Beaver Creek Trip: The Pines Lodge, Skiing Day 1

A few weekends ago, I was lucky enough to be invited on Ken’s office’s annual ski trip. They go to Colorado every year around the Super Bowl – some year’s they’ve gone to Vail but this year the trip was at Beaver Creek. Ken and I headed there a bit early so we could get some extra skiing in before the rest of his office arrived in Colorado. The Ritz-Carlton, where we stayed with Ken’s office, was fully booked for the first two nights so we stayed at The Pines Lodge, a ski-in/ski-out resort that was cozy and close to the slopes. Right before we arrived in Colorado, they had a lot of snow (over two feet!) so we were really lucky because the skiing conditions were great. They didn’t have great snow until then so there were a lot of locals also skiing during the weekend, but we skied on Monday and Tuesday as well when the slopes were completely empty, except for us. The Pines Lodge from our room:

Another shot of the beautiful snow:

The Pines Lodge had a cozy lodge feel with lots of pine everywhere. The wood used for all of the cabinets was actually quite beautiful:

There was even a nice large bathtub for soaking after a long day on the slopes:

The best part about the Pines Lodge was the outdoor hot tub and swimming pool – both heated so you can go in year-round:

After we arrived and unpacked on Friday night, we got a good night’s rest and prepared to wake up super early on Saturday morning so we could ski all day. On Saturday morning, Ken and I ate at the breakfast buffet (lots of protein from the eggs and black beans) and then went to the ski shop to get our gear for the two days we were staying at the lodge. I layered with multiple turtlenecks (Lululemon sports tank, then heat-tech from Uni-qlo, a cashmere turtleneck, and my jacket kept me warm on the slopes):

The weather each day on the slopes was perfect – blue skies, sunny, and cold but not too cold. On the first day, we skied around Arrowhead, Bachelor Gulch and Beaver Creek to get a lay of the land:

After a full day of skiing and a super tiring trek to return to our hotel (when we were trying to ski back to the hotel, we took the wrong path and ended up at a random resort REALLY far from our hotel!), we did a little apres ski at the Pines Lodge, where they set up a little hot chocolate, apple cider, hot green tea and warm chocolate chip cookies. We had an amazing first day of skiing by ourselves and were so exhausted by the end of the day that we fell asleep around 10pm! Perfect Saturday in Beaver Creek.

AFC Championship Game!

A few weekends ago, Ken secured tickets to the AFC championship game in Boston (The Patriots vs. the Ravens). We were going to entertain some of his clients and went the night before to meet up with his friend, Jon, who recently moved from Chicago to Boston for work. We met up at Del Frisco’s by the water (it was much trendier than the one in New York) and had a nice dinner while catching up with John:

After eating, however, I had terrible food poisoning and thought I was going to die (seriously, the last time I had food poisoning that bad, I was in Paris and was in the hotel room for a solid three days. On the plus side, I had never looked so thin afterwards…but I’m just kidding. Kind of). The next day, we met up with Ken’s clients and took them to the game at Gillette Stadium. I wasn’t eating solid food and had no energy; luckily, we were sitting in the company box seats and were able to sit for the majority of the game:

I thought it would be super warm the entire game since we were upstairs away from the field, but they open the windows right when the game starts because then you can hear the cheering and feel like you’re closer to the field:

They had a ton of blankets and I wore my jacket the entire time, but I was so happy when we left the game (I also predicted, correctly, that the Ravens would win.) The drive back from Boston was pretty quick, mostly because I was asleep for it and Ken was driving. I recovered from food poisoning but then had throat problems from throwing up so much. That, combined with the flu, was how I spent the end of January. Luckily, I recovered right in time for our trip to Colorado (more on that next week!)

Killington Ski Resort

After a super fun trip to San Diego with Ken’s family, we had a relaxing New Year’s Eve dinner with Kristen and Wai-Sing. We were saying how it would be great to go to Vermont before going to Colorado since we hadn’t skied all year – by the time Kristen and Wai-Sing left for the night, we were talking logistics of getting to Vermont for the weekend. By the next day, we were able to rent a car, rent a condo, and get two days of skiing in – an amazing feat since all of the plans were made in a matter of days.

On Friday after work, Ken and I met up at Kristen and Wai-Sing’s apartment and drove from the city to Vermont. We stayed in a super nice condo at Killington – we bought groceries to cook dinner at night, took the bus to the ski resort in the morning, and had a really fun time skiing together. The weather in Vermont was ridiculously cold – even under my three layers of heat-tech and cashmere, I was still freezing! Here I am getting my skis ready for the day:

Ken had a private ski lesson in the morning so Kristen, Wai-Sing and I found the trails we liked before meeting up with Ken after lunch. Look at the perfect conditions:

After Ken’s lesson, we met up with him and he felt a lot more confident skiing with us for the rest of the day:

The snow covered trees were really beautiful – here’s Kristen and Wai-Sing before going down a run:

Look at how bundled up Kristen is!!

After a full day of skiing on Saturday, we went back to our condo, cooked up a really delicious dinner (steak, broccoli and mushrooms), set off the fire/smoke alarm, and played card games and drank wine until we passed out at 10pm. On Sunday, the conditions weren’t as good (not as sunny) but it was another fun day of skiing before heading back into the city. Me and Ken on day two:

We left Vermont around 3pm and arrived home in time to get groceries, do laundry and get ready for the week. It was a really fast trip to Vermont but definitely doable – we plan on going back before the ski season is over!

Pelly’s Fish Market Cafe

After driving back from Disneyland, we decided to drive somewhere for dinner instead of getting room service. We actually drove by Pelly’s Fish Market on Christmas Eve but they were closing up as we were walking in; luckily, they were open on the 29th so we stopped in for dinner:

The cafe is on the right side and the left side has the fish that they sell to customers. You can pick the type of fish you want, the way you want it cooked, and what kind of marinade you want with your fish. I chose the mahi mahi with the Pelly’s original marinade:

Ken ordered the red snapper with teriyaki sauce:

And we also ordered some lobster tacos to share:

Me and Ken with Ken’s parents on our double date:

The food is decent; fresh and no frills, but I didn’t find the food to be that amazing (maybe I was a little let down because I wasn’t a huge fan of the Pelly’s marinade…the cashier REALLY talked it up!) The fish is caught daily and you can buy it by the pound to grill yourself, so that might be the better choice if you plan on visiting Pelly’s.

Disneyland!

After our fun trip to the San Diego Zoo, we planned one more touristy thing to do in California: going to Disneyland! I hadn’t been since I was a kid (around Christmas-time, too) so I was looking forward to the trip, even though the last time I was at Disneyworld, I though the roller coaster rides were kind of tame. We drove to Anaheim early in the morning and got right into Disneyland without too much traffic.

The park is actually really small – it was easy to meet up with Flo, Paul, the kids and Teresa and Adam – we met at the statue of Walt Disney with Mickey:

We were right on time for the morning parade – here we are waiting for the parade to start:

They had a ton of large Christmas trees (we went on the 29th of December):

Ken and Charley waiting for the parade to start:

Me and Ken:

We were lucky enough to get a fast pass to Space Mountain (thanks to Ken being very convincing to the guys in line) and ended up riding Space Mountain, Star Tours, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The guys gave us enough fast passes so we didn’t have to stand in any lines. Star Tours felt like being in a car accident where you were repeatedly shaken and didn’t have airbags but Space Mountain and Big Thunder were both really fun. The only roller coaster we didn’t have a chance to ride was the Matterhorn bobsleds (they didn’t accept fast passes and the wait for that ride was at least two hours). After riding the fun stuff, we met up with Sammy at the gift shop before heading home:

The ride home wasn’t too bad – we were pretty exhausted from hanging out with the kids but I was really grateful that we didn’t have to stand in line all day!