanners that didn’t like us. Sure enough, my new Figment MB that I had specifically ordered for the trip, turned the Mickey head blue (instead of green) and the CM said there was nothing linked to it. (Same result we got last time). But, everyone else’s MB worked, so I tried my other MB (which fortunately I brought with me) and it worked fine. Well, I was bummed my special band didn’t work, but at least we were in with no other hiccups this time. Except that, Owen’s admission hadn’t been taken from the ticket I was hoping for, so that was something we would have to sort out later in the trip. Not a problem for now, though.

We had some time before our Everest Fastpass, so we took our time, wandering through some of the animals near the front. We went through Dinoland and rode Primeval Whirl – one of the few rides in all of Disney that I had never done. The wait was posted at 50 minutes, but it was less than 30.

Owen had never ridden Everest before, and he’s a total adrenaline junkie, so he was bouncing with excitement all the way there. The FP line was so long that it was spilling out into the walkway, and they had CMs managing it with ropes and signs. It moved quickly though, the total wait couldn’t have been more than maybe 10 minutes. Owen loved it of course, and was really wishing we could go again. But the standby wait was nearly 2 hours- not gonna happen!

We spent some time exploring the Pangani trails- saw lots of cool monkeys, bats, birds, and even got a good look at the tiger.

We had all been excited to see Pandora for the first time.  We even rewatched the movie recently so we could truly appreciate it. And of course it did not disappoint! Definitely one of the best themed areas I’ve seen in a park.

We slowly made our way around, stopping for lots of pictures and general exclamations of “Oh wow, look at THAT!” But we were also hungry, and finally found Satu’li Canteen. We had tried to put in a mobile order earlier, but couldn’t get the app to work. Luckily, and somewhat surprisingly, it wasn’t busy, so it ended up not mattering. We haven’t typically eaten a lot of counter service, but all enjoyed this one.

By the time we were done, it was time for our Flight of Passage FP! The standby wait was 240 minutes. As cool as it is, I just can’t imagine anything being worth that. That’s 4 hours!!! We we’re on in about 15 minutes, though. And it’s definitely a really cool ride. Maybe not quite my very favorite ride anywhere, but in the top 5 for sure.

We wandered around Pandora for a little longer after the ride, and agreed that we needed to come back to see it after dark.

Almost everything in the park had 1-2 hour waits by now, so we killed some time by watching It’s Tough to be a Bug, and the Up show. They were both entertaining, but still mostly just a time-filler.

Finally, it was time for our Dinosaur FP. This is one of Brian’s favorites, and another first for Owen. Of course he loved it, and he picked out a large rubber Stegosaurus in the shop at the end. He named him Steggyplater, and despite his size, he remained in Owen’s arms for the rest of the night (and much of the rest of the trip, lol!)

The night took a frustrating turn next, when we headed toward the theater for Rivers of Light. We were actually very close to the entrance when we came off of Dinosaur, but there were no signs indicating that, and the map made it look like the entrance was on the other side of the lake. We ended up making more than a full circle around it before finally finding our way in! At least there were still spots, but it was filling fast, with still an hour before showtime.

Overall, I thought it was a neat thing to see once, but wasn’t impressed enough to feel the need to see it again. We all thought it really needs some real actors/singers instead of being purely animatronic.

We still had a little time before dinner, so headed back into Dinoland for a ride on Triceratops Spin. Afterwards, coming over the bridge, Lily spotted something really cool. In the dark trees along the river, we could just barely make out lots of glowing white balls. Closer inspection revealed them to be birds, nesting for the night! (Not a bird person myself, so I couldn’t tell you what kind, but they were big.) We admired them for a while and tried to get some pictures.

As we came by the Tree of Life, it was lit up in all colors, making for another fun photo stop. We were all enjoying trying out the night-mode on our phone cameras.

We sadly hadn’t been able to do the Safari ride, but Brian wanted to at least show Owen the Africa area, so we walked around a bit, but most of it was too dark to see much. It will have to be a priority for next time.

We were still a little early for our Yak&Yeti reservation, but checked in anyway, and were seated within just a few minutes. The Lo Mein here is one of my favorite dishes anywhere, though I realized it was very similar to what I had for lunch in Pandora. It would become a running joke throughout the week that I ended up eating Asian noodles for dinner every night. Somehow I didn’t realize that was going to happen when I planned our ADRs! Oh well, life of a vegetarian at WDW, I guess!

After dinner, the park was still open for almost another hour, so we went back to Pandora. We had been impressed earlier, but were completely mesmerized by everything lit up in the dark! It was absolutely beautiful. Na’vi River Journey was showing a 70 minute wait, but being within the last hour before close, I suspected that time was inflated at least a little, so we decided to go for it. It only ended up being about 40, and while not as thrilling as FoP, was still neat to see. Brian actually said he liked it better, but he’s not a fan of the screen-based rides.

So it was a good way to end the night. Getting the bus back to the hotel would end up being tedious and frustrating, and that trend unfortunately continued throughout the week. But, overall we had a great first day with no major issues, and had done at least as much as we were hoping for.

Day 3 – Hollywood Studios (Fri, Dec 28)

Today we were headed to Hollywood Studios! We were a little later getting going, having not gotten back to the room until after 11pm last night. We had breakfast at the hotel buffet, and I think we ended up being on the 10:30am bus. We stopped by a couple more hotels, then by Epcot, so it was well after 11am before we arrived at the park. (The bus was definitely not my favorite thing about it our hotel.)

We had been talking on the way there about our plans, and had decided to go to the Star Wars Launch Bay first. But there was a Star Wars stage show starting as we came in that Brian wanted to watch, so he stayed behind while the kids and I went on to Launch Bay. I hadn’t been to the one here, but in DisneyLand, it’s like a whole Star Wars museum. Apparently this one is mostly just the character m&gs and a short movie. So, I talked the kids into meeting BB-8 since we were there anyway. And we saw several storm troopers patrolling, which Owen enjoyed. He’s always too shy to interact with any of the characters, though.

The outdoor show that Brian was watching was just finishing when we came back out to meet him, and we got to see Darth Vader and more storm troopers march by us to leave the stage. Now that we were all in a Star Wars mood, it was time for our Star Tours FP! This is always one of my favorites, and it’s fun to see which scenes we will get. Today it was the Wookie planet (which I seem to get at least half the time, but really like) and Coruscant, which I don’t think I have seen before. And we got the front row! Strangely enough, a couple tried to tell us as we were getting off that the front row was terrible, that you needed to be in the second or third. Maybe true… Unless you end up with a large head in front of you! I’ll take the front whenever I can get it – short person problems, lol!

Brian really wanted to see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid (I always give him a hard time about liking that one so much, lol) and after a 40 minute wait, we just barely made it into a show. Not the greatest seats, way on the far edge, but at least we didn’t have to wait another 20 minutes for the next one.

We still had some time to kill before our next FPs, so we walked over to see the new Toy Story land. As expected, it was mass chaos! The traffic control just getting people in and out of there was a major undertaking (I counted at least 20 CMs on the pathways just directing traffic), and the line for Slinky Dog was snaked all the around the entire land, with a posted wait of 180 minutes. The swirling saucers were, by comparison, much more reasonable at a 90 minute wait, but obviously we weren’t going to do either. It was fun to see, but overall I wasn’t nearly as impressed with the theming here as I had been in Pandora.

Finally, it was time for our Tower of Terror FP! This is the only ride that still had Owen a little nervous. He had absolutely loved the remade Guardians of the Galaxy version at DL, but the creepy-factor in the theming here gave him pause. Again, the FP line was longer than I’ve ever seen it, so out of control that they moved us into switchbacks in a backstage area behind the ride. But also again, it moved very quickly and our wait wasn’t long at all. I guess when the FP line gets long, it’s only the standby waiters that suffer, because they must stop letting them go at all for a while.

I have to mention the family I saw in the line near us. They were with a VIP tour guide, and the mom and 2 kids were wearing personalized “Best Day Ever” shirts. The dad’s shirt, at first glance looked similar, but actually said “Most Expensive Day Ever”. I got a good chuckle out of that. I’ve seen what they charge for those guides, his shirt was almost certainly right, lol! I actually saw far more matching/personalized shirts on this trip than ever before, that must really be becoming a thing. Pretty sure my family would revolt if I tried to insist on that!

So, you can probably guess that Owen ended up loving the ride. In fact, in the middle of the very first drop, he started screaming about how much he loved it, and didn’t stop until it was done. And was sad we couldn’t go again. I guess there really is nothing that can scare him now. It IS a really fun ride, so I can’t blame him.

The next Beauty and the Beast show already had a line forming, an hour before showtime, so we jumped in it. Yes, another of Brian’s must-dos. He has to see his princesses! We brought some snacks in with us, and the wait passed easily enough. The show was good, as always, but Owen was ready to ride something!

Luckily for him, it was time for our Rockin’ Roller Coaster FP! Another 3 hour standby wait, but our FP got us right in. I knew he would love this one and was not wrong. He was bouncing up and down afterwards from the adrenaline rush. It’s a fun coaster, but a little rougher on my head than I would like.

We had just enough time afterwards to see Muppetvision! I love the Muppets, and I don’t know if it’s just been too long since I’ve seen the show, or if they’ve changed it, but I didn’t remember seeing most of it before.

We had dinner reservations at Brown Derby. We checked in quite early and were told that we would be seated closer to our reservation time, but were called just a couple minutes later. That must be a form response they give when you check in early, because it happened this way at almost every meal.

The meal was fine- BD is Brian’s favorite so we have to eat here every time, but it’s just okay to me. Owen was so tired during dinner, I wondered if we would be able to stay for fireworks after all. But he livened up quite a bit after getting some food.

After dinner, we went back to the Launch Bay to watch the movie (mostly promotional stuff about Star Wars land), and talked the kids into meeting Chewbacca and Kylo Ren with us. Owen thoroughly identifies as Dark Side, but was still rather intimidated by Kylo Ren, especially since he was personally directing each of us to stand in a very specific formation – he must be a bit of a perfectionist! I was even a little scared when he forcefully pointed at me and indicated that he was not happy at my ability to follow directions, lol! it was funny to watch. Oh, and we passed time in line taking silly pictures and selfies. The boys especially liked seeing how goofy a face they could make.

We were feeling a little tired by now, and decided to go ahead and camp out in a spot for Jingle Bell Jingle BAM. Oh, I think there may have been some ice cream involved on the way over, but I have no photographic evidence of such 🙂 Still over an hour until the show, but the good spots were going fast anyway. There was still room just in front of a designated walkway, and we had plenty of space to stretch out. I actually laid down for a while and almost fell asleep, using my backpack as a pillow. The CMs were in full crowd control mode, and had someone stationed every few yards. Ours was a really funny guy that entertained us with jokes and trivia.

The show finally started and I was glad we stayed- it was really neat and we had a pretty decent view. Lots of lasers and projections on the theater of clips from almost every movie I can think of (including about a 2-second blip of Dr. Strange, my favorite! They never have anything about him in the parks.) And the fireworks were amazing, as always.

As always, getting back to the hotel was not fun. I don’t think we’ll stay at Disney Springs again without a car, but I guess you do usually get what you pay for, and we hadn’t paid anything for the room, so…

But another good day! So far we were managing the crowds, not getting to “do” as much as we are used to from previous trips, but not letting it get us down either. Oh, and I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but the weather was almost perfect. If anything, a little warmer than I would have liked (low/mid 80s most days) but not nearly as hot as when we’ve come in the summer. And we never saw a drop of rain. I think the week before was cold and rainy every day, so we got lucky.

Day 4 – Epcot (Sat, Dec 29)

Today is Epcot, my favorite! We just grabbed a quick breakfast of cereal and fruit in the hotel lobby, knowing we would want to snack heavily in the World Showcase later. We had somehow gotten going early today, and even after breakfast made the 9:30am bus. Of course, my always-do-rope-drop persona that had dominated our previous trips would have cringed at this, but the night-owl strategy was working well for us this time.

We went to Figment first, as we didn’t have a FP for it, and it was only showing a 25 minute wait. Could that be a sign that Epcot wasn’t going to be as crowded as the other parks had been?? It was definitely the first time in this trip that I saw a standby wait that low.

We went back to Spaceship Earth for our FP, and maybe all the crowds were there, because the standby line was wrapped all around the outside of the building, in multiple switchbacks. There is so much nostalgia for me on this ride. It’s one of the few things at Disney that hasn’t changed at all since I was a kid, and I hope it never does.

After a quick stop for a pretzel snack, we were headed to our next fastpass at Test Track. This has been Owen’s favorite for a long time. The boys, of course, designed a high-performance sports car, while I let Lily take charge of ours, and she made a cute pink car with flowers on it, lol! The boys’ fast car won first place for speed and ours was second in efficiency. Not too bad. Afterwards, we explored some of the games and activities and did the photo-booth.

I had managed to stack our fastpasses pretty well this morning, and it was already time for our Mission Space FP! Last time we only let Owen do the tamer “green” version, but he was convinced now that he was ready for the more intense “orange” training. I’ve done that one a couple of times, and it always makes me feel like I can’t breathe.

Unfortunately, once we were all strapped into our pod, we got delayed because of a medical issue that had happened nearby. The CM came by after a few minutes and let us out of our harnesses at least, and we hung out in our pod for another 15 minutes. At least we were sitting down for the delay, and Owen had fun playing with all the buttons on the dashboard. It was also during this time that I managed to score a Soarin’ FP for later, after refreshing the screen about 50 times! I had heard that strategy worked, and I had pretty good luck with it both here and at MK. We finally got the all clear to launch, and it probably goes without saying by now, that Owen loved it. And I didn’t pass out, at least. On the way out, we passed the paramedics all hovering over someone on a stretcher – still don’t know what happened but that was obviously the source of our delay.

We were hungry by now, so headed towards the World Showcase, stopping first in Canada. I tried some Icewine, but wasn’t terribly fond of it – too sweet and syrupy. The boys had some type of salmon snack. It was quite warm out by now, one of the few times during the trip when it really felt uncomfortable. And I remembered, at least, why I’ve sworn to never come in the summer again!

In France, we braved the line for the bakery, feeling like we needed something more substantial than was offered in the carts outside. It was chaos, and required patience, but we finally emerged with some drinks and snacks, and found a standing table to eat at. We passed through Morocco and Japan (I think Brian may have gotten a drink from one of them).

While waiting in the lobby for the American Adventure show, we got to hear the Voices of Liberty singing, and Lily was totally awed. Owen however, thought that was the “show’ we were waiting for, and was quite disappointed that he still had to sit through another one, lol! I thought it was really cool though that they had added some new scenes at the end of the video montage since I last saw it.

We trekked all the way back to Future World for our Soarin’ FP. This is one of my very favorite rides, and I hadn’t expected to get to do it today. We saw the new version, Soarin’ Around the World in California last year, but I didn’t know that the Florida version has a different ending – over Disney World (Epcot) for the fireworks instead of Disneyland! I thought that was really neat. I guess it wouldn’t have made sense to do that in the old show, since it was called Soarin’ Over California.

I had already managed to get another FP for Living with the Land, so we went straight to that next. And then got another FP for Seas with Nemo! I was definitely having more luck with fastpasses here than at AK or DHS. On the way to the Seas, we stopped to take some pictures of Spaceship Earth, as it was very pretty now, illuminated against the dark sky. I was also surprised here by how dark they let some of the walkways get. People were using their cell phone flashlights to be able to navigate without stumbling into something!

We explored the tanks a little after riding Nemo, Owen especially liking the manta ray and sea turtle. Headed back towards World Showcase, we happened to catch the Future World fountains doing their choreographed show to music, which Brian always enjoys.

We stopped in Mexico for the 3 Caballeros ride, and Owen was mesmerized by the inside of the Mexico building. Lily always liked this one too when she was younger. In Germany, Lily bought a tiara, that she ended up wearing for the rest of the trip. We made our way around to Japan for our dinner ADR at Tokyo Dining. It was good, of course, and more Asian noodles for me!

When we came out of dinner, around 9:30, I noticed that the park had really started to clear out. We could actually walk without constantly bumping into people! We found a good spot along the lagoon to watch Illuminations, which wasn’t until 10:30 tonight. Luckily, a Denver Nuggets game had just started, and we all sat on the ground huddled around my phone, watching it while we waited. (I doubt anyone else cares, but we won – still 1st in the West!!)

It was probably the best view of Illuminations we’ve ever had, and there were only a few people nearby, so we had plenty of room to move around. With it ending next year, I knew this would be our last chance to see it. I’m sad to see it go, but excited to see what they come up with next.

The bus situation going back was as awful as ever, I was just glad this was the last time we would have to deal with it! Tomorrow, we move to the Contemporary! It did feel like Epcot wasn’t as crowded as the other parks had been. I checked afterwards, and it did end up being a “10” level crowd day, as predicted, but it honestly didn’t feel that bad. Maybe because of its size, Epcot just swallows the crowds better.

Day 5 – Resort Day (Sun, Dec 30)

Today was moving day! We hadn’t gotten back to the room until after midnight, so we just barely got packed and ready to go ahead of the 11am checkout time. I got an alert through the MDE app right as we were leaving that our room at the Contemporary was ready – I had requested an early check-in, but wasn’t expecting it- so this was a nice bonus!

We grabbed an Uber over to the Contemporary, and surprisingly didn’t run into any traffic. We tried to get Bell Services to help with our luggage, but they said they could only store it for now, and deliver it after 3pm. Not wanting to be without it, since we had a room already, we lugged it up there ourselves.

We had been wanting to stay here for many years, and even had a trip planned several times, but it always ended up not working out for one reason or another. So we were all a little giddy to finally be here now. Our room was on the 5th floor, right above the shops below and close to the big windows on the end near MK. I joked that we didn’t even need to go down to the store to pick anything out, we could see everything from right outside our room. We did pick out a few things before our lunch reservation – I was desperately needing a new shirt. Most people come back from vacation realizing that they packed way too many clothes. We had the opposite problem, lol! We must not have done the math, because we were in very low supply by now, despite having done laundry at my parents house right before we left Naples. So I got a new 2019 shirt – technically we were planning to be in the park for the first hour of 2019, so it’s not a lie!

We had lunch at Chef Mickey’s. I hesitated to book this, because no one else really likes character meals besides me. But it almost seemed like sacrilege to stay right there and NOT go. Lily grudgingly agreed to be in the picture with Minnie Mouse, then said no more. But Pluto wasn’t having it, and practically dragged her out of her seat for a hug. And I ended up snapping a really cute picture of them – thanks Pluto! The food was actually good – better than I remembered it being. The only unfortunate thing was that we were seated in one of the few tables that was in the sun (coming in from the large windows on the end of the building) and it was HOT! I was glad at least that we weren’t using this as a mid-day break from the park to get out of the heat – that would not have been effective.

After lunch, the boys were ready to swim, so I went down to the pool with them. We swam, did the waterslide, sat in the hot tub, got drinks, and generally relaxed for a few hours. And the boys played some beach volleyball. Owen made a friend at some point – a girl a few years older than him, and they had fun together doing some of the pool games that were going on all afternoon.

I headed back to the room a little after 4pm and Lily and I did some more shopping and wandering around the resort. I also stopped by the concierge desk to get Owen’s ticket situation arranged, as we only had one more park day to make it work. At first they tried to put me off and told me to deal with it at the gate in the morning, but I know how rushed the CMs there always are, and wasn’t willing to chance that. They ended up being able to handle it pretty easily here, so I don’t know why they were resistant at first.

After the boys came back and we all got ready to head to dinner (at the Poly), we stepped out of our door just as MK fireworks were going off, and we had a great view through the end of the building. A monorail passed by as well during this time, and it reminded me of something you would see in a Disney World commercial. Brian was so excited about it that he posted his first picture of the trip on Facebook 🙂

When we went through security at the Contemporary to get on the monorail, the CM checking our bags asked why we were inside and not out watching the fireworks. I told that we saw a little through the windows, but were seeing them for real tomorrow night. He said we were crazy to join in the madness that would be tomorrow night, and he’s probably right. But we were going to attempt it anyway, lol!

We had planned to get to the Poly early so that we could explore a little. I wanted to find the longhouse we had stayed in on our 2008 trip, and with only a little wandering, we did! It definitely brought back a lot of memories to be here – nothing will ever quite compare to that trip.

Again we checked in early for dinner at Kona, and were told we wouldn’t be seated until our ADR time, but literally as we were walking away from the podium I got the text that our table was ready. Owen had brought with him tonight the blank comic sketchbook he got for Christmas, and spent most of dinner creating new comics – one of his favorite hobbies. I, of course, had Asian stir-fry noodles, yet again!

This whole trip was planned around the idea that we wanted to spend New Years Eve at Magic Kingdom, and it had felt like the whole week was leading up to tomorrow. So far things had been going well, hopefully our good luck would last! Magic Kingdom actually does the New Years fireworks for two nights, and sure enough – just before midnight, I woke up to the loudest and most continuous booming I have ever heard! I literally thought the building was going to shake itself right apart. We must really be in for a show tomorrow night!

Day 6 – Magic Kingdom (Mon, Dec 31)

We were headed out the door a little after 9am, with breakfast reservations in the park at 10:00. I would later hear that by this time, the traffic was backed up trying to get into Magic Kingdom so far that people were stuck on busses for over 2 hours. However, we enjoyed a quiet and mostly empty walk to the entrance along the path from the Contemporary. They have security and bag check set up along the path, and we had the whole thing to ourselves! The lines for security for people coming off the busses when we arrived were at least 40-50 people deep, so this was a real advantage.

And I was glad to see after we scanned in, that Owen’s new ticket had indeed been used this time, so we should be in good shape to upgrade him to an “adult” next trip, on both tickets. Brian and I had now completely used up our first 10-day ticket (that we started in 2014), and will start on the new one next time. For some reason, Lily’s ticket has been a day off from ours for a couple of years – I guess it missed getting scanned one time?? But apparently she has a bonus day.

We joined the masses heading down Main Street, and after several unsuccessful attempts, we managed to get a decent family selfie in front of the castle. There was definitely a different atmosphere in the park today than I had ever noticed before. Of course it was more crowded than I had ever seen it, but there also seemed to be a buzz of excitement in the air – we all knew what we were here for today! There were a lot of large family groups (10-15 people), in fact that seemed to be the norm. And everyone was stopping for selfies along Main Street.

We eventually made our way back to Be Our Guest. Still a little early, but they let us right in, and since we had done the mobile order ahead of time, we skipped most of the line. I had actually wanted a lunch here, and managed to get an ADR a few weeks ago, but it conflicted with our Space Mountain FP, and even as late as the night before I hadn’t had any luck moving it, so we ended up having to stick with breakfast afterall.

The family indulged me afterwards with a ride on Winnie the Pooh, since they know it’s my favorite. And, maybe because it had the shortest wait in Fantasyland – only 70 minutes, lol! Winnie the Pooh and Tigger both walked right by us while we were waiting in the outside part of the line. Owen had brought his comic notebook again, and spend much of the time in line writing. Overall, the wait passed more easily than I thought it would, and it was fun to watch the hordes of people go by outside. Until this trip I had never understood the appeal of “people watching”, but found it rather amusing this time. Maybe just because there were so many more people, there was bound to always be something interesting going on. As we neared the front of the line, I got an alert on the MDE app that MK was “not accepting new guests”. So we had hit capacity already.

We did the Mad Tea Party next, then stopped for a frozen treat from Cheshire Cafe, complete with a candy coated straw. Now it was time for that completely unmovable Space Mountain fastpass. I was glad we had it though, standby wait was 220 minutes. Not only was the line extending outside of the building, but they had run out of ropes for it, and had instead started taping lines and switchbacks on the ground. I was amazed at how well people seem to be following the makeshift barriers – I would have expected an angry mob at this point, but they all seemed to be calmly resigned to their fate, and were staying neatly within the tape.

I always forget how much fun Space Mountain is! A little jerky on the head, but still worth it for the rush! Afterwards, the boys were hungry, and a CM at one of the other parks (can’t remember which one) had been telling them about Casey’s Corner, and had them convinced that they really must try a foot-long hot dog. It was a total madhouse, of course, and the whole ordeal took us at least 45 minutes. I tried one of the vegan dogs, and it was actually pretty decent. We ate as we walked, as it was time for our Seven Dwarfs Mine Train FP! The CM at the entrance was actively discouraging people from entering the standby line over the loudspeaker – stressing over and over that the line really was 4 hours long (wrapped around the outside all the way back to Mad Tea Party), and that if you left, even to go to the bathroom, you would not be let back in. But apparently enough people were still willing to wait, that it was still 4 hours long! I felt a little guilty zipping right by everyone in the FP line.

The boys wanted to go to Tom Sawyer Island next, while Lily and I wandered through Adventureland instead. I  thought about trying to go to the Tiki Room, at least it would have been cool and a little less chaotic inside. But even it had a 30 minute wait. So eventually we headed back towards Frontierland and caught a little bit of the parade, from under the roof of Pecos Bill (where we ended up by accident, after getting shuffled off the main path outside.)

We wanted to go towards Liberty Square, but after 20 minutes we had only made it as far as the Riverboat because the walkway was at a near standstill from being so packed. The line for Haunted Mansion was backed up to here. All through the park they had CMs holding signs to indicate the back of the line, because it was often not anywhere near the actual ride. The boys were already on their way back from the island, so we decided to abandon our ill-fated plan and turn back. The CMs were severely controlling traffic flow,  and we had a bit of a hard time even getting turned around to head the other direction. It was funny in the mob, to overhear all of the people exclaiming that they were never doing this again! It definitely would not be the day to come for your first visit.

We finally managed to meet them back at Thunder Mountain for our FP there, and then the boys stopped at the shooting arcade afterwards. Maybe the only thing in the park without a line, lol! After we had scanned in for BTMRR, I was able to grab another FP for Little Mermaid and we headed there next. After the ride, we were able to find the hidden Mickey in the rocks outside that another CM had told us about a few days earlier. I circled it in yellow in the picture – its like a side profile of Mickey, you can see his nose sticking out. Pretty cool! Apparently if you look at it from the back, you can see the rest of his body.

On our way to Little Mermaid, we started seeing lots of people with New Years party hats and horns – too many to be a coincidence, so they must be giving them out somewhere! We found them on the way to Dumbo and stocked up with a pile of each. Blowing the party horn continually became Owen’s new favorite thing. And from the sounds of honking all around us (for the rest of the night!), it must have been a lot of other people’s new favorite thing too. When I think back to that day now, that’s the first thing that comes to mind. The never-ending symphony of party horns, lol! Lily thought they sounded like geese, which she claims is her “spirit animal”, so she found the whole thing hilarious.

For the first time since the new Dumbo opened, we were actually able to take advantage of the play-while-you-wait line, since there was a 45 minute wait. In the meantime, I grabbed another FP for Small World – it would just barely work to stop by there on the way to dinner. If we didn’t get delayed anywhere! It was actually a little risky to try it, but it ended up working out okay. We even got the front row of the boat on IASW.

The first round of fireworks (same show that they do at midnight) was starting in 10 minutes when we left Small World, and Brian really didn’t want to see them at all and spoil anything. And I didn’t want to be stumbling our way to dinner while the lights were off everywhere for the show! So we booked it as fast as we could to Adventureland, cutting through the crowd like ninjas. It reminded me of all the times we had raced out of a park when Owen was little and terrified of the fireworks – thankfully this time we were (hopefully) avoiding them simply for our own amusement.

We made it to the check-in podium at Skipper Canteen less than a minute before the fireworks started (and 10 minutes before our ADR), and were safely “hidden” inside the waiting area, so no firework views spoiled. Just lots of booming.

We had never been here before – the inside is really cool! And lots of corny jokes from the servers. And, you can probably guess what I had for dinner – 5 in a row now! It was actually Pad Thai – really good but very spicy. My mouth was on fire by the end! Of course our waitress kept us supplied with plenty of “river water” to drink. And wouldn’t let us order dessert when she found out we were going to the dessert party later! (Not that we would have wanted to, but it was still funny.)

When we came out from dinner it was fully dark, and the whole atmosphere of the park had shifted. Loud, (non-Disney) party music blaring from every direction. A constant cacophony of party horns, dance parties happening everywhere you looked – things had reached a fever-pitch for sure!

I had managed to get one last FP for Pirates, so we rode that before heading to Tomorrowland. As we passed through the hub in front of the Castle, CMs were lining all the paths, telling everyone that fireworks viewing on all of Main Street was already full and closed – over 4 hours before the show!

Once there, Brian wanted to join the dance party going on, and I took the kids to People Mover. A 30 minute wait, and the line wrapped multiple times around the center of Tomorrowland. But it was a lot of fun. The party horns were out in full force, all through the ride. When we would go through the enclosed areas, the echoing they made did indeed sound like a massive, angry flock of geese. We laughed so hard!

Brian joined us after we were done, and was a little sad to have missed the ride, so we went again. It was the only line we had time for by this point anyway. All through Tomorrowland, CMs were herding people in different directions, most of them leading to additional exits that had been created. A few times we almost got shuffled right out of the park by accident!

Around 9:45 we made our way to the Tomorrowland Terrace for the fireworks dessert party. Had to talk our way past a line of CMs that had closed the bridge going back towards Main Street, but they finally agreed to let us go. Check in for the dessert party was supposed to be 10:15, but the line was already back to the Plaza.  And mixing in with the people camped out there for viewing spots, and within the path the CMs were attempting to use to shuffle more unsuspecting guests out an alternate exit. Mass chaos is the only way to describe it, lol! Once we were inside and taken to a table, it was like the calm in the middle of the storm. This was definitely worth doing tonight! The desserts were just okay – nothing I would have paid extra money for, but it felt a bit like a VIP treatment to not have to deal with the mob outside. And they provided everyone with more party horns, because goodness knows there weren’t enough of those in circulation already!

Having thoroughly induced a sugar coma, we received a private CM escort to the viewing area. Multiple times along the way, other CMs tried to block our way and send us back, but were all overridden by our guide, and we finally made it to the Plaza Garden. Where we actually had room to sit down and spread out, much unlike the throngs of people packed in outside the gates. And Brian had room to dance, lol! There was a live DJ up near the castle blasting dance music, strobe lights everywhere, and of course the ever present honking of geese. I mean, party horns.

The minutes ticked by slowly, but finally at 10 minutes to midnight, the fun began. The first part of the show was the normal Fantasy in the Sky fireworks, which ended about a minute before midnight. Then Mickey and Goofy counted down, and the midnight fireworks began! No wonder the booming had been so intense last night -there were fireworks coming from every direction! Words won’t even describe it, so if you didn’t catch the live stream that MK did, you can watch my video. Definitely the biggest and most impressive fireworks display I’ve ever seen.

Well, that was it. We had done it. Magic Kingdom New Year’s Eve fireworks viewing achieved, and we had accomplished it in about as successful a way as we could have hoped for.

Bucket-list item completed.

The CMs tried again to shuffle us out of the park afterwards, but we were not easily manipulated, knowing that the park was still open for another hour. We made it back to Tomorrowland and jumped in line for Astro Orbiter, which was almost deserted now.

Afterwards, Lily wanted to go back to the hotel, so she headed back towards Main Street to brave the exit crowds. I went with the boys over to the Speedway. Owen had been asking to do it all day, so this was our last chance. It was still a 30 minute wait, but he really enjoyed it.

Coming back down Main Street to leave, there was a large bottleneck at the exit, and we were at a standstill for at least 10 minutes. Then had to sneak around some barricades on the other side to work our way back to the Contemporary path, as they were trying to herd everyone to the busses. So glad we didn’t have to deal with that tonight!

Finally back in the room, just after 1am. Lily had been back for a few minutes, but didn’t beat us by too much as the crowds leaving were a lot worse for her. Oh, and Mousekeeping had made cute bows out of the kids blankets on the beds, I thought that was a nice touch.

I saw a lot of comments on news articles about the day, people wondering why anyone would want to go when it was so crowded, and saying that it wouldn’t even be enjoyable. But I have to disagree, it was actually a lot of fun! It’s not a day when you expect to get to ride a lot, or get anywhere fast. You definitely have to pack your patience. But the atmosphere is so exciting, and just being a part of it is like nothing else I’ve experienced. Not something I would want to do every year, but I’m really glad we got to do it once.

We flew home the next day – leaving 82 degrees in Orlando for 10 degrees in Colorado! I don’t generally mind the cold too much, but this would take some getting used to! We seem to have settled into a routine of Disney trips at every-other Christmas break, so I imagine we will be back in 2 years. Though I’m also hoping to slip in a quick visit before then to the NBA Experience when it opens next year in Disney Springs. And, I’ve promised the kids another trip to Disneyland before Lily goes off to college, so I only have 2.5 years to make that happen.

 

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San Diego Summer Vacation – June 2018

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Day 1 – Saturday, June 23, 2018

For some reason, that I can no longer remember, we ended up with a 5am flight out of Denver. Then we accidentally missed the exit for the shuttle lot that we were planning to park in. Worried we didn’t have time to circle back to it, we ended up parking in the regular economy lot. It was probably good that it worked out that way, because we almost missed the flight! Security was the longest I had ever seen – apparently we weren’t the only ones getting an early start to the day! Although, our flight wasn’t even close to being full, and Lily and I got spoiled with having an empty middle seat between us, so we could really spread out.

Once in San Diego, we rented the car, and headed off to find breakfast. Ended up at a little café not far from the airport – ate outside and the planes constantly going overhead were LOUD!

Our first stop of the trip was Cabrillo National Monument. It was so far turning out to be a cool, foggy day. But there was a lot of neat stuff to see. Some cool views of the bay and coastline -and one of the historic sailing ships from the Maritime Museum was out on the water, apparently filming a documentary.

We watched a movie in the visitor center about Juan Cabrillo, and it was neat to now know some of the history of the area, and why that name is so commonly used in these parts. And the theater had a raccoon in the exhibit, which Owen loved. We are hoping to see a live one at the zoo on this trip!

We explored a historic bunker and a few other sites that were used by the Navy, back in the day, with a volunteer giving us a personal tour and telling us all about it.

One of the things I was most looking forward to here though, was the lighthouse. We climbed up inside all the way to the top, and explored the surrounding grounds. I couldn’t get “Candle on the Water” out of my head the whole time, lol!

One more stop on the way out – at the rocky intertidal zone! When the tide is out, you can climb around on the rocks and see all sorts of small marine wildlife. Sometimes, I had read, the sea lions even lounge nearby. But it was so cool and cloudy that they must have been hiding in their caves today.

Time to head north now – to Carlsbad! We stopped at the historic Green Dragon Tavern for lunch. Apparently the original one was in Boston and had a small role in the Revolutionary War. Owen was so sleepy though from our early morning, and could hardly keep his head off the table.

Now for the biggest excitement of the day – checking in at the LEGOLAND Hotel! (Sorry my website editor is insisting on capitalizing all of LEGOLAND, I’m not going to fight it, lol!)

We were staying at the brand new Castle hotel – it had only been open for a couple of months. And it really lived up to the hype! Lego sculptures everywhere, and no detail of the theming was left undone.

Unfortunately, it was early and our room wasn’t ready yet.  So we spent the next few hours exploring, playing on the playground, and generally hanging out. After a while, a “Model Citizen” (what LEGOLAND calls their employees) noticed we were looking bored in the lobby, and offered to get us into a room.

The room was truly magical – light up potion bottles on the wall, and even a treasure box that the kids had to figure out how to get into. Owen was totally in love!

We had dinner at the hotel, in the Dragon’s Den restaurant. Owen liked that there was a Lego play area at the front, so when he wasn’t actively eating his food, he could take off and play.

We tucked into bed pretty early, exhausted from a long first day. But overall, the trip is off to a good start!

Day 2 – Sunday, June 24, 2018

We had breakfast at Dragon’s Den (same as last night), and were seated right by this crazy contraption, lol!

It was still early, but we headed on to the park to get in line, and get our tickets sorted out. (I had bought the San Diego Go card before the trip, but it would require a trip to the ticket window each morning to redeem it for tickets.)

Hotel guests are allowed in 30 minutes early, and we were hoping to make good use of the time. Unfortunately, we hit a minor hiccup here, as I thought I would stop by the Reserve-n-ride desk to pick up the one I had already bought and paid for online. (LEGOLAND’s version of Fastpass.) But, there were issues. Long story short, it ended up taking almost the whole 30 minute head start we had been given. The boys went off on their own before too long while I dealt with it, and rode Coastersaurus, at least. But I was quite frustrated that the day started out like this.

It turned around almost immediately though, because right after meeting up with the boys (RNR finally in hand), he wanted to play a game. (We had promised him some after not letting him play any at the carnival a few weeks ago) Naturally he picked the basketball hoops game. His first shot (of 5) missed, but the second one easily hit home! I didn’t think too much of it at first, usually a single “win” on these games gets you a plastic ring or some such nonsense. Well, not this one. He was presented with a very large (obscenely large, actually) stuffed donut. Of course he was beaming, saying he had always dreamed of having a large, stuffed yellow donut, lol! And Brian and I are panicking a little… how in the world are we going to get that thing back on the airplane?? But we assured him we would make it work, somehow. The whole thing was definitely a much needed success, as we were all smiling and laughing now, the earlier stress almost forgotten.

We all went for another ride on Coastersaurus, together this time. The MC doing the safety spiel as we were getting on the ride said to leave all backpacks, hats, sunglasses… and donuts in the cubbies on the side. Well the donut would have to sit on top, not in, but Owen thought it was hilarious that he called it out.

The rest of the morning was spend on various rides… the order is a little fuzzy now but I know we did: Mia’s Riding Camp (a carousel, with Owen clutching the giant donut while on his horse, lol!) and Fairy Tale Brook – a calm cruise through lots of Lego sculptures. And the Coast Cruise, which is similar but on bigger boats.

After this, Brian and I decided to take the donut back to the room, as carrying it all day was going to get tiresome. Fortunately, it doesn’t get any more convenient than staying at the LEGOLAND hotel, which is literally right outside the gates. In the picture below, Brian is standing just outside the door of our hotel and you can see how close the entrance gates are. I joked that if there was ever a line for the bathroom in the park, it would probably be quicker to just come back to the room, lol!  We were spoiled for sure!

Afterwards, we took Owen up to Driving School. Lily is too old now, sadly. They don’t do the training class beforehand here, like they do in FL. But he had fun navigating the course and of course, getting his driver’s license afterwards.

We took a quick break for lunch at a nice little café nearby.

Then did the Police and Fire Academy! You have to pump to drive your vehicle, and then spray to a target to put the fire out in your building. We almost won, just barely came in second.

We toured the Adventurer’s Club – it was a walking tour through some really amazing indoor Lego worlds. Brian attempted to do the scavenger hunt inside as well, but the rest of us just enjoyed the theme and looking at all the cool stuff in the different rooms.

Kid Power Towers were next – you have to use a rope to pull yourself up to the top, then you get to drop back down. It’s fun, but HARD!

We spent some time admiring the cities in Miniland, especially Las Vegas and New York. It’s simply an unbelievable and amazing amount of detail that goes into these!

Next up – Lost Kingdom Adventure – a shooting ride where you try to hit as many targets in the Lego tomb as you can. Then took a spin on the Bionicle Blasters.

On the Knight’s Tournament – you get to pick which level you want your crazy, spinning arm to do. Owen was only tall enough for level 3, so I went with him and let Brian and Lily do level 4 on theirs. Level 5 looked too crazy to even comprehend, lol!

Finally time for the Dragon, one of my favorites here! It’s a roller coaster, but first goes through a dark ride section with really cool Lego sculptures.

We stopped for a frozen treat to cool off, before heading to the Aquazone waveracers.

Sometime before now, I know we rode the Lego Technic Test Track coaster. I can’t remember exactly when, but actually I think we ended up riding twice. It’s one of my favorites. Sits really high up on the track and goes fast!

Lily and I took a short break back at the hotel at this point, and I honestly can’t remember what the boys did during that time. I think at least one thing they tried to ride broke down while they were in line, though.

We soon met them back at the NInjago ride – another shooting game ride, Ninjago style! It was really cool.

Afterwards, we talked Owen into getting a picture with Kai, one of the Ninjago Lego Figures. He’ll do any roller coaster, but is always so afraid of the characters!

We spent some more time in Miniland – mostly Washington DC and the Star Wars stuff. Again, totally mesmerizing. Lily really like the part of Naboo that showed everything all peaceful and happy, says she wants to move there, lol!

I think we all rode Captain Cranky’s Pirate boat next, then Brian and Lily were willing to get wet on Pirate Reef (a log ride), Owen was not, lol! But he did join them on Splash Battle afterwards.

We cruised through Miniland some more, then another ride on Ninjago. Lily somehow smoked all of us this time, lol!

The park was closing soon though, and we were hungry. So we had dinner at the Skyline Café (in the hotel next door) then called it a night.

I did stop on the way out of the park to buy a Lego Brick Wall of the picture we got taken with Kai, definitely my favorite souvenir of the trip! You can actually take the whole picture apart, brick by brick, and put it back together again, like a puzzle. The kids had fun with that after we got home!

Day 3 – Monday, June 25, 2018

The day started, once again, with breakfast at Dragon’s Den in the hotel. (It was included with our stay, no reason not to take advantage of a free meal!)

We had to pack up and check out of the hotel, but would still have a few more hours to spend in the park before heading back to San Diego this afternoon.

No Reserve-n-ride today. It had served us well on several rides yesterday, (after the initial frustration of obtaining it) but today we would have to wait in line like commoners, lol! It was a pretty stress-free morning though. We started off with another ride on Coastersaurus. Despite the park opening “early” for hotel guests, there aren’t actually a lot of rides open at that time, so our options were pretty limited.

We did do the Safari Trek, which we had skipped yesterday. Its probably meant for a younger crowd, but it’s cute anyway.

We did another ride on Kid Power Towers (once the finally opened) and another ride on the Dragon coaster. Then Owen wanted to do the Royal Joust, another ride geared for little ones, but he actually really enjoyed it! Probably because he had to ride it alone, and liked feeling independent.

Owen spent quite a bit of time playing at the Hideaways, a giant Lego-themed playground. Unfortunately, he got hurt at one point, banging his head pretty hard into the ground while attempting a jump. Enough to concern the MC working there, but he wasn’t showing any signs of a concussion, at least.

More time in Miniland, believe it or not we still hadn’t seen everything! And the boys spent a while building Lego boats and racing them down the river table.

The last stop of the morning would be to tour the Lego factory, where you get to see how they make Legos. Owen had become so inspired by all of the Lego stuff by now that he was saying he wanted to become a master builder, and have a “Lego Life”. Not sure how that career aspiration will work out, but it was cute to see him so into it anyway.

We had a quick lunch in the park, then it was time to head out. Owen was so sad to be leaving, and cried for much of the walk back to the car. Poor kid! (And an unfortunate bit of trivia – we just barely missed the new Deep Sea ride, it opened a week later! Oh well. We’ll have to go back sometime, lol!)

Back in San Diego, we made a quick stop to check in at our hotel, the Bahia Resort on MIssion Bay, but of course the room wasn’t ready yet. We did go by and say “Hi” to the resident seals that live at the hotel -this was one of the main reasons I picked this resort, I knew Lily would like getting to see them every day.

So we continued on, to the Zoo! One of the main goals of the trip was for Owen to finally get to see a real, live raccoon. Despite the “myth” that they are everywhere, he somehow has never gotten to spot one. So, here we are looking for one several states away, after years of unsuccessfully trying to see one in the wild.

If you’ve never been to the San Diego Zoo, I don’t think I can adequately describe in words how big it is. I knew it was big going in, but it is completely incomprehensible until you have been there. There’s even a freaking CANYON going through the middle of it – you can take stairs / elevators down into it, where many of the animals are, or you can take a sky ride over it, to the other side. We probably should have taken the sky ride, as it would have gotten us close to the raccoons, but in my defense, I had no idea how long it would take to walk back there.

Along the way, we went through Africa Rocks, saw tons of primates, and they even have a waterfall.

I know we passed by lots of other animals… and I should have been taking pictures so that I would remember… but we were kind of on a mission at this point, as Owen was very anxious to get to the raccoon. And of course, it was at the very far back corner of the park. At one point, I know we had to cross over a very high bridge over the canyon, and it was a little scary!

Finally, buried back in the Polar Bears area, I found the raccoon! She was out and active, but mostly hanging out near the back of her enclosure. Owen was completely awed, though. We watched for a long time, with Owen getting a bit emotional at finally seeing his favorite animal in person. We were really in luck today, because later this evening there would be a keeper talk and enrichment activity here with the raccoon, so of course we would be coming back for that. Otherwise, I’m not sure we would have pulled Owen out of there at all!

We started working our way back toward the front of the park. We spent a lot of time watching the Okapis, and were amused that one of the younger ones seemed “very interested” in one of the adults rear end, lol!

We also got a good luck at a cheetah as well as the panda. And rode the sky ride. And again, I know we saw a lot of other animals. But we clearly had main goal here today, and they weren’t it, lol! So I guess that’s why I didn’t take a lot of pictures.

Later in the evening, we headed back to the raccoons (it was TREK to get back there!) for the enrichment talk. I’m really so glad we came back. Even though Owen had been thrilled with the glimpses we got of Granite (the raccoon) earlier, it was so much better now. For one, the sun had started to set and got rid of the pesky glare that had been permeating the whole area, so we could see into the enclosure so much more. And the keeper really drew her out with some treats, placed strategically right up at the front. So we were treated to many minutes of watching her scamper around and search for her prizes, right in front of us! He told us the story of how the zoo came to have her, and lots of details about her daily life. Owen was soaking it all up, of course, and would have been happy to stay all night.

But, we were all exhausted – time to head back and get settled into our new hotel. The kids were too tired to bother with dinner, so they stayed in the room while Brian and I ate at the café in the lobby. This trip was really mostly about Owen, and the two priorities had been LEGOLAND, and seeing a raccoon. It was a big relief that both of those things had already been a success! The rest would just be icing on the cake.

Day 4 – Tuesday June 26, 2018

Our main goal for today was to tour the USS Midway (aircraft carrier), but they didn’t open until 10am, and we weren’t in a hurry to get there anyway. So we spent some time on the beach at our hotel. It’s actually the bay, not the ocean, so it’s very calm. (The ocean was just across the street, we get there later in the trip!)

Once at the Midway, we were welcomed aboard and decided to start with the movie.

It detailed the history of the Battle of Midway, which is obviously what the carrier is named for. At the beginning of the movie – Owen lost a tooth! I didn’t even realize he had one that was so loose, lol!

We spent a few hours wandering around – saw lots of the bunking quarters, various offices and command centers, etc.

Up on top, we peeked inside some of the historic aircraft that were on display.

 

It was a little more low-key than some of the adventures we’d had already, but a neat glimpse into history, and almost nerve-wracking to imagine living in such cramped quarters for so long!

Unfortunately, we had a bit of “excitement” on the way out. Not the good kind. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, a guy on an electric scooter came flying out and crashed into us! He went sprawling across the hood, over the windshield, and landed on the other side of the car. For a few terrifying seconds, I thought surely he must be seriously hurt, or worse. But, he was (mostly) okay, just a bit shaken. Just as we were calming down, Brian noticed that he had actually made a big dent in the side of our rental car. Well, at this point, scooter guy takes off without a word, despite us shouting after him. Rats! He was at fault, but without having his information, we were going to end up paying for it. Or at least our insurance would have to (minus the deductible, I’m sure).

Brian was worried we would need a police report for the insurance, and we spent the next several hours trying to get one, but long story short, it wasn’t going to happen. So, we gave up and headed back to the hotel, having wasted several hours, most of them sitting outside in the hot sun. At least it happened on an afternoon when we didn’t really have any other plans, other than maybe swimming or beach time.

Back at the hotel, we spent a little time in the pool and hot tub. We didn’t end up spending as much time there during the trip as I had expected, but it was a nice area.

Afterwards, the hotel actually has its own riverboat, so we hopped aboard for a short sightseeing cruise across the bay. It was so pretty with the sun setting behind the palm trees!

Once again, we had dinner at the hotel, and called it a night. This definitely wasn’t up there with “best days of the trip”, but it certainly could have been worse, and seeing the Midway was cool. Tomorrow would be much better!

Day 5 – Wednesday June 27, 2018

Today we were headed to Sea World! A little backstory is probably necessary here. A couple of years ago, we spent a day at Sea World in Orlando. It was not a good day. In fact, I titled that portion of the trip report “Our Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day at SeaWorld”. So, if it hadn’t been included on our Go cards here, we certainly wouldn’t have done it. But, I’m so glad we did, because (spoiler alert!) we actually had a really good day here and enjoyed it a lot!

I picked up our express pass right after going in (luckily this was smooth, no issues like a LEGOLAND, and everyone else was entertained by the petting zoo while I took care of it.)
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We didn’t really know our way around or have any sort of plan, so it was pure luck that brought us right by the dolphins while a trainer talk was going on, and we saw them doing some really cool tricks!

We also saw the otters and some rays.

Our first ride was Manta – a roller coaster. I really liked this one! I do have a slight fear of heights, but Manta actually stays very close to the ground, so its not scary. But thanks to its induction propulsion system, it still goes FAST! Perfect combination for me, lol! We ended up riding it 4 times throughout the day.

We spent a few minutes watching the sea lions next, always Lily’s favorite of course. There was a time when her career goal was to be a sea lion trainer. She’s moved on from that, but still enjoys seeing them.

As we were wandering around, I noticed how empty is was! Took the picture below just to prove it, lol! Our day at SW in Orlando had been packed shoulder-to-shoulder all day, this was a nice change.

We went through one of the small aquariums and another outdoor petting tank, but then it was time to head to lunch!

I had booked the Dine with Orcas experience, mostly because it was the single, solitary thing at SW in Orlando that hadn’t sucked. It was good here too, but I don’t think it stood out as much, mostly because everything else was so enjoyable too. But we were seated right by the windows, with Orcas swimming right by us as we ate. And the trainers had them do several tricks for us as well.

We rode the skyride next – its a roundtrip sightseeing ride over the bay. I’m always a little nervous on these, but the views make it worth it.

We stopped by the Rescue Ride next -it looks like a pretty simple contraption, typical carnival style ride. But it’s actually really fun! You get slung around in your “rescue boat”, as if you were navigating the ocean waves. Owen claimed at this point that Raccoon (his stuffed one that had come on the trip with us) was there too, riding in his own boat, lol!

One thing we hadn’t managed to do at SW last time was see any of the shows, so that was a priority today. And it was time for the sea lions! They had a really cute show with a couple of sea lions acting out a part in a comedy show.

We took our chances next with Shipwreck Rapids, and did end up getting quite wet. The boys were fine with it, as it was getting quite warm out. But Lily, not so much, lol! So they continued on to Atlantis, figuring they might as well since they were wet anyway. Lily and I hung out in some shops, and went to see the penguins while we dried off.

We also saw the Beluga whale over there being fed. Couldn’t get the song “Baby Beluga in the Deep Blue Sea” out of my head! Second time that happened on this trip…

Also saw a walrus, but it was COLD down there, and we were still a little wet, so we didn’t stay long.

Owen was really wanting to take me on Atlantis, so I went with him while Brian and Lily headed to the Electric Eel. The EE is a brand new coaster. Now, I’m not usually a ride wimp, but this one looked past my limit. And Owen wasn’t tall enough, so I was happy to skip it and go with him.

Atlantis is actually really fun, so I was glad we did it. It starts with a big drop (like Splash Mountain), then turns into a roller coaster! Owen was so cute, having already ridden it, he took it as his job to prepare and protect me, ha!

Afterwards, Owen stood in the splash zone of a car coming down, and got far more soaked than he had on the ride. Silly kid!

We did the swings next (always fun!) and some more petting tanks.

In one of the aquariums, we got there just in time for the piranha feeding. I see what the term “feeding frenzy” refers to now! Wow.

Then it was time for the Dolphin show! Of course they did lots of neat tricks, and we heard lots from the trainers about how they care for them and teach them so much.

Owen spent a few minutes on the playground, then we went through a few more aquariums. We really liked the one where you go through a tunnel with fish all around you.

After this, I know we rode Manta a few more times, and the Rescue ride once more as well, maybe some others. But apparently I didn’t take any pictures, so I’m not sure exactly how it went.

The nighttime shows would be starting soon (SW has several different ones!) and we managed to catch two of them – Illuminite (a dance show with lots of glow-y things) and Electric Ocean, a projection light show on the Atlantis ride. Both were really cool – and Brian wanted to stay for some of the others, but everyone else was exhausted.

A really good day, though!

Day 6 – Thursday June 28, 2018

Today was a pretty “chill” day, so there won’t be much to write or show, sorry! Our main plan was the beach, as we hadn’t been to the “real ocean” yet. We walked over from our hotel, and stopped at a beach-side shop on the way to pick up some sun hats and sand toys.

Actually, we stopped to see the sea lions on the way out, too.

At first, Owen was only interested in playing in the sand, but later he discovered the joys of chasing the waves with his dad.

It was here that I actually got some (mostly unexpected) news about something I will be pursuing in the fall, and suddenly had a decision to make. Nothing like sitting on the beach, trying to figure out what to do with your life, lol!

After a couple of hours, we went next door to the Belmont Amusement park. It’s an old-fashioned, beach boardwalk park, with a nearly 100-year old roller coaster. No, the picture below is NOT my mine. I feel terrible that I didn’t get a single picture at Belmont, but wanted to at least be able to convey the atmosphere here.

Our Go cards got us access to the whole park, and we started with the coaster. It was a little much for me, actually. Once was definitely enough! We did a couple more rides, then ventured out to find lunch.

We ended up taking some sandwiches over the park across the street and eating them in the grass.

Afterwards, the boys wanted more beach / ride time, but Lily wanted a break. So she and I went back to the room, and had a pretty lazy afternoon, resting and generally catching up on stuff. Eventually we made our way to the pool and spent a little time in the hot tub.

The boys, meanwhile, had what Brian called a “legit beach day”. Hours spent in the sand, the ocean, and playing at Belmont. I think they did every ride there! But, sadly I have no pictures from any of it. Oh well! They had a blast, though.

For dinner, we ventured into town and ate at a quiet little Italian place – it was so yummy! This was our last night in San Diego, another adventure starts tomorrow!

Day 7 – Friday June 29, 2018

Time once again to check out of the hotel, before heading off for another adventure. Today, we were booked on a whale-watching cruise! It was the first weekend of the summer whale season, so hopefully we weren’t too early to get to see anything. Unfortunately, the weather had turned cold and foggy again, similar to when we had arrived almost a week ago.

We started off sitting up on the top deck of the boat, outside. But Owen quickly got cold, and didn’t like the wind. So he and I sought shelter down on the bottom level, at a table inside.

Almost immediately, he was complaining that his stomach hurt. Oh no… the waves were really rough! Probably the roughest boat ride I’ve been on. Which I personally find a lot of fun, but I’m not prone to sea sickness.

We left a few times to get fresh air, and check in with Brian and Lily, who were still up on top. On one trip, we got a really good view of some dolphins that were swimming alongside the boat, and jumping.

We also got Owen some Dramamine, but I feared it would be too little, too late. The whalers on board had spotted a whale out in the distance, and the captain was already navigating the boat that way, said we were 10-15 minutes out, though.

Owen and I were back inside at our table when we started getting close. He was mostly curled up in my lap by now, moaning in misery. Poor kid. The whale started to surface just outside our window, and I saw the water-spout. I turned to Owen to make sure he was watching, and the captain couldn’t resist calling out a “There she blows!” over the PA. And right then, at literally that moment, Owen started throwing up. Luckily, I had made him keep a barf bag with him ever since he started having trouble. I was desperately trying to make sure all the puke hit the bag, while simultaneously whisking him to the bathroom between heaves, through the crowds that had gathered near our seat (since we had a prime viewing location) as everyone was cheering and watching the whale. Finally cleaned up, and feeling much better, we emerged from the bathroom to find the whale long gone, of course. I swear there was a tv commercial that went something like this many years ago, lol! Oh well.. It just wasn’t meant to be this time. Brian and Lily had been watching from the top deck, and (luckily for them) missed all the puke-filled drama.

He was feeling better enough now to walk around a little more, and even get a family picture outside. But still anxious to be back on dry land, and made me promise to never take him on another boat again. Well, he made an exception for cruise ships, lmao!

Back at the dock, we ate lunch nearby, then it was time to go turn in the rental car. It took a little extra time, because of course we had to deal with the whole dented-car-incident and fill out some paperwork. I’m sure we’ll be hearing from both them and our insurance company at some point, not looking forward to it!

We took a taxi back into town to the Santa Fe Depot, where we would board a train to Anaheim, for the last leg of the vacation!

It was a pleasant, uneventful train ride. We could see the ocean out the window for much of it.

Once in Anaheim, we grabbed an Uber to the Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel. It really wasn’t anything fancy, compared to the last two we had stayed in. But it would be convenient to the park tomorrow, at least. We had dinner in the hotel, and Lily even got her picture taken with Snoopy.

One more day of vacation left – planning to leave it all on the table tomorrow!

Day 8 – Saturday June 30, 2018

Today was Knott’s Berry Farm! I had actually been wanting to try this out both times we came to Disneyland (it’s very close) but it just didn’t make sense on those two trips. But, it was included on our Go card, so this was a great opportunity. Hence, the trip up to Anaheim the day before.

So, I realized that there’s almost no way I’m going to be able to record this day as a play-by-play, as I usually try to do. We just rode too much, and I don’t have pictures of most of it, to be able to make sense of what happened when. So I’m going to go with simply a list of what I know we did at some point during the day, and general thoughts about how it all went. Pictures will probably be interspersed randomly for rides that I have them, lol!

Things we rode (in no particular order):

Hangtime – this was by far Owen’s favorite. A terrifying dive coaster that doesn’t even use a shoulder harness, or walls, yet somehow keeps you from flying out. At least it did for us, lol! Owen rode it three times, once was more than enough for me! It’s the green coaster in the picture below, which was taken from the observation tower.

Coast Rider – very similar to the Lego Technic coaster that sits high on the track, with individual cars. Lots of fun! It’s the yellow coaster on the right in the picture above.

Ghost Rider – a very long and very fast wooden coaster. Much easier on the neck than I expected it to be, and lots of fun! Did this one twice.

Hat Dance – spinning tea cups, themed to look like fiesta hats. Got it going way too fast, Owen couldn’t even keep his head up!

Jaguar – fun coaster that goes through a whole section of the park, themed to look like a Mayan pyramid. Kids rode it first without us, then a couple more times later.

La Revolucion – rode one like it at Belmont – lots of fun with my eyes closed, ha! I never could have handled that height if I had been looking…

Montezuma’s Revenge – crazy fast loop coaster that goes forwards, then backwards.

Pony Express – a roller coaster, but you are riding on horses. Not real ones. A little awkward, because you actually feel like you are riding on a horse! But fun. Kids rode in the front, and Owen said it felt like flying.

Sidewinder – roller coaster where your car spins as you go. Complete insanity, but fun.

Wipeout – spinning carnival ride, on steroids. Thought my head was going to fall off, a little too much to be fun.

Silver Bullet – hanging coaster that goes upside down 6 times. Owen was too short, but Brian and Lily rode.

Supreme Scream – 250 ft dropping tower ride. Again, Owen too short but Brian and Lily went.

Dragon Swing – pretty tame pirate ship-style ride

Surfside Gliders – gentle swing-like ride. Waited a LONG time to ride these at night.

Sky Cabin – slow moving observation elevator, pic below was when we first started up.

Timber Mountain Log Ride – Owen rode twice, once with me and once with Brian. Because Lily was DONE with getting wet, lol! It’s fun, but actually gets pretty rough at the end.

Voyage to the Iron Reef – an indoor, shooting ride with pretty high-tech virtual screens. Enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I would – it was the last thing I rode. The pic was while waiting in line.

Waveswinger – we always have to do the swing ride! I love fast coasters, but the gentle-flying feeling is hard to beat!

This picture has several coasters in it, I’m not even sure what’s what!

A few other random things:

We went inside the old-west schoolhouse – the teachers even posed outside with the kids! The whole western area was so well themed, I wasn’t expecting that! At one point, there was even a showdown and gunfight between two of the cowboys in the street.

Owen did the gold panning activity, and was very proud to come away with a small vial of gold flakes, thinks he’s going to get rich now!

Overall, the theming here is just so good. I was expecting a basic amusement park with lots of coasters… and not much else. But it is really well done! I didn’t take nearly enough pictures to do it justice.

We did take a short break back a the hotel in the afternoon to swim and cool off. Actually, I think Lily and I headed back ahead of Brian and Owen, and they rode a few more things without us, before joining us back at the hotel. The pool was nothing fancy, but plenty wet.

Brian and the kids being goofy in the evening. Guess I better go bail them out!

A random picture I took of Hangtime at night. Yes, it goes straight down. I can’t believe Owen wasn’t scared on this! Most of the grown adults riding it were visibly nervous. Owen was a little bit the first time, but after the big drop, started screaming that it was awesome and that he was loving it. The two times he rode after he had no hesitation, was like “Bring it on!”

So, that’s the best recap of our day that I can manage. We rode a LOT of stuff, and many things multiple times. I was really glad I bought the express pass here. It’s usefulness was questionable at both LEGOLAND and Sea World, but we wouldn’t have gotten to do much but stand in line here, without it.

Owen has obviously become a thrill rider. All he wants to do is ride roller coasters! He was sad that he was still too short for a couple, so I guess we’ll be back in a few years!

The next day, all that was left to do was to get an Uber to the airport and fly home. The donut did make it, wrapped in a garbage bag that we bummed off the front desk at the hotel, lol!

This was Owen’s first time getting to pick our vacation, and I think he was quite satisfied. Says he’s picking the same thing next time! Well, minus the whale cruise, and probably do another day at Knotts, if he gets his way. Only four years to wait…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disneyland – August/September 2017

So, a little background on the trip first. Several years ago, in 2013, I decided that I was going to sign up for a ½ marathon at Disneyland. I think it may have been the Tinkerbell race, sometime in the spring of 2014? The details are fuzzy now. But, before registration opened, we decided to make a trip to Florida around the same time. It made a lot more sense to add on a quick visit to Disney World instead, so I gave up on my running plans. Ever since then, it’s kind of been nagging me in the back of my brain that I really wanted to do a runDisney event at some point. But, the scheduling is so hard- they tend to have all the races at times we can’t easily travel.

Back last spring, as DH and I were training for the BolderBoulder, a large 10K event here in town, he mentioned that we should do a longer race sometime, and I reminded him that I still wanted to do a Disney ½ marathon at some point, so I decided to look at the dates again, and see if there was any way one of the weekends would work out. The only one that was even a remote possibility was the Disneyland ½ marathon, over Labor Day weekend. It would involve the kids missing a couple days of school, but nothing else was standing in the way at that time of year. When I casually suggested it a couple of days later, we decided to go ahead and do it this summer!  I immediately jumped on the computer and got us registered.

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Wyoming Eclipse – August 2017

Well, everyone had been talking about it all year, so we knew we couldn’t miss it! A total eclipse, dubbed “The Great American Eclipse”, as it was visible from a large part of the country.

We would have had a partial eclipse here at home, but thinking that wasn’t good enough, we made plans to make the pilgrimage to Wyoming to catch the real deal. In atypical Delaney-family fashion, we were rather late jumping on the boat here, and almost didn’t find a hotel room. I finally found what had to be the last room in the state at some little unknown motel in Guernsey, Wyoming. But it would do.

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Yoga & Hiking Retreat – Winter Park, CO – June 2017

Brian and I had made a last minute decision to sign up for a Yoga & Hiking retreat this weekend, offered by our gym (Colorado Athletic Club). The kids were off for a weekend with Grandma, while we were in for a weekend of, well, probably lots of yoga & hiking, lol!

We checked in at the Vintage Hotel in Winter Park, and met Lexi, one of our CAC hosts for the weekend. Unfortunately, the hotel didn’t have our room ready, so we took the Cabriolet gondola into the village to explore a bit.

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Ouray, CO Camping – June 2017

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For our summer camping trip, we decided to venture to a new part of the state – Ouray! We had heard good things. And, not gonna lie, it was one of the few places where I could still get a decent campsite when I finally got around to planning this. We had recently gotten a new cargo rack installed on the Jeep, and were anxious to try it out as well.

Unfortunately, we hadn’t figured out a good plan for securing stuff, and our idea to use tarps and ropes ended up looking a bit ghetto, lol!

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Great Wolf Lodge, Colorado Springs – April 2017

Spring break was mostly taken up with the kids’ separate activities (science camp for Owen, and Lily’s school trip to DC), but I thought we could at least squeeze in a quick mini-vaca at the end of it.

Just before moving from Colorado Springs, it was announced that Great Wolf Lodge was taking over the abandoned hotel on the north side of town. I had been wanting to try one out for a while, at least now I wouldn’t feel so guilty about staying there, if I didn’t live just down the street, lol! So it seemed like a good choice for our quick getaway. Especially since we are all looking forward to water-park season, but it’s still two months away at Water World.

Friday was Owen’s last day of camp, and since it would be easier to head straight to Colorado Springs from the museum in Denver, Brian took a half-day off work and we spend the afternoon at the museum while Owen finished his camp. We saw the Dream Big Imax movie, and explored the Animal Halls, as the museum was far too crowded to attempt any of the more interactive exhibits.

A snowstorm was expected this afternoon, and worried a bit about the trip over Monument Hill, I made Brian drive, much to his annoyance, ha! However, it would be known as the April Fools snowstorm, as it never quite materialized. So we had a dry, but agonizingly slow and traffic-filled drive.

Luckily, the check-in line wasn’t too long (the next day it wound all the way through the lobby, so glad we got there tonight!). The kids, of course, wanted to try out the water park immediately. So we agreed to a short swim before dinner. Oh, and the room was very cute. It had a separate area for the kids with bunk beds, themed to look like a woodland retreat. They had both been “wolf-ears” at check-in, which, surprisingly, they wore for much of the trip.

The waterpark had several sections. There was a large structure called Fort Mackenzie, filled with all sorts of splashy things and small slides. Underneath, there was a pretty normal pool, and a Lily Pad crossing, that Owen really enjoyed doing. There was also a wave pool, though of course the waves were not as impressive as Thunder Bay at Water World. Then there were four large slides, that required walking up several flights of stairs. Owen was only tall enough for two of them, still needing just over an inch for the others.

My favorite slide was Alberta Falls. It’s an enclosed slide that you ride down on a tube (they have singles and doubles). It was fast! Reminded me a lot of the River Country tube rides at Water World, also my favorites there. Lily and I rode together several times, and Owen with Brian.

It was after 7pm already, so we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. After some discussion, we decided to stay at the hotel to eat. Brian wanted to eat at Barnwood, but the wait was too long, so we settled for the Loose Moose buffet. It ended up being pretty good, actually.

The kids finished before us, so they headed off to the MagiQuest store to pick out their wands. The hotel has an interactive game played throughout several of the floors, using a magic wand to collect items needed to battle a dragon. Owen picked out a wand with a dragon on top, while Lily’s had a unicorn horn.

Lily and I started our quest, but after collecting a couple of items, we were tired and headed back to the room to get ready for bed. The boys stayed out much longer, and therefore made much more progress. Oh well. A constant issue at the hotel was the elevators, they are not nearly enough to handle to load and always had long lines and waits. So, for the game it was far more practical, but exhausting, to use the stairs.

Finally all tucked into bed, I hoped we would sleep in the next morning. It really didn’t need to be April Fools Day for me to know that wouldn’t happen, lol! At least we beat the rush down to breakfast (same restaurant as last night, but we had free vouchers for breakfast here).

We wanted to try out some of the non-water activities this morning, and headed to the ropes course first. We had gone by it the day before on our way to the pool, I I thought it looked like fun. Which surprised Brian, because he thought I would be too afraid! It isn’t the kind of thing I would normally do willingly, lol!

Well, it hadn’t looked bad from the ground, but once I was up there, yikes! Standing on the first platform, I suddenly didn’t know if I could do it at all, and almost bolted right back down the stairs. Eventually I gathered up my courage, thinking maybe I could get through one or two routes, just to say I had done it. It DID get easier though. Of course, I was clinging to harness with both hands for much of it (which Brian claimed was cheating, I told him I was doing well to be up there at all!).

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I finally decided that I didn’t like the routes that were only rope, but the ones that had some sort of solid beam or blocks weren’t too bad. Still a bit of an adrenaline rush!

We played a round of mini-golf afterwards. The course was pretty easy and fun, with giant holes, which made sinking putts feel sinfully easy, lol! Owen and I each got a hole-in-one even.

We had decided to wait until after lunch to swim, and weren’t quite hungry yet, so we hung out in the room for a bit, then I think we may have spent another hour or so on our dragon quests. Barnwood wasn’t as busy today, so we had lunch there. It was okay, but overall I didn’t find any of the food here to be all that impressive.

After lunch, it was time to hit the water park again. Unfortunately, it was a LOT busier than it had been last night. The afternoons are probably the prime-time anyway, and I think a lot of people had just checked in that morning. So we didn’t do the slides much, as the lines were too long.

But we had fun just hanging out in the pool, and stopped for a snack at the pool-side snackbar at some point.

We had made plans to meet up with Brian’s family for dinner, so we left the pool around 5pm to get ready. We were hoping to go to Colorado Mountain Brewery, which was in the same parking lot as the hotel. but when I tried to call ahead for a party of 11, I was told “That’s not happening tonight”, lol! Fortunately, On the Border wasn’t busy at all, and I’ve missed it a lot since moving to Boulder. So we had a nice time visiting, and good dinner.

We had a voucher for a free ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s in the hotel, so we stopped there when we got back, and Brian and I grabbed a drink from the bar. The kids finished their ice cream about the time we were getting our drinks, so they went ahead into the arcade.

After the obligatory hell of waiting in the “line” (i.e. mob) to exchange their handful of tickets for a couple of pieces of candy, we headed back to the room.

Time for more Dragon Questing! Owen was quite a bit farther along than us, and attempted to battle the dragon, though was very sad to have failed. We would try again tomorrow, though. Lily and I finally made some progress, after getting very stumped on a couple of objects we needed to collect.

Most of the quest happens on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors, with various objects lining the hallways between rooms. So, every night, it’s a bit of a chaotic scene in the halls, with kids and families running around with wands and trying to locate objects. Not your usual hotel environment, lol! But it was fun.

Sunday was check-out day, and my plan had been to get up early, make it to waterpark in time for 9am opening (so we could beat the rush to the slides), and swim until check-out time at 11am. Of course, TODAY everyone decided to sleep in! (And apparently I didn’t take a single picture today, oops!)

We still ended up making it, but I didn’t have time to start any packing before we went down. We were the first in line at the doors, though. Owen wanted to go with me on Alberta Falls, but something went wrong for him on the way down- I think he let go of the handles on the tube and slipped down inside, in an awkward position, and it freaked him out a bit. So he didn’t want to ride any more. I went a few more times on my own – it is a really fun ride!

Then we swam and played water basketball for a bit, before joining Lily in the room (she hadn’t wanted to swim today). While I started packing, the boys went to attempt the Dragon again. After a couple of tries, they were successful! Owen was very proud. Lily decided to not pursue the dragon this time, as she still needed quite a few more objects on our quest before she would be able to attempt it.

After gathering all of our stuff, we headed next door to Summit, where we played a couple rounds of bowling, and did a couple games of laser tag. We like the laser tag here so much better than the one near us, so we were glad to get to come back.

Overall, a really fun, short getaway! We’ll probably be back to GWL at some point, as it’s an easy drive for us, and fun way to get some water-parking in during the winter months. For now, it’s back to the grind for another 8 weeks until summer!

Steamboat Springs – December 2016

We take one big “ski vacation” every winter, in addition to the multiple day trips we make to the slopes. This year, we decided to venture a little farther away and went to Steamboat Springs. We had come up here last year for an overnight yurt adventure, that required some cross-country skiing. But we had never been to the downhill slopes here.

Unfortunately, the trip was right on the heels of our trip to Florida (we had less than a 48-hour turn around time.) Owen got sick literally as soon as we got home, and after assuming it was just a cold… but watching it get worse… I finally took him to the doctor on the morning of the day we were leaving. Turns out the poor kid had Influenza B!

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Disney & Florida – Christmas 2016

Chapter 1. Getting to the Airport with our Ridiculous Pile of luggage

So.. yeah. The theme of the day was pretty much…luggage. You may have seen my FB post Friday morning with the massive pile of suitcases in our living room. Here it is again, at the bus stop 🙂

I had been warning Brian for months that it was going to be like this, and I don’t think he believed me until he saw it. The 5 largest suitcases were filled with camping equipment – tents, air mattresses, pillows, bedding, headlamps, etc. Two more were filled with Christmas presents, because we would be going directly to Naples after our Disney vacation to celebrate Christmas with my family. Most of our clothes and miscellaneous items ended up in carry-ons because we maxed out our checked luggage limit of 8. And we each had a backpack, so 16 total pieces of luggage to pack, and keep track of.

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Universal Orlando Resort – July 2016

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Before the Vacation, and Getting There

We actually combined two trips into one. We flew from Denver into Ft. Myers on Sat, July 2 to spend a few days there with my family. We spent a few fun days lounging in Grandma and Grandpa’s pool, playing with the cousins, and Lily and Owen even organized a 4th of July party! But, more details about that trip in another post.

On Tuesday morning, it was time to make the drive to Orlando. We are not very good road-trippers, so I knew the 3 hour estimate on Google maps was highly optimistic. Especially since we would need to make a grocery and lunch stop on the way. We took the back roads instead of the interstate, and got to see the more natural, rural side of Florida along the way.

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Disneyland & Winterfest Water Polo – February 2016

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Day 1 – Thur 2/11

One of the advantages of our move is that we are a lot closer to the Denver airport – only about a 30 minute drive instead of 90. So we only had to get up a little earlier than normal to catch our 8:30am flight. I had originally booked a flight two hours earlier, then quickly thought better of it. Not much good would come of making rope-drop if we did so completely sleep deprived and grumpy.

We always park at an off site lot because it’s usually easier and faster, but we ran into a strange little traffic jam on the road leading up to the lot, and then the shuttle bus was slower than normal getting on its way. So we were cutting it a little closer than I would have liked by the time we got there.

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Beaver Creek Ski Trip – January 2016

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It’s been our habit for many years to take one “real” ski vacation, in addition to the multiple day trips we do throughout the winter and spring. For many years, we always went to Copper, but last year we had done something different and gone to Vail. So it seemed fitting this year to go to the Vail-sibling of Beaver Creek, one of the few nearby ski areas we had never been to.

In looking over some of my recent trip reports, Brian mentioned how stressed out we always seem – the vacation magic seems awfully hard to find these days. I suppose there is some truth to that, so I was hoping we could break the pattern here. While we do love travelling, it can be tough to remain calm when the kids are throwing a fit and being difficult. And I should clarify that in this regard, when I say “kids”, I largely mean “Lily”. Owen is usually pretty easy-going. He does tend to shut-down and zone-out a bit when he’s tired, but is mostly past the temper tantrum age, thank goodness. At a mere 5 years old, something his sister has yet to achieve at 12, lol!

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January 2016 – Florida Family Visit

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We had changed up our usual pattern, and instead of coming to Florida for Thanksgiving, we were spending New Years there instead. Brian had to leave work a little early so we could catch an afternoon flight to Tampa, on Dec. 30. Before we even left, I got notified that our flight was delayed 🙁 And by the time we got to the airport, it was delayed further.

We had dinner at the steakhouse restaurant in Concourse C. We’ve eaten here several times and it’s never very good, I don’t know why we keep coming back. It was the start of what would be a very rough night though, maybe some foreshadowing.

Finally we were on the plane, ended up being about and hour-and-a-half delayed. I was hoping the time change would not make our 1am arrival seem quite as miserable, but we were all feeling sleepy and exhausted when the plane finally landed.   Continue reading