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Archive for January, 2008

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Ski country, snow sculpture contest

Sunday, January 27th, 2008

Last weekend we spent the whole weekend working on the house. We went to Lowe’s, installed a door bell and a ceiling fan, and cleaned. So this weekend was dedicated entirely to having fun. I started by attending the symphony with Carin on Friday, they were playing The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky which is her favorite and it was a really great show.
Saturday Dave and I got up at 5:00am and headed to the mountains. We had free lift tickets for Sol Vista, which a lot of people say ‘oh, that place is not very good, all the runs are easy’ which is perfect for us! Actually Dave is becoming quite a good skiier but between my bum knee and my extreme fear of going down hill at high rates of speed I stay on the baby slopes. We took the dogs with us, they relaxed while we skied and when we got done we took them on a nice snowshoe hike.
When we were done, we drove to Silverthorne where we had a cheap dog-friendly hotel room reserved. It was OK and was right next to a neat steakhouse called The Mint where they have a grill and you cook your own steak! It was fun.
Sunday, we drove the 10 miles from there into Breckenridge where they had just finished the International Snow Carving Competition. We got to check out all sculpures, it was amazing.

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Looking down at Sol Vista ski area.

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Dave and Woody along the trail.

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This is Woody’s ‘fresh powder’ action shot.

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Lily snow sculpture.

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Horse snow sculpture.

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This is the entry that took first place and I can see why. It was done by a team from China and is a traditional Chinese hunter. The detail is amazing.

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Some of the sponsor’s snow carvings you could goof around and pose with, so I’m tending the lemonade stand.

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The view looking out over frozen Lake Dillon.

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Advice for potential all-inclusive resort goers

Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

Since I recently returned from an all-inclusive holiday in Los Cabos a couple of my co-workers have asked for advice on choosing a ‘go on your own’ or all-inclusive, and if an all-inclusive turned out to be the best deal they were looking for tips on what is good and bad about this kind of vacation. I figured I’d post some of the tips here to continue trying to keep this blog as travel-related as possible.

1. We noticed that a lot of families and bigger groups traveling together favor all-inclusive type resorts. This makes sense, you don’t have arguing over where to eat, where to meet, etc. It definitely makes sense for bigger groups.

2. If you get a good enough deal on the trip (which can be the case when they run special offers) you can afford to have some meals away from the resort and still save money over a do-it-yourself vacation. This will give you a break from the monotony of the resort food and hopefully get you out into some local joints. Try street food stalls, they are inexpensive so you won’t feel like you’ve paid double, once to the resort and once to the restaurant.

3. If you go on an all-day trip have the resort restaurant pack a lunch for you, unless the location you are visiting has good food. It’s all-inclusive so they are normally happy to make a sandwich and throw you some fruit. This will help you feel like you are getting your money’s worth.

4. Some of these resorts are huge and environmentally irresponsible. If this is a concern for you stay at the (relatively) smaller resorts and research their policies before you book your trip.

5. If the resort has a non-buffet meal option try to eat that as much as possible. Our resort had only one restaurant with a non-buffet style and it was only that way at dinner. Three buffets a day is not only bad for your waistline but also bad for your morale. Buffets are great once in a while but sometimes you just want a nice, hot, fresly cooked meal.

6. Don’t drink the booze. No, wait, keep reading I’m not talking crazy. Stick with beer or order specifically what kind of alcohol you want in your drink. I noticed at the resort where we stayed the vodka they had behind the bar was called ‘Blat’. I think that might have been a description of what would happen if you drank it. They had good brands also, but you have to specifically ask for them. I made the mistake of drinking ‘mohitos’ with whatever they put in them and woke up with a stomach ache the next morning. My husband claims the stomach ache could have been a result of the number of them I drank but I know it was from the quality! 🙂

7. All-inclusive resorts are very friendly. You won’t meet many locals (even the people who worked at our resort had grown up other parts of Mexico and moved there for the job) but you’ll meet lots of other tourists. Everyone wants to talk and buy you a drink (ha ha, they’re free). Just don’t get talked in to doing shots with any Canadians in their 20s. You can’t keep up. Nor do you want to!

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