Being the husband of a teacher, with 2 kids that are students in the same district pretty much means I get one really good vacation with my family each year. While I work the rest of the year (including summers when the rest of the family travels) we all get a week to ourselves in April, and spring break with the family is my favorite time of the year!

This year we exchanged our timeshare for a stay at the Grand Timber Lodge in Breckenridge, Colorado. We knew we would only have enough cash for a day of skiiing at best, but we felt it was worthwhile. The accommodations we got at Breckenridge were not nearly as spacious as in Florida, but we were right on the slopes… even though we were driving around the area as we always do.

We left on Friday morning from Wilmington, OH, and stayed Friday night in Topeka, KS. Then we were off early the next morning for Breckenridge. On Sunday morning, the kids and I went to church at a church of Christ near Lake Dillon where they had a baptism! Rachel picked us up and we had lunch and began planning for the week having been unsure of the weather when we left. The temps were in the 50s and 60s all week, with blue skies except for one or two days where we had some snow. But the weather was great.

We did go skiiing on Tuesday, after finding a good price on rentals and buying EXPENSIVE lift tickets. Keystone’s “A Basin” was the best deal, but the slopes were pretty steep and Katie had only gone skiing 2-3 times, James only 1 time. So we ended up at Keystone’s main lifts. The morning was great, but was slow with everyone getting their ski feet on. Dad finally got away to try some tough slopes, but by then they were pretty mushy. Temsp were around 60 so the fast down-hills were soupy!

Due to the conditions, and James having exhausted himself snow-plowing all day, we called it quits around 4:00 pm. That was tough, but we were all unhurt and happy. Katie told us “that was really really fun” on our way to the resort. That was worth it all. James was frustrated, but was doing well, even with dad’s short patience when he gave mom a break to ski with Katie. All fun!

The rest of the week was in exploring and eating out (too often). My favorite discovery came when we were looking for a snowmobile rental. We drove down this gravel/sand road to find they were closed for the season, but Rachel noticed a park sign and we went to investigate. On our way into Breckenridge (yes, we drove) I noticed these big piles of gravel near all the small streams. I could not tell if they were run-offs or some sort of dredging. Well the sign Rachel saw answered that question. Back in the late 1800’s, while looking for gold in small glacial streams, folks built these dredger boats, and they would float in small ‘ponds’ in the creeks, dredging out all the boulders, rocks, sediment AND gold. This they did day after day, slowly moving the boats up stream.

The sign Rachel noticed was for a dredger that was stopped in its tracks, and was still sitting in a pond many decades after citizens put a stop to the destruction the dredgers were doing to the streams.

There is lots more we did, including another trip to Colorado’s Garden of the Gods park of amazing and inspiring rocks twisted into positions that they were not intended to have.

I was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and that state will always be my true home. I love Ohio, but nothing can compare with the mountains and waterways of Colorado! If only the pot heads and dispensaries were not there…

Other things we saw on our adventures around Colorado were: petrified redwood tree stumps at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument; antelope and mule deer (sadly no bear or moose); the remains of an old dredger; mountains, hills, streams, rivers; lead and gold mining equipment from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s; rock features; antique malls; new places to eat; blue skies; and snow-covered trails to hike on.

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