Now this is going to insane. I really don't know what the hell I was thinking. But originally, the plan was to rent an RV, drive to Colorado and stay at a RV park! However, a couple of months prior to our trip we heard of a tragic accident involving black ice on the roads. That scared the mess out of me and I decided we should not go. Then, my oldest asked if I had looked into the flights.
"Ugh... ok," I reluctantly agreed to look into it. After days of him coming home from school asking me about it, one day we sat down and looked at the airline prices. To my un-excitement they were not expensive. We end up flying Spirit for less than $200 a ticket round trip.
Our Itinerary:
Day 1- arrived at the airport; got our rental car. The lady at the rental car asked if I wanted an SUV instead of mini van. When I found out the price of the SUV, I decided to stick with the van! HUGE HUGE HUGE MISTAKE! The drive up the mountain was beautiful. Once we reached the top, we found our condo, put away our luggage, and went exploring. After crossing the street from out condo we became stuck in the snow. Partly because I was having problems with the car or maybe partly because of my unfamiliarity with driving on those types of roads.
What I can say is when you suddenly go up 10,000 feet in elevation your body gets lethargic very quickly. I crashed when I realized the sun had set and we were stuck on side the road. However, at this moment I got to see my kids step up and take charge. It was a beautiful sight. My oldest son, kept saying, "Mama we can push this van out of the snow!" And they attempted at least 20 times. The whole gang. But, my middle son realized that their was a parking light on in the van that would not go off. He googles how to turn the light off and gave multiple suggestions! "Mama, cut the van off. Start the van. Let's put our seat belt on....." he suggested. Then, when nothing seemed to work, I just burst into tears and my daughter did her best to comfort me. I was literally crying my eyes out, because we were stuck and i was so damn tired!!!! This story would've been great if the kids were successful in getting the van out of the snow, but I still got to see my kids respond when mama can't respond.
Finally, a tow truck arrived and I called the rental cars road side service.
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| Here is the deserted location where we were stranded |
Day 2- We had NO rental car. Enterprise had to bring another one from the airport and we had no idea how long that would take. I scheduled lessons for this morning, so we had to figure out how to ride Winter Park Bus Shuttle. Here was the next phase of our adventure. Trying to figure out how to ride a bus in a strange place. In today's time, we are so used to turning on our GPS and just going. We actually had to use our brain and in hindsight it was pretty cool. Once we arrived at the "BASE" of the mountain a whole new world opened up. There was people everywhere skiing, snowboarding, getting on the lifts, taking lessons, and pulling wagons with babies.
The crew got their rental equipment and headed off to the slopes.
After one 1/2 day lesson, they felt like they were some skiers!
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| Hold up, Lil man! You're not old enough for Ski School! |
By the end of this day we got another rental car.
Day 3- This morning I scheduled a Snow Cat Tour to take us deep into the mountain. Now that we had a car you would think everything would be smooth sailing. But noooo...... We got to the resort on time. However, we had to park and wait for the resort bus to take us to the base of the mountain. We arrived 10 minutes late for our tour and we end up missing it! Ya'll this whole trip was just one thing after another. Luckily for us, we were able to get on the next tour, but we had to wait two hours for that.
Riding the Snow Cat all the way to the top of the mountain opened my eyes to a whole world up there that one would not be able to see if they don't take the lifts up. There are a couple of restaurants and trails for days. But the snow cat was a spacious and cozy way to see the other side of the mountain.
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| One of the nicer restaurants at the top of the mountain |
Final Day: We woke up to a snow! Our first time ever seeing snow fall like this and it was a beautiful sight. However, we had to drive 2 hours back to the airport in this snow. I guess it was time for another adventure!
1. Obviously, ski clothes and coat. Ski bibs are like waterproof overalls that are thick and will keep you warm. You can find plenty of these for kids in the thrift store. Adult sizes are a little harder to find. But I did manage to have luck with finding them. Every packing list will tell you to dress in layers.
For months, I shopped for ski clothes. Eventually, I was able to find ski pants, coats, and sweaters for an unrealistic amount of money. One store had EVERYTHING for $2! I found ski bibs! Boots! Thick Columbia coats! But please know that I did not find all this at one store at one time. If you are going to thrift you have to have patience. The only items I purchased online from amazon was wool socks, goggles (reluctantly), and all the kids got a set of thermals to serve as their base layer under their clothes.
2. Wool socks- they help keep your feet warm and dry. Cotton socks will sweat easily in the snow boots.
3. Goggles- I did not want to buy them because I did not know the importance of them. However, I found a 3 pack on amazon for $12 and I know understand the importance of them. I was very reluctant to buy these but I understand the importance of them now. Every ski trip packing list will instruct you to get these, because that sun and snow mixture is a BRIGHT BRIGHT combination!
TRANSPORTATION TIPS
The most important thing you should know is to stay away from driving if you are not used to driving up and down the mountain, in snow, or ice. I am so serious. Just don't do it! The day was beautiful getting to the resort, but on the way home it consisted of me being very focused and praying the whole 45 minutes it too for us to descend from the mountain. The roads had ice on them. It was snowing. One of the scariest things I ever did in my life. However, I kept a pace of 15 mph and just took my time.
SKI LESSONS/LEFT TICKETS/ SKI EQUIPMENT RENTALS
You want to invest in the lessons. Winter Park the lessons/lift tickets/ski gear rentals are overpriced, but to find cheaper prices you have to travel extremely far from the airport. I decided to get as close to the airport as possible which was still a 90 minute drive up the mountain on a clear day. Leaving, it was snowing with ice on the road and the trip took over 2 hours.
