Sabbatical Ski Adventure

David and Christa had a 3:00 a.m. wake up call for a 5:30 a.m. flight to start the trek back to Indianapolis.  Janie, Logan, Sarah and Parker all headed out at 7:40 for their 9:55 a.m. flight back to Kansas City.  Shoe line up! Drake and Jeff did the close out of the VRBO with a room to room check and then headed out for fuel, ice and the trek to Jackson, WY.  Bright blue sky after a week of clouds and snow. As web passed Logan, UT the KC crew was on the plane.  Rumor has it Janie left her black carry on in rental and had to trek back and barely made the check in time limit for luggage. So much for being on time for flight.  Text from grandma said they had a crew change and deice process before departure. Ran into snow not far into ID! Sara picked up Breck from kennel to take home.  He had the dumb dumb zoomies.  Searching floor board for something to eat or lick.  A little later got a call from from Sar...

Today is a travel day from Grand Junction to Salt Lake City (Draper) where our VRBO is located.  Drake drove and the first pit stop before the drive was McDonald, Starbucks and the. Phillips 66 to top off the tank.  The pit chief was pleased with the turn around time! Like so many of the legs so far the views along the route are just so hard to describe.  Plateaus, desert, and cloud clear down to the ground.  The first fog bank was fun to see and quick drive through.  The second bank down the road had us slow down and was with us for 15 mins. The drive was 3.5 hours and our arrival was timed to meet the early travelers for brunch.  The early fliers had a successful flight and Parker is rumored to have done great with her own seat. A few seconds of nap time. Driving scenic pics at 85 miles per hour.  Speed limit in Utah is 80 mph. The Oak Wood Fire Kitchen was a hit and Parker enjoy...

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...