I Descended, A Dusty Gravel Ridge...

There is something to be said about staying in a Ghost Town, which is precisely the state assumed by the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek before and after ski season. Venturing around the "Village," are many shops and restaurants preparing for their annual re-opening upon the return of the snow season at the end of November. We encountered a similar experience when we visited on our Honeymoon in May 2008. At one point, the hotel valet said to us, "You have the place all to yourselves, everyone left after the weekend."  As intrigued as we now are as to the stark contrast of being there during peak season, we felt a little spoiled being able to go anywhere (that was open) without a wait as well as wandering around the resort with seeing only a few other guests.  

There is also something to be said when it comes to going on the same getaway vacation after having children and feeling as if your body has aged 10 years instead of 3.5. The afternoon we arrived at Beaver Creek, I crawled into bed at 3pm and didn't get back out until 7 the next morning. I asked Elliott to order Domino's instead of taking me out. The previous two nights before leaving, I spent awake (packing and prepping) past midnight with only a few short hours of sleep in between. During the trip, I was popping fiber gummies and heading to the gym (see the second to last picture of my view from the elliptical) instead of gorging and loafing. Believe me, the after effects of such indulging (whether or not I'm on vacation) are intensified when pregnant. On our second to last day, I woke up with a migraine, nausea (sparing the details) and body aches and wound up soaking in a warm bath... at 5am. Thus, we actually didn't end up going to our "happy place"--Glenwood Springs! Slightly heartbreaking (I wanted to see Doc Holliday's grave), but on the other hand--we relaxed. In bed. Curtains open revealing the constant snowfall. All day. Now, I am certainly the last one to complain about my "hard vacation" because it was nothing short of liberating and relaxing. Just--insightful. Slightly awakening. And most of all, amusing to note the differences between 18 and no kids, and 22 with one and another on the way. It was great, and it taught me a thing or two about the vacation side of vacation--not the "doing" side of vacation. I miss it already. On a different note the hotel's premier restaurant (as in, we opted to just get dessert instead of a full meal there premier) hosts Thanksgiving dinner. I think one of these years, we will take our boys, ski a little (maybe not so much me), and vacation the holiday away. 

On a related note to that note, the dessert we got was unbelievable. It was a goat cheese brownie (have I mentioned how goat cheese is my favorite cheese? Really, it is.) drizzled in salted caramel, served a la mode. Heaven. Actually, most everywhere we ate in Colorado was heaven. What we missed out on doing activity-wise, we certainly compensated in the food area (I mean, Cap'n Crunch French Toast)?!