Browse Category: outta here

He misses his little brother.

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After a month-long stay in December and another three weeks in February, Jes got accustomed to having his little brother close-by. It wasn’t until recently that we made the realization of how long he’d been living three time zones away and Jes has really missed having him around. They’ve always been close but after spending so much time together they seem closer than ever now. So, in April we’re going to New York to visit him and Jia for a whole week! I just booked the flights and made arrangements for the days I’d be missing at work. We’ll get to see their place in Queens, have a nice dinner in the city, and spend more than just 36 hours in New York. Since we’ll be there for a week, we’re going to try taking a drive down to Philly to visit Dayantha too. It’s only 105 miles away! Anyway, I’m looking forward to my Spring Break next month and it seriously can’t get here any slower.

By the way, I love how this photo looks like it was taken with a Holga. Old photos rock.

Home Again

DSC_3717a.jpgToday started before the sun woke up. The alarm went off at 6 am and it was snowing outside!! The driveway and car was covered in snow and we actually had to scrape the windows. Our flight was at 8:00 am but we had to drive 30 miles in the snow without crashing, fill-up the tank, return the rental, check-in our bags, and get through security. Luckily we made it and the crappy Cobalt got us there safely. The snow was so awesome. It made me so sad that we had to leave. The mountain today would have been even better than yesterday.

Once we boarded, the captain announced that there wasn’t enough visibility to take off. So, we actually had to sit on the plane (at the gate) for another 30 mins. For some reason, it wasn’t bad. We watched the beginning of Superman Returns on Jes’ laptop and when it was time to take off, we got to watch the plane get de-iced by a dude in a contraption with a big hose to spray the de-icing solution. I must say it was quite entertaining to watch the snow melt right off. Call me a simpleton but watching the snowplows on the runway was really cool too.

The flight from Vail to Denver was short (minus all the weather waiting) and we didn’t miss our connection. In fact, we had another hour and a half to kill so we had some steak sandwiches and I wandered around taking some photos. On our two-hour flight from Denver was uneventful and we were home by 1 pm.

I had a three and a half day weekend and the Colorado snow did not disappoint afterall.  Here are the photos.

Powder!!

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My last day in Vail was simply powderlicious. It snowed lightly yesterday and all day today to make the conditions on the mountain so much fun. We explored more of the backside, shooshed through trees, and some of the guys jumped some small cliffs. I even had enough courage to do some of my own little jumps and hops. I also experienced being buried in powder. I was following Johnny through some trees and got stuck. The snow was thigh-high and the only thing keeping me from sinking in further and drowning was a fallen branch sticking out of the snow. It was an awesome day in the Colorado snow and truly made up for the disappointing day we had on Friday.

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Once we got back to the condo, we went to the backyard where there was a huge pillow of snow that was about thigh-high. After doing backflips and faceplants into the snow, we decided to build snow forts and had a good old-fashioned snowball fight. We ended up soaked to the bone and exhausted but had so much fun. What a great end to our Vail weekend.

Relaxin’ and Explorin’

DSC_3636.jpgToday was our “day off” from skiing. Johnny and his friends went again today while Jes and I stayed behind for the day. It was actually kinda nice to just relax and enjoy being away from home. We slept in, made some breakfast, and then did a little exploring. We went into the Village to do some shopping and I found some inexpensive t-shirts. Of course I brought my camera and took a few shots but nothing really caught my eye. Later we had lunch, bought some groceries for dinner, and went exploring the neighborhood a bit. Vail is a quiet town with lots of richie riches in their big-ass houses on the hill overlooking the slopes. Some of the houses are really pretty are practically walking distance to the lifts. It snowed off and on today and Johnny came back to report that conditions were better today. Awesome! It’s supposed to snow more tonight and the mountains will be ready for my return tomorrow.

We must be in Colorado.

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If you were looking for the Question of the Day today, I apologize.  I haven’t had internet access for the past 24 hours.  We flew into Vail yesterday afternoon and had our first day on the slopes today.  I must say that with all the hype of “Colorado powder”, I was sorely disappointed.  There were some nice spots but overall the base was not great.  However, we still had a good time.  The runs are super long and the mountain is gigantic.  The temps were very managable and we even got about two seconds of flurries in the afternoon.

just like old times

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Last night before we flew home from Vegas, Kev took us to Red Rock Canyon for the scenic 13-mile drive. The sun was setting and it was really cold (about 31 degrees). I managed to capture a couple photos while we were there. Surprisingly, the sky had just enough light to make the trip worth while. Unfortunately, I haven’t outgrown one of my worst physical weaknesses. After taking a couple shots of the sunset and horizon, I turned back towards the car, slipped, tripped, and fell on the asphalt. Luckily, I had the camera well protected like a football and it didn’t even touch the ground. Alas, my knee didn’t fare as well. I landed on my left knee and also caught myself with my right hand. Back in the car, not only was my ego a little bruised but so was my knee. I noticed a couple black spots on my jeans and thought it was just dirt. Turns out it was blood. Yep, it was just like when I was in grade school…falling on asphalt, skinning my left knee, and scratching up my right palm. The only thing I didn’t get was the wind knocked out of me. Ever had that happen from falling flat on the floor? Well, it sucks. I guess there are somethings you just can’t outgrow no matter how hard you try.

Oh yeah, here are the photos from our weekend.