Keystone, Colorado - Day 1

After two and half years the trip to Keystone, Colorado is complete! It's hard to believe it was two and half years ago when Jim, Sarah, Jill, Nicole, Laurie and myself were enjoying a few cocktails at Wakonda Club for a fundraiser benefiting the Young Variety Club. At the time it sounded like a great idea to bid on a one-week trip to Keystone. We didn't take into consideration the challenges of coordinating six people's crazy schedules.... Last winter we all decided the trip would be August 7-14, 2010. This week was significant for one of our dear friends, Sarah, as she would graduate from Physician Assistant school in Mesa, AZ on August 7th and her 32nd birthday was the 14th. So there perfect time to head up the mountains and celebrate many accomplishments and milestones!

In the end 9 people ventured to Keystone - Jim and I, Meghan, Nicole, and Jill (from Des Moines, IA), Sarah (Mesa, AZ), and Megan, Brian and Kurt (Omaha, NE). Meghan, Nicole, Jill, Jim and I hit the road Friday, August 6th at 6pm from Des Moines. The cars were loaded up with enough food for an army, four mountain bikes, golf clubs, air mattress, and plenty of books.

You would think we were staying for a month!

Instead of driving straight for 10 hours we made an overnight stop at the O'Dea's house in Kearney. Our heads hit the pillows soon after rolling in. We woke up early to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and warm goodies to start our day off on the right foot.

We pulled into Keystone a little later than planned after hitting heavy traffic outside of Denver. I guess everyone had the same idea - hit the cool mountains! Once we arrived into Keystone, Jim and I stopped in to check-in only to get the wrong directions to our condo! Oh well it landed us in the Keystone resort area of River Run. We sat back ordered a late lunch, delicious pizza at Pizza on the Run as we waited for Meghan, Jill and Nicole to arrive and join us for our first cockail at Parrot Eyes.

Enjoying the first drink after a long day in the car!

We toasted to a great week in Keystone and headed to the condo where we all unpacked our many bags of goodies and laid back to rest before the week of activities started. For any of you who know Jim his idea of a vacation is to be as active as possible so I knew I had to relax as this would be the last of it until I was home! Saturday night ended with all of hitting the bed early so we could start the week off refreshed! The best part of the first night was the cool 50 degrees outside which meant the windows were open letting that cool, fresh mountain air in. A great finish to day one!

I don't think I picked up a book until I was back in the car a week later!