I made the 12+ hour drive to Denver yesterday, stopped by AM’s house to pick up my skis and poles and headed up to my hotel, the Hampton Inn in Golden, Co. I’ll tell you about my drive in another post.

Today, I got up, made myself a sandwich, I decided I didn’t want to pay $15+ for a sandwich at the resort! The drive was beautiful, the first thing I saw when I left the hotel was the painted sky, the clouds look like brush strokes, amazing and breathtaking, it was hard to look away! Each of the resorts have put serious restrictions on their properties, to keep people safe, one of them is making reservations for days to ski. I chose Keystone for Thursday and Friday and it’s about an hour drive from the hotel. There wasn’t a lot of snow on the way up, even when I got through the tunnel, not a lot, but it was still beautiful. Can’t beat it!

On the drive, no matter where I am staying, I always stop at the Georgetown Gateway Visitor Center. I actually stop there on the way up and the way back, if there is traffic, it’s a nice opportunity to stretch my legs, there’s a restroom, and now it’s tradition or habit. They had some great signs for social distancing, made me laugh so I had to share!

I got to Keystone, and one of the things I love about skiing there is free parking!!! There is a lot more, but free parking is fabulous and when I park, all I have to do is walk from the car to the lift. Now…the thing I do not love about skiing, at all, is the boots, trying to clip the higher buckles. I covet snow boarder boots! Look at them! Slide your foot in, lace them up! Ski boots…wiggle and shove your foot in and get the buckles snapped, not an easy feat! I should not sweat before I start skiing! OMG! AM did give me a good tip, keep them buckled when I’m not using them and keep them by a heater before you put them on, it helped, but not enough, ugh! I would pay someone to get my boots buckled, seriously! I actually thought it would be a good side business, all you do is buckle and unbuckle a person’s ski boots!

Whew, boots buckled, it’s time to ski! I walked through the resort, it looks like a cute alpine village and an easy walk to the gondola, after a quick bio break. Up the mountain, I had a gondola to myself, and a chance to cool off! Turns out having a mask on with a hat and four layers on top can make you a bit toasty!

Got to the top, put my skis on, took a look at the view, breathtaking, pushed off and away we went! Another thing I love about skiing at Keystone is the slopes, they are wide and open and the powder is fabulous. All level of skiers go down these slopes, you’ll find newbies through experienced on the Easy Green Dots, Medium Blue Squares, as you can imagine. The more experienced or think they are experienced on the Black Diamond or Double Diamond.

None of the slopes are ever crowded, even when they don’t take reservations, you can ski freely, always just checking that there isn’t anyone right above you that you might cut off. There are even some slopes you might be skiing on your own, not another skier in sight, possibly for the entire run, until you get to the bottom.

The resort requires everyone to wear a mask and they have staff members checking and giving out masks if you aren’t wearing one. The only place we didn’t social distance were waiting on the lift lines, but the chairs themselves, they were only letting a certain number of people on at a time, I actually had every gondola and chair lift to myself, not complaining, mind you! Although, one of the things I’ve enjoyed in the past was chatting with folks about their day as we ride up. Oh well…this is what it is right now.

The runs were great, I got on the skis and it was like I hadn’t been off them! I did mostly greens and a few blues. One of the blues was great until I got to a middle section and looked down and psyched myself out! I started edging down the slope slowly, then said to myself, ‘grow a pair!’ and I did and away I went!

I got to the bottom and realized I was hungry, so I took a break, sat on a bench and had a sandwich. It was a nice feeling, sitting in the sun, while it’s cold out, just enjoying the moment. All of sudden, all of us that were sitting there together heard a noise and looked up and saw a row of skis and snowboards that were leaning up against a railing fall down. It was like one of those scenes in a movie when a domino effect happens, then I realized my skis were in there! Not to worry, it’s all good.

After sitting for a few more minutes, I realized I was done for the day, kind of tired and I don’t need to go back up there. The beauty of a ski pass is that you don’t have to spend the entire day skiing, you can ski a few hours and be done, and that was what I decided, I was done. I headed back to the car, took off my boots and ski pants, put on my fabulous furry winter boots and went back to walk around the resort for a bit, you never know what you might find.

Now, it’s time to head back to the hotel, I took a right and went through the Loveland Pass and oh my, is it beautiful! It was also 45 degrees and I decided to put the top down, and away I went! Just hoping it wouldn’t snow while the top was down. The drive was absolutely stunning! It was hard to keep my eyes on the road, only because I really wanted to marvel at my surroundings. The mountains, the snow, the ice, the beauty of it all, the absolute splendor.

The rest of the drive was normal, beautiful, but normal! I stopped at the Georgetown Gateway Visitor Center, of course! Then back to the hotel, a nice, uneventful drive!

Tomorrow…Keystone again! Who knows what will happen!