Tag: Colorado

Tuesday, 22 December 2009 12:00 AM It’s been a long while since I last posted something here. Much has happened in the past year. This summer, I had the chance to visit Colorado again. We stayed for a week, and although I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have if it had been during the winter (so I could’ve gone snowboarding), the vacation turned out to be really fun. For one, I bought myself a snowboard! (Unfortunately, I won’t be going to Colorado this winter; it’s going to be all lonely in the vacation house there.) Hopefully I, along with some of my older cousins and my sister, will be able to go to Colorado for vacation next winter.
Anyway, this summer, I went to Colorado. Two of my younger cousins, their parents, one of my older cousins and his parents, my mom, and myself all went to a vacation house in Winter Park, Colorado. The older cousin’s parents own the house, but everyone in the family is allowed to use it for vacationing. My family really enjoys snowboarding and skiing. I’m not exactly sure why we decided to visit during the summer, but it wasn’t so bad. We opted to drive; of course, me being myself, I slept most of the time.
We did a variety of things while in Winter Park. The first day, one of the first things we did was just drive around, sightseeing. Of course, while we had all already been to Winter Park, Colorado before, it’s so obviously different in the summer. It was odd not seeing snow everywhere. I believe the next thing we did was go to the Base (the snowboarding/skiing park). In the summer they still have attractions there for visitors, but there wasn’t all that much. We only stayed for a little while that day; the adults planned to take us back later in the week to spend the whole day there.
The next day (Tuesday?), I think we went into the city and just browsed the shops. My younger cousins and I painted some pottery again for souvenirs (again, we had done this in the past during winter vacations), and this was also the day I bought a snowboard. I have the mindset that since I spent money buying a snowboard, I’ll be more inclined to return to Colorado so that I can put it to actual use and get my money’s worth out of it.
One day in the week, we drove farther up into the mountains and did some sightseeing in the national park there. In spite of the cold, I really enjoyed the day. I found that being in such fresh air, running around, and hiking up some trails we stopped at really energized me. I also had fun taking pictures of the scenery. I think the pictures I took where rather good for a point-and-shoot camera. According to a sign, at one point we were 12,000 something feet above sea level. I don’t like the picture I have with the sign because the wind was being rather gusty, and kept blowing my hair everywhere. Naturally, it was all in my face as well.
Thursday’s next, right? This is the day we went back to the base. The cousins were allowed to roam about as we pleased; likewise, the adults did want they wanted. They have this one attraction called the Alpine Slide. As hinted to by its name, the ride is a trough-like slide embedded into the mountain side. Since it would be unwise to have it on a slope used during the winter, they placed the ride under a ski lift, winding narrowly back and forth. One sits on a scooter-like device and controls their speed using a lever. Forward to reduce friction and go faster, pulling back engages the break-device. They had two slides – one “fast” lane, and one “slow” lane. The slow lane is probably more family oriented, intended for small kids and their parents riding together; however, sometimes the people in this lane went faster than the people in the “fast” lane. I, of course, tried to go faster with every subsequent ride, leaning forward as far as I could go to make myself more streamlined, leaning into the curves. My cousins and I determined an order to go in. The oldest cousin, Tommy, always went fast, and would go first. I would go next, and not have to worry about having to slow down unless someone in front of Tommy was going extremely slow. After me was my younger cousin, Nguyen. Last of all was his younger sister, Thao. We believe that she couldn’t go above a certain speed because she wasn’t heavy enough. (Her first ride resulted in four or five people trailing along behind her when she reached the bottom.) Other than the slide, we also played putt putt; I really don’t know what to say about this. Tommy was the best (probably more experienced than the rest of us as well), and I suppose it just depended on certain circumstances for the rest of us. Haha, the first time we went through the course, we accidentally skipped a hole.
We also went on the rock-climbing wall. Mmmm, the strenuous activity was invigorating. I enjoyed the physical challenge so much. It was only a small wall, probably only somewhere between twenty and thirty feet tall. It had three sides: easy, medium, and hard. I chose to do the hard one first, then went to the easy one. The medium was the one I did last, and the only one neither I nor Tommy could do. I believe Thao was the only one to reach the top. The main reason was due to the smaller handholds on that side that we older cousins couldn’t get good grips on. My muscles were rather sore the next day; I was so pleased. XD
There was also a maze. Not one a really memorable part of the day, and I won’t elaborate too much on it. The goal of the maze was to find all the letters of a word, hidden throughout the maze, and use the hole punch below each letter to punch out that letter on the card given to us at the beginning of the maze. If we found all the letters and made our way out under a certain time limit, then we would get a small prize. Nguyen was the only one to get a prize.
The last thing we did at the base was ride a lift to the top of the mountain and hike down a trail. Nguyen did not accompany us at this time as he was feeling rather tired and somewhat ill. Tommy and I wanted to go so that we could take pictures of scenery, and Thao just wanted to tag along because it was something to do. Whereas I only have a point-and-shoot, Tommy actually has a professional camera, since photography is a hobby of his. (I believe I’m still waiting for him to upload the photos so that I can see them again.) It’s rather difficult to actually understand how big these mountains really are, especially when traversing them on snowboards and skiis. Hiking down this trail took a good two or three hours, especially with our frequent stops to snap pictures. I really enjoy physical activity, and this was particularly fun. Some parts were rather steep, and somewhat worrisome, even moreso with the loose pebbles and the fact that our shoes were unsuited for hiking.
Friday! Friday, the last day. This day was most exciting; we went rafting down a river. The water was cold, and our guide was very entertaining. We shoved off with two other rafts (the other two rafts occupied by the members of one family), and it was funny to hear the friendly competitive banter between the guides. Tommy and I sat in the front and were the lead rowers; we also got wet the most, probably. The water was cold, but the physical activity kept us warm enough. At one point, the guides offer everyone an opportunity to dive off of this one cliff. Of course, how could I resist? Except, apparently, I pushed off too hard, and the momentum put my body into a nearly horizontal position when I hit the water; needless to say, it was rather painful. Since everyone was required to wear lifejackets at all times, no one sunk too far into the water, and my back was protected from the impact; unfortunately, my bottom wasn’t. I only wish I could’ve gotten a picture of it, since someone on the cliff opposite was stationed to take pictures of people as they dived (all pencil dives). I probably would have had my eyes shut, anyway. Haha, I can still remember hearing everyone go, “Ooohhhh,” in sympathy as they watched me hit the water in my less-than-ideal body position. When we stopped for lunch later, one of the other guides even asked me if I was okay! (I’m a tough girl; I can handle it!)
Over time, we had water sitting in the bottom of the raft from all the times it splashed in as we went through some of the rougher rapids. I wore flip flops, so my feet went numb rather quickly. The guides took good care of us, and no one fell out of the raft at any time. The guides had their own massive oars with them in the back of the raft, and sometimes, they took over completely, allowing us to rest and enjoy the view.
Unfortunately, all the sun exposure caused my lips, the least protected part of my body (my chapstick didn’t have UV protection in it), to become sunburned. The next couple of days was rather painful, especially during mealtimes. Well, at least I know to make sure my chapstick has UV protection whenever I need more.
That takes care of what we did during the days, does it not? As for how we occupied ourselves at night while we were back at the house, we did a variety of things. Sometimes, my cousins and I would play two-on-two foosball (unfortunately, they had already sold the ping-pong table from when there house was up for sale). We also played Cranium a few times, although the teams were almost often unmatched (Tommy and I against Nguyen and Thao – older against younger). I had fun, of course, but I was always on the winning team. When it was close to time to go to sleep, Tommy always retired to his bedroom a little early, and did who knows what. Nguyen, Thao, and I slept in the media room. The most watched channel? The FOOD channel, of course! I particularly enjoyed watching the competitive shows, and shows such as Cake Boss, where they often had elaborate and creative-looking dishes.
Wuhh, looks like this entire entry was about only one week of my summer. So much to write about concerning my past year! If I keep blogging like this, I’ll wind up with a book.
(I apologize for any grammatical/spelling mistakes in this blog. Suck it up, though; I’m too lazy right now to edit it all.) I hope my snowboard doesn’t miss me.