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Friday 20th Feb, early flight to Denver, Colorado, known as mile high city. To be really accurate, the second step outside the Town Hall is exactly one mile (5,280 feet) above sea level. Denver lies to the east of the Rocky Mountains, the spine of mountains which run down most of the west side of Canada and the northern USA. Denver is where the US mint is located, pressing the dollars, quarters, five cent 'nickels' (guess what they are made of) and other coins that the US uses. We also visited the Colorado History Museum which was full of interesting things historical especially information on the native American Indians of the region.
On Monday 23rd Feb, we drove to Breckenridge, only an hour and a half drive from Denver. En route we stopped to see a our first herd of Bison, just grazing off the freeway, weird animals. Many years ago, Bison roamed the length and breadth of Northern America, due to the native human appetite for this animal, Bison nearly became extinct. Now they are protected and are growing in numbers, currently around 60,000.
We made a final stop at a town called Frisco to buy second hand skis etc - way cheaper than renting for three weeks - and then arrive in snowy Breckenridge. The mountains here are quite different from the pointy, jagged European ones, they are rounded with bowls just below the peaks.
We spent most of Tuesday picking up other bits and pieces we needed - gloves for Max, socks for Floss, Hat for Stef: There is an awful lot of preparation required (especially having spent the last six months in shorts it takes a change of mind-set)! Finally we picked up afternoon tickets and hit the slopes for a two hour session to refresh our ski legs. There had been a huge dumping of snow the previous night - eight inches- so it was like skiing on silk. We did find ourselves quite short of breath due to the altitude, something which didn't really get much easier during our time here (Nothing to due with poor fitness, honest). The next day, Floss and Max started ski school and both got on well. By the end of the week they had both really improved. On Saturday was Flossie's birthday, so we skied for a few hours in the morning, then went into town for lunch to a funky pasta cafe.
Sunday was really exciting, as Floss and Max's brother, Ryan, arrived from the UK to spend the week with us. Ryan went to ski school for the first couple of days to catch up, then we all skied together. it was really good fun. Ryan got much better at skiing. Floss and Max stayed in Ryan's room whilst he was here which they all enjoyed. We had one evening out at a swiss fondue restaurant which was delicious.Whilst we were in Breck, Stef's friend from home Tanya was out here with some of her family, so we saw them a few times too.
After Ryan left we spent the next few days perfecting our ski technique, well. trying to, and generally having fun (and discussing friction/air pressure/altitude etc, of course).
We have decided that, although the snow and skiing here is great, the atmosphere (and food) is nothing compared Europe, so we are leaving the us a week early and going to spend an extra week in Austria and indulge in some proper alpine revelry!!
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