Never a Wasted Weekend

     So I've been getting lazy with my posts lately, as it has once again been nearly two weeks since I last posted.  The first weekend since my last post was epic.  The gang hit up Vail for the first time this season and it was everything we could have hoped for.  Despite the poor driving conditions and traffic, the snowboarding conditions were unbelievable with tons of new powder and enough acreage to avoid it seeming too crowded.  We drove in early Saturday and got in a good days worth of boarding before heading to our hotel in Eagle, where we housed ten people in the confines of a six person room.  Sunday is where the real fun began as we spent the day weaving in and out of trees and fresh powder, boarding predominantly black diamond runs.  Our skills on the mountain have greatly outstripped anything I imagined at the start of the season when I strapped into a snowboard for the first time.
     As if the two days of snowboarding were not adventure enough, the drive home was like nothing we could have ever expected.  We got on the highway at around five o'clock and everything seemed smooth with minimal traffic.  About fifteen miles later we were at a complete standstill, where we stayed for around two hours.  As night began to fall, cars turned off their engines in order to save fuel and we tried to find ways to keep our minds occupied.  People would get out of their cars and go on walks as the snow came down, accumulating around an inch before we finally got moving again.  Little did we know, we were lucky to have left Vail when we did; the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) shut down the highway east-bound from Vail starting at 5:30pm, not re-opening until 1:30am.
     Finally moving again, it was smooth sailing once more until we hit halted traffic at Silverthorne.  We decided this time to get off the interstate to get some dinner.  During this time CDOT closed the highway eastbound from Silverthorne, leaving us unable to get back on the highway.  Not knowing when the highway would be re-opened, we decided to park in a Sports Authority parking lot and take a nap, periodically checking the radio to see if they opened the interstate back up.  After about an hour, we were finally clear to head back into the unknown of I-70.  Apparently the hold-ups and closures came about because there was a 25 car pileup further down the interstate due to icy road conditions.  As we napped, CDOT was able to clear the accidents, plow the road some more, and de-ice the highway enough to allow cars back on the interstate.  When it was all said and done and we had gotten back home, it was 2am, meaning it took us nine hours to get all the way from Vail to Denver, a journey which usually takes two hours or so.  Despite the ordeal, we all deemed the weekend a success and I know I'll be looking forward to boarding at Vail again in the future.

Some photos from the weekend:

     This past week was extremely warm, regularly reaching temperatures in the 50s and 60s.  After a greatly entertaining Friday night out in downtown Denver, we awoke Saturday morning to catch team USA in action against Russia in Olympic hockey group play.  The shootout win by the Americans made for a perfect early morning primer for the even bigger game to follow: Purdue v Indiana basketball.  Purdue unexpectedly crushed the Hoosiers, while I watched with five Indiana grads and one fellow Boilermaker.  The two games had me in good spirits, despite not getting out to enjoy the weather that Saturday.  Sunday however, I knew I had to get out and go for a hike of some sort.  After checking around for a short time online, I found a hike half an hour south of me for which I set my sites.
     I hopped into my car and drove to the Spruce Mountain trailhead.  The trail was not in the best condition at some points, because the wooded areas did not have enough sun to melt the snow over the trail.  Despite this, the 5.5 mile trail was quite satisfying.  There were solid views, good elevation change, and great weather to tie it all together.  Here are some pictures from the hike...

"On to the Next One"

     Since I last posted I have been quite busy with work and after-work activities.  The first week after my last post these activities included two days of pick-up basketball at the gym and two days of indoor soccer with guys from work.  That Saturday we actually did not go boarding because the Indiana Pacers were in town to play the Denver Nuggets and Cale had two lower-level tickets he had received from  his parents.  With both JD and I vying for that second ticket, we ended up flipping a coin to decide who would get it.  Though I lost this coin flip, we hashed out a deal in which JD would get the lower-level seat for the first and fourth quarters while I would get it for the second and third.  We then purchased a second ticket in the upper deck for which we would sit when not down in the "plush" seats with Cale.  Here's just a snippet of the difference in seat quality I'm talking about...

Though the Pacers lost (one of very few all season), we still had a great time seeing the blue and gold suit up

   
     Earlier in the day, I took advantage of another great day of weather by picking a random nearby hike and venturing out by myself to enjoy the day.  It was warm enough to wear shorts and a long-sleeve t-shirt in the foothills and more specifically Myer Ranch Park.  There I was able to fit in about a five mile hike while wandering aimlessly from one short trail to the next until I circled back to the parking lot.  The views weren't fantastic for Colorado; however, it was nice to be able to get any outdoors hike in during the middle of January.  Here are a few pictures from my mini-adventure (keep in mind I had no one to take my picture for me so I did what I could in some spots)...

     The following week I was scheduled to return to my Alma Mater in order to help recruit some interns out to Colorado.  It was great to return to the old stomping grounds and see a lot of my friends whom I hadn't seen in many months.  It was almost equally rewarding to be in the opposite position in the job search process as I had been for so many years.  After flying out on a Wednesday morning we (I was accompanied by two others) opened the search for candidates with an informal social that night, followed by a day of meeting students at the job fair on Thursday.  Friday was taken up by interviewing a select few candidates and concluding the day with me bidding farewell to my two colleagues who were headed back to Denver that night.  Afterwards, I was free to dispose of my weekend as I pleased before leaving on Sunday morning.
     I took advantage of this time to catch up and have a good time with many people I had left back at school last Spring.  One of the weirdest feelings was that, in leaving school I had left many people who had also graduated just like me.  These people moved to different cities across the country as well; however, it still felt like I should be seeing them back at school since that was where I last left them.  It's also very bittersweet because as great as it is to be back and meeting up with so many of your friends, it is also a reminder that those great times are fleeting and many other friends and acquaintances of the past you may never be able to spend time with again, especially not as a group.  Though I have had a good deal of experience with building friendships over the course of summers or school years only to have to say goodbye at the end of the day, it is still sometimes a tough pill to swallow.
     At the end of each one of these experiences though, you must move on.  For me, I believe I try to think of it as "on to the next one" in that as long as I keep progressing and having something great to look forward to or something new to experience, I can keep my head out of the past.  There is the possibility though that this may not be the best way to look at it: maybe I should give more credit to the past in my mind, maybe I should keep these friendships and past experiences closer to me, maybe I'm taking the easy way out by not looking back.  But if I did that, I would not be able to forge ahead and move to different places, experience new things, meet new people, and create great memories like those I have left behind.  It is for this reason that I believe I must continue on this path, wherever it takes me.


P.S. I know I mentioned in my last post that I would speak on "An Island to Oneself" in this post.  I will get to that eventually in an upcoming post, it just wasn't a topic in the forefront of my mind tonight.