camp chaos hits the road

Last weekend we loaded up the 4Runner and headed northeast to catch up with all the folks in Summit County. We even squeezed in a few extra visits along the way. Dave's finished for the season as there isn't much demand for groomers after the mountain closes and I took an extended weekend so we didn't have to rush the trip.

Chaos in blue and Mayhem in green cuddle in the sunshine

We left Thursday morning and stopped in Vail to see our friend Sandy who currently lives in Alaska and was in Vail for a conference. We walked the dogs along the busy ski town paths and grabbed dinner at a local pub. Big Dave also made the trip out of Telluride as he had to drop a friend off for knee surgery and met up with us at Sam & Meghan's house. They rent a farmhouse in Silverthorne and it has a big area for all the dogs to run and play in. They had borrowed a Wii for the weekend and it kept the boys up late each night for some rounds of bowling and golf.
Friday we started our day with a breakfast at Kula's in Dillon. It's a small cafe and run by the nicest people... they also happen to specialize in gluten-free goodies. It's not often I get to enjoy gluten-free french toast and I made sure to document the occasion for my GF blog. Sam had the day off and the three boys and I headed over to Copper for the day. Meghan was able to meet up and ride with us for a bit as did Jon in the afternoon. We also spent some time watching Alex and a crew of CVA kids compete in SBX. Alex had stayed with us last December when the World Cup hit Telluride and it was great to be able to watch him race and take 5th.
Saturday found us with a repeat at Kula's before Team Dave and I hit slopes at A-Basin. It was a cloudy day near Loveland Pass and colder then expected. We had taken Chaos, Mayhem as well as Kaya and Echo on a big walk that morning so we didn't feel too bad about ditching them. Saturday night was Courtney's birthday and we hit their house for Chinese food and birthday cake. Chaos and Mayhem had a great time playing with their cousins and the girls even took Mayhem and Chaos for a walk with me. Both dogs were on their best behavior as the girls held the leashes. These days Chaos only pulls when he sees another dog and Mayhem had on his gentle leader harness which reigns him in nicely.
Jon and Courtney had Sunday off so we hit Copper for a ski day with the crew after our 3rd Kula's breakfast of the trip and another big dog walk. Kula's also had great pocket snacks for me. They made this incredible GF carmel bar with a rich chocolate topping that was great fuel for both A-Basin and Copper. I can't ski without loading my pockets now as I never know where I can find "safe" food. It's imperative that I don't have gluten while traveling since it would kill the trip with a migraine and other issues that I'll spare you the details on. This last weekend I was a huge fan of Kula's treats and fruit snacks.

The kids have progressed a lot since the last time we were able to ski with them, and Courtney and Jon aren't half bad either...

Team Drabik ripped it up and we ended a big ski day with free music at the base of the mountain in the sunshine. It was a very full weekend and we're both looking forward to a quiet time at home with the monsters this weekend to recover from the Summit County crew and the trip out of Telluride.


Spring Travels