Despite the grueling memory of my last Christmas ski trip, I booked the same trip this year. It was almost "courageous" of me to do so, as one of my friends put it.
But it wasn't easy this time, either. Our flight was delayed, as usual. Then after we boarded the plane, we were asked to unload it for a mechanic problem. So we were delayed even more. By the time we reached our hotel in Denver, it was already 2am!
Fortunately our bad luck ended there. We got a rental car of Jeep Patriot, which was very nice vehicle for the mountain roads of Colorado.
The next morning we had a few hours to spend in Denver downtown before we drove to our vacation house. We wasted no time to go directly to the famous 16th Street.
Walking on the street was enjoyable even in winter. There were interesting buildings to see.
On the 16th street, a free shuttle conveniently ran up and down the street. Just hop on and ride.
But of course, you would miss a lot of things if you just ride the shuttle bus, like this pair of police motorcycles.
They were begging to be taken picture of.
On the 16th Street, you couldn't possibly miss the Daniels and Fisher Tower.
I learned later that it was modeled after the tower on Piazza San Marco in Venezia. Yes, I thought it was familiar.
Coincidentally it was on the Arapahoe Street and we would ski in the Arapahoe Basin, or A-Basin, this time.
At the north end of the street, we found two chess seats. Note that it was a fireplace in the middle of the chess piece.
As expected, there was a small-sized shopping mall on the street.
Inside the mall, you could cross a bridge to reach the other side of the street.
We had no time for any museum so we just took some pictures of the State Capitol.
I liked this skeleton.
Having left Denver, we drove toward our vacation house. We stopped by Georgetown for lunch. It started to snow.
It was a quiet mountain town. It wasn't South Park, Colorado but I would bet it was about the same.
We came to the Raven Hill Mining Company, which was famous for its Buffalo Prime Rib. It was a cozy place with a family touch, my favorite kind of dining places.
Unfortunately they serve the rib only for dinner so I ordered an elk burger instead. Exotic, huh?
We also tried some homemade dessert. Pretty good as well. It was snowing hard outside but you could watch it snowing all day by the window.
We visited this town's only post office and I bought this year's Christmas stamp, featuring Bernardino Luini’s “The Madonna of the Carnation” from the National Gallery of Art. I didn't know they had a different Christmas stamp every year. It was quite nice.
By the end of the day, we had arrived our house and rented our gears. Our friends joined us as well. I set up the alarm clock at 7am and got very excited.
But it wasn't easy this time, either. Our flight was delayed, as usual. Then after we boarded the plane, we were asked to unload it for a mechanic problem. So we were delayed even more. By the time we reached our hotel in Denver, it was already 2am!
Fortunately our bad luck ended there. We got a rental car of Jeep Patriot, which was very nice vehicle for the mountain roads of Colorado.
The next morning we had a few hours to spend in Denver downtown before we drove to our vacation house. We wasted no time to go directly to the famous 16th Street.
Walking on the street was enjoyable even in winter. There were interesting buildings to see.
On the 16th street, a free shuttle conveniently ran up and down the street. Just hop on and ride.
But of course, you would miss a lot of things if you just ride the shuttle bus, like this pair of police motorcycles.
They were begging to be taken picture of.
On the 16th Street, you couldn't possibly miss the Daniels and Fisher Tower.
I learned later that it was modeled after the tower on Piazza San Marco in Venezia. Yes, I thought it was familiar.
Coincidentally it was on the Arapahoe Street and we would ski in the Arapahoe Basin, or A-Basin, this time.
At the north end of the street, we found two chess seats. Note that it was a fireplace in the middle of the chess piece.
As expected, there was a small-sized shopping mall on the street.
Inside the mall, you could cross a bridge to reach the other side of the street.
We had no time for any museum so we just took some pictures of the State Capitol.
I liked this skeleton.
Having left Denver, we drove toward our vacation house. We stopped by Georgetown for lunch. It started to snow.
It was a quiet mountain town. It wasn't South Park, Colorado but I would bet it was about the same.
We came to the Raven Hill Mining Company, which was famous for its Buffalo Prime Rib. It was a cozy place with a family touch, my favorite kind of dining places.
Unfortunately they serve the rib only for dinner so I ordered an elk burger instead. Exotic, huh?
We also tried some homemade dessert. Pretty good as well. It was snowing hard outside but you could watch it snowing all day by the window.
We visited this town's only post office and I bought this year's Christmas stamp, featuring Bernardino Luini’s “The Madonna of the Carnation” from the National Gallery of Art. I didn't know they had a different Christmas stamp every year. It was quite nice.
By the end of the day, we had arrived our house and rented our gears. Our friends joined us as well. I set up the alarm clock at 7am and got very excited.
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:)