“Look down the mountain, moving forward into the future, not back to the past.” – Lee Sky, Breckenridge Ski Instructor

First up, 3 weeks of skiing in Vail. Our arrival was timed perfectly with the best snow Vail got in 5 years, so we explored the mountain daily and took side trips to Beaver Creek, Keystone, and Breckenridge. We made new friends (shout out to my friend Lauren’s awesome boyfriend Greg who lives in Edwards. He not only kept us company on some of our ski days, but also gave us a personal tour of Beaver Creek and towed our two-wheel drive Jeep out of an ice divot in the parking lot on a particularly cold day). By the time we packed in our skis for the year, we’d skied about 300,000 vertical feet for the season, not too shabby! Also, I saw a weasel outside my window one day; weasels are adorable.

We also spent quality time with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins in Denver. We took in a Nuggets-Raptors game in floor seats, courtesy of my Uncle being awesome, which was a blast. Phil looked like a kid on Christmas morning in those seats and I’m pretty sure he’s now strategizing ways to watch all future basketball games like that!

— Erika