Snow snow snow

So ignore the fact that this is two days late. I shall be talking about my second to last and last day in Vail.

I didn't really feel like skiing the second day there. I would've much rather gone to explore Denver. So I did. And what a beautiful view I had along the way there.


Once there, the first thing I had to see was the Denver Art Museum. I think I described this as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, without the curves. I guess that's vaguely accurate.


Now, this is supposedly art. I would beg to differ.


But it wasn't the sculpture itself that tickled me. It was the plaque in front of it.

har har har.

The museum turned out to be quite interesting. The other part of it, the Hamilton Building, looked like the Bastille. Huh. And the works within actually outdid LACMA in some senses. Some Mondrian here, some Monet there. Throw in some Picasso, Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol...hell, the gang's all here. Definitely a good choice to go there.

As I walked up a flight of the museum's stairs, I saw this looking up at me.

I love little violations of private space. They make me laugh.

walked through a park that looked like it was straight out of ancient Rome, then headed to the 16th Street Mall. Think 3rd Street Promenade, but with public transportation. Lots of shops, eateries, theaters, etc.

Cool, but overly commercialized. But then, what did I expect?

Had lunch at the Paramount Cafe, which had a plethora of strange burgers. Bison, ostrich, etc. I went for an Elk Burger with barbecue sauce, swiss cheese, and bacon. The elk looked and tasted like an Angus 1/3 pounder from McDonald's. Not gamey at all. How disappointing. But the bacon was thick and crispy, the sauce bland and useless. The onion rings it came with were thick-cut, but that's pretty much the only redeeming factor. They tasted like paper.


Then went to the Denver Contemporary Art Museum, which didn't allow photography. All I can say is, the conceptual aspects of MOCA and LACMA on steroids. Tilting my head to the right did little to make the "art" make any sense to me. Bleh.

Headed back over to Vail, explored the village some more and took pictures of random oddities. Like this ice sculpture.


Went out to dinner with the Cojab family, a lovely bunch that my parents do business with. Their kids were unspeakably adorable. I can confidently say that without it compromising my masculinity in any way, shape, or form.


We ordered a whole bunch of plates (the restaurant was Italian) and split it family style. The restaurant really felt like a traditional Italian place, not that I know what that would be. But if I did, I would imagine it to look like that. Servers were friendly and knew when and when not to bother the customers. Very savvy.

Now, I gravitated towards the Penne ala Vodka, which was loaded with prosciutto. Very exciting. The sauce wasn't too overpowering, there was only a hint of Vodka flavor, and the meat was delicious.


We did the same family-type deal for dessert. Flourless chocolate cake, chocolate gelato (which had such a high temperature for a gelato that I mistook it for mousse at first), and creme brulee. I was smiling.




Next day: explored Vail for a little bit before I had to leave.

This was at a fur store. Empirical evidence that rich people have too much money on their hands.


Here's that place I went for dinner the first night. I found the architecture charming and warm. Might as well have been in the Alps or something.


And if only I had a tripod, I would do a long exposure of the creek that ran through the town. Oh well.


Now, it turns out that there's a drive-thru barbecue joint called Nick and Jim's or something or other. So of course, I had to go there. The brisket sandwich was a big weak (read:boring) and it came dry. Personally, I like mine drenched in sauce. But hey, it was drive-thru and I was starving. I ate it and enjoyed it.


I find this picture of the area around Denver so incredibly dull, that I actually like it. Weird.


and then I arrived at home, crammed for all my makeup tests, went to school and bitched about the Lit essay.

Then I saw Ashley. We had an awesome running-start hug. Oh, how I missed her hugs. And her too, of course.

Anyways, Sabrina and Alex were matching :D


And in Bio, I told Justin to hold the camera really close to his face and take a picture. Fisheyes can make one look extremely unattractive XD


and now, I must prepare for Class Comp. And think of ways to get out of class. This shall be quite an adventure in its own right...

I'm full.

Today was filled with a mass volume of food, but it was both quantity AND quality. But more on that later.

The snow in Vail is amazing. It's leagues apart from the slush/ice crap that I have to ride down in Mammoth or Big Bear or wherever. The snow here has such a low moisture content, that it's practically dry. This leads to a lovely pillow of powdery fluff that is a pleasure to ride down.

It's like this: in Mammoth, I feel as if I'm fighting the mountain. It wants me to fall, and I'm doing everything in my power to stop it. Whereas in Vail, the snow is so perfectly enjoyable, it's as if the slopes are working with me to provide the optimum skiing experience. The powder more or less catches me when I'm about to fall, and I hardly hear any ice-scraping noises as I speed down the mountain. Mammoth and the like scream at me, Vail sings.

Also, the mountain is so ridiculously large that it feels practically empty. See?

Notice the absence of any other people on a perfectly good run. This is what I was blessed with the whole day.

Except for complete whiteout for a while and being pelted by stinging needles of snow when going at high speeds, I couldn't have asked for a better day on the slopes.

Now, on to the food. For lunch I went to the Red Lion, which was more or less a tavern. I had a Blue Cheese burger with some good bacon, and a side of onion rings. The blue cheese and bacon added such a smoky taste to the high quality meat of the burger that I nearly cried. I love smoky. It's as if some brilliant man canned the essence of good smoke, concentrated it, and injected it into my burger. Sadly, the onions were devoid of any sort of flavor. Oh well.


To drink, I had a mix of hot apple cider and Tuaca, an Italian liqueur that is brandy-based and has a strong vanilla flavor. It warmed me to my soul.


Skied some more after lunch, went back to the room to shower, and went out to Beaver Creek, a small village a short distance from Vail. It's like Vail, only cuter and more lively.

There was a beautiful creek that ran under a covered wooden bridge, pretty much typifying my vision of winter.


Browsed a few art galleries and clothing stores for snooty rich people. A ski jacket on sale for ONLY $2000?! What a bargain! And if anyone is in the need of a 289 lb chunk of metal that crashed from outer space for $50,000, let me know. Or a perfect fossil of some gigantic fish for $125,000. What a steal! Rich people have too much money on their hands.

(For the record, my dinner was paid for by the type of snooty rich people I just mentioned. Except, they weren't snooty at all. They were making fun of the snooty ones. Great people, really.)

Ate dinner (or a better word: feasted) at the Beaver Creek Chop House. As soon as I heard Chop House in the name, my heart leaped. It could only mean one thing: good beef.

Well, I started it all off with a Shrimp Creole Bisque. It was heavy on the southern flavor, with bits of pepper and such floating around. Tasty, but not remarkable.


But the filet mignon, on the other hand. Wow. Best. Cut. Ever. The meet was so tender, I could go at it with a blunt spoon. It was cooked medium rare, right on the dot. The beef came with a Cabernet reduction dipping sauce, which went great with the red meat. As I took a bite of the filet mignon dipped in the sauce, then took a sip of red wine, it was like a symphony of flavor. The Cabernet reduction matched up excellently with the Rubicon Estate Cabernet, like two forces joining together in a dance of awesomeness in my mouth. I shouldn't forget to mention the sides, either. Sweet Potato Puree and pommes frittes covered in truffle shavings. Yum.


Now this, I feel, was a bit much. Acqua Panna, bottled in Tuscany, Italy. I will admit that it was cleaner and smoother than tap water. The couple that took my family out to dinner swore that it was better. Part of me agreed, while the other part could only stare in disbelief at the price tag and think seriously? Meh. Just give me some tap water. I'll live.


By the time we finished dinner, the town was dead quiet. Except for the Thriller playing at the ice skating rink. That was awesome.


:]

"What the neighbors might think..."
"But baby, it's cold outside."

Dude, Vail's fun. I don't want to go back and sign up for APs and take 100 makeup tests. Yar.

Vail, not Vale.

I've been spelling the name of this wonderful mountain town incorrectly for the past week. I fail. Wow. That's kind of embarrassing. But anyways, for those few of you who actually care, Vail is lovely. The air is fresh and crisp, the food tasty, the people rich and snooty, and the snow fluffy.

Here's how my day went...

This was my view for a good 2.5 hours. Notice the Sausage McGriddle stuffed into the pocket in front of me.


I arrived at the airport. This sign made me strongly aware of the fact that I was no longer in So Cal.


Heh. and there were these giant painted paper airplanes following me around. Pretty cool.


Picked up the rental car, and went off to meet my old Kumon teacher who moved out here a little while ago. I'm in Denver, and somehow I end up at a Korean place. Figures. But I did enjoy a nice lunch.

What do robots eat? Bibimbap. Har har har. Fob joke.


Drove off and arrived at the hotel called Austria Haus. It's so amazingly cozy! There's even a fireplace and some overstuffed chairs in the lobby :D


Now, Vail has a series of tiny little alpine-esque villages that I'm thoroughly enjoying exploring. One such gem was this restaurant called Lancelot, where we went for dinner.


Engorged myself on a 12 oz. cut of beautiful prime rib and a baked potato. The meat beat the shit out of that at Lawry's. Juicy, tender, well-seasoned, abounding in flavor. The potato was alright, too. Beautiful lighting courtesy of my lightscoop.


After waddling and rolling myself out of the restaurant, I split off from the parentals and went exploring. How wonderful it was, with covered wooden bridges, lit pine trees, and everything else symbolic of quiet little winter villages. How quaint.


Here's a burst of color from the leftover holiday lights, for your enjoyment.


:]

and this, love, is just for you.

Well now I'm off to rid myself of airplane stench and get ready for skiing tomorrow! Well actually, I'll probably end up exploring Denver or something or other. Looking forward to it.