Snowmass, Colorado showed us once again that it is the PERFECT ski destination! Twenty-four Floridians and one New Englander landed in Aspen on a beautiful Saturday morning, the start of a wonderful trip!

After checking into our Condos, we had a Wine & Cheese party which was graciously hosted by the Top of the Village staff at their welcome center. A ski instructor spoke to us, stating that all lessons were completely refundable if we weren't satisfied for any reason! Wow! We heard from many staffers that the snow was the best it had been in years and were anxious to hit the slopes!

Sunday morning greeted us with blue skies and fresh powder. What a beautiful day for skiing! Coincidentally, this was also the last day of the Winter X Games. Mickey and Brenda Weed, Ozzie and Marilyn Webster and Chuck and Sonja Ellison braved the cold and the falling snow and took the free shuttle to Buttermilk to watch Shaun "Flying Tomato" White win the Men' Snowboard Superpipe final!

Monday brought heavy snow. Some of our group went into Aspen to shop. I never expected to need sunglasses, but the sun came out during mid-morning and it turned out to be a fabulous day in Aspen. Clair Quenzler visited her usual consignment shops... she knows where they are in every town! To end the day, we had a pizza party in the TOV clubhouse. We all had a great time around the fireplace telling stories. Those who skied commented that all the fresh powder could be a blessing and a curse...

Many of us attended the Burlingame Cabin Dinner during the week, actually hosted at the Lynn Britt cabin because the Burlingame cabin was snowed under! The evening was a lot of fun, starting and ending with a Snow Cat ride. Dinner included barbecued ribs, chicken, and folk entertainment. Speaking of ski stories, John Tribe told a doozie here about an experience at Big Sky... ask him about his collarbone sometime!

Other observations...
John Delafield (our token attendee from Connecticut) couldn't get over how GREAT the snow was and commented many times that this was the BEST skiing he'd ever experienced! (Welcome to SCSC, John!)
Many of us found out too late that La Cantina, Aspen serves huge portions!
Remember to bring plenty of napkins to the free chicken wing buffet at Brothers' Grille!
The Stew Pot - need I say more?
Thanks to Dan "Mountain Man" Deratany for being the Snowmass Encyclopedia (or Wiki, for the younger web-savvy members)
Thanks to Chuck Ellison for showing us the card game '99'
Thanks to the shuttle busses for saving our quads all week!
Did anyone see Chris and Leslie?
The Williammee's had a great time with their family, swapping grandchildren midweek!

All-in-all it was a FABULOUS trip, with beautiful skies and fresh snow everyday. Unfortunately, we did hit a pretty large mogul at the end. Aspen airport closed due to weather (some would say excellent ski conditions - more powder!) so we were bussed by United to the Denver Airport. Arriving at 1am, everyone made the best of it and staked out their sleeping territory on the floor. Linda Gibson gets the award for falling asleep the fastest, she tucked behind her luggage and was out in 3 minutes!

We flew home the next day after a great airport adventure and a wonderful week of skiing!