Sabbatical Ski Adventure

The morning started early for us both with 4:30 am slow wake.  Typical pre ski ritual with lunch wrap creation, thanks Drake, Hampton coffee and breakfast.  Great to wake up to Chiefs Victory over Ravens!!!  Back to back Super Bowl. 35 min drive to Taos Ski Valley for day1 skiing!!!  7:34 departure.  Arrival at 8:10 where free parking was not clear.  We learned from the shuttle driver we were really quite a ways out.  Tomorrow we will be parking next to a shuttle stop a lot closer to the village.  The following picture from the parking spot where you can see the valley end. The ski village is very small, but a lot like other resorts.  We quickly learned no cell coverage on the mountain. 2nd in lift line when they opened at 9 am.  The mountain is smaller, but gorgeous views.  Tucked in the very back of a valley in the mountains.  Lots of Black Runs and the chutes all around the val...

January 28th is here and with a 4:45 am wake up the trip begins.  Jeff headed out at 6 am to pick up Drake with Janie following.   Sarah strained her back yesterday, so grandma helping by taking Parker for the day and sleep over.  Upon arrival the last packing of Drake's gear and then on the road 6:55 am departure. Starting mileage was 50,170 First pit stop for food and mother nature in Emporia. Drake worked up to the Chiefs game start.  Between radio and Drakes laptop we were able to keep up with the game until the last few mins when we lost coverage. The drive overall was a refreshing change from I70.  After crossing I25 the foothills took over and the drive became a windy mountain drive. Came across several deer in the road and safely got by. Chiefs victory!!!! Taos is a big desert valley with a great skyline and we had the sunset on top.  Check into Hampton (a little tired, but suffices).   ...

Today marks the less than 48 hour window for departure. Drake has a 4 week sabbatical he earned through 7+ years of tenure with Cerner (Oracle). He approached me over 9 months ago with the proposition to do a 4 ski trip. I was in being retired, but then as we started to discuss realized that's a long time for the overall family. We also after our initial mapping of the various mountains determined that any CA ski resorts were outside the realm of reality. So the trip narrowed a week and several mountains to end in our current itinerary. Kansas City to Taos, NM - Telluride, CO - Salt Lake City, UT (Snowbird, Alta, Deer Valley, Park City) - Jackson Hole, WY - Big Sky, MT - and then Summit County for Keystone and Copper. We had Sun Valley, ID in the mix, but with poor conditions and president day pass issues, we opted to change things up and drop that location. We were able to cancel our VRBO and only lost a $90 deposit with 12 hours to spare. Yesterday, I picked u...