I hate driving. Really hate it. Weird, I know, since the past eight years of my life I have not lived with 2 1/2 hours of my family. I used to not mind driving, but somewhere between the 10+ trips home per year from Kansas City and my car constantly getting battered, abused and hating me, my thoughts have changed.
So moving to Denver, it definitely crossed my mind on how I was going to handle the thought of a one-way trip to Lincoln being 7 hours....yuck! After driving out here I decided...unless there's an emergency, my car will never make that trip again. I'll just fly. Then someone mentioned Amtrak.
I hadn't thought about it much, but I looked up the train route and it goes straight from Denver to Lincoln - perfect! And is actually cheaper than a flight. It would, however, take longer - but it could be fun! I'd never ridden on a train before but always thought it was neat.....I'll give it a try! So I booked my trip home for Christmas on the Amtrak, ready to see if I would be a frequent railrider.
I was scheduled to leave Denver, Tuesday night at 7:15. I got dropped off at the train station at 6:30, only to find out that the train had gotten delayed in the mountains, and now wouldn't be leaving until 12:45. All we had heard on the news was about the snow in the mountains, but yet I didn't think to check to see if it would delay my trip. Lesson learned. By the time we finally got boarded and pulled out of Denver, it was a little after 3am. And in case you haven't tried them out, the benches at Denver's Union Station are not comfortable to sleep on - let alone try and take a nap!
Needless to say, I passed out as soon as we pulled away from the station and pretty much didn't wake up until we got to Lincoln around noon.
The trip back was much smoother. We departed Lincoln on time, and even got into Denver 30 minutes early. However, that one left Lincoln at 12:15am, so I slept the whole trip again. I didn't get to experience much of the cars - the dining cars (the bar as many people suggested), etc., so that will have to be saved for another trip.
All in all, the train was not a bad experience. I had nothing to rush to that was time-sensitive, so the delay was not a big hassle for me. As long as you're willing to be flexible, I recommend everyone trying it sometime! I imagine it's usually a pretty scenic route.....not through western Nebraska, though, of course. But if you do go - make sure and check the schedule before heading to the station. And remember, snow in the mountains is good...but not if it's going to disrupt my beauty sleep!
"Do you ski or board?" If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that since I decided to move, I could retire on a nice little island somewhere. Then when I answer, "actually I've never done either", people laugh and ask why I would move to Colorado. Okay, they don't really. But I've gotten enough weird looks to know that is probably what they are thinking inside their heads. So, yes. I decided to pick up and move my life from Overland Park, KS to Denver, CO without ever having been on skis or a snowboard. Deal with it folks.
After this weekend, that all changed.
This weekend I went with a group of friends to Steamboat Springs for a little bit of skiing and a lot of partying. I had heard from a couple people that Steamboat is not the best place for beginners to start out.....but I like to make things really difficult. I had been hoping to get up to one of the other mountains before, but it just didn't work out for me. So I booked my lesson for Steamboat and was ready to head up there! If only it worked that easy....
Friday morning, we headed to my car at 7am to load it up and get on the road. When we walked up to my car, something looked different. The fact that my passenger's side window was broken out was not something I usually see. That's right, some wonderful person decided to put together my Christmas list for me: a new passenger side window and a new Garmin.
After moving my car, repacking a new one, and filing a police report, we finally got on the road an hour later. My boarding lesson was at 12:30, so I was freaking out we wouldn't make it in time.
After finding our way to the resort, going to two different desks to check in, and then finding our way to the base of the mountain and ski school, we realized we didn't have our lift tickets. The lady at check-in forgot to give them to us. At this point, I was about to throw in the towel for the whole day. But we called the school, told them I'd be late, and went on a search for the tickets. By the time I got to the lesson, I was only 30 minutes late. But all I missed was learning about the parts of the board.....who wants to do that anyway?
After three hours of lessons, I still don't feel very confident going by myself - yes, I was the girl who made the instructor take me down the mountain every time. It only had a small part to deal with the fact that he was very good-looking and had a nice New Zealand accent, the rest was because I didn't think I'd be able to do it without hurting myself. All in all, though, I did pretty good. I still need to work on my balance and my stance. My body doesn't seem to agree with the rules of snowboarding.....when I need to go backwards, it goes forwards, and vice versa....that's sure to cause some spills. But I only fell twice - so I call it a success!
I passed on the second day of boarding because I was so sore. I decided to cut my losses, and losing the money I spent on the second day of a lift ticket would be better than any medical bills I would have because I couldn't move very well.
The weekend was a great time, though. Met a lot of new people, finally learned to board, and had the most beautiful drive that I've seen in a long time....definitely nothing you'd see in Kansas! I recommend everyone to go out to Steamboat, even if it's just for the beautiful view! But before you go up there, make sure you take your Garmin out of your windshield. If you do decide to leave it in there - don't update your maps. Best $100 I didn't spend. Hope the non-updated Garmin was worth it to you!
