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Vail and Lake Tahoe PET

Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 9:17 pm
by Left Seater
A few days after Christmas Mrs 'Seater and I head off to the airport and jump on a Southwest flight to Denver. The Seaters took four bags between us including our skis and Southwest didn't ask us for any more money. The ski bag was even over the 50 lb limit and the nice lady said well your other bags are well under so it is all good.

With that and no other 88 type complications we were off and surprisingly thru security in about 7 minutes. Got to love smaller airports and easy checkins, as we went from front door to sitting on the plane in less than an hour. We were off and of course Southwest got us to Denver early so we were at our friends house in enough time to see the Aggies go out to a big lead and then of course almost blow it. Mrs Seater and her friend then ran 16 miles in prep for the Houston Marathon this weekend, while the husbands got to watch our friends kids while we watched football. Later that night we rang in the new year and then it was off to Vail early Sunday morning. We skied Sunday afternoon thru Tuesday evening at Vail and had a great time despite the lack of snow, no back bowls, and warm temps:

Top near Eagle's Nest
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Looking South at the lack of snow
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Mrs Seater (left) and her good friend riding lift
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Notice the dirt on the edge of the run
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Ski Patrol Dog with deer leg he had just "rescued" from an avalanche
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The ladies showing off where they were skiing
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On Wednesday it was back to Denver and back on Southwest. Again no issues and no additional bag fees, lost bags, eaten bags, etc. Once again our flights were early and we rolled into Reno before heading to South Lake Tahoe.

Saw this plane at the next gate
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View of Vail from about 28,000 feet and climbing on the way west
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Then from Thursday thru Monday we skied at Heavenly, Northstar at Tahoe and Kirkwood. We met my mom and brother and his wife there to celebrate my mom's 65th birthday.

This is a view from a lift at Heavenly
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Similar view from lift at Northstar and Lefty's Atomic Nomad Skis, sadly they only came in purple
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On Saturday Mrs 'Seater and I decided to take a day off of skiing and go for a hike. We started above Emerald Bay and hiked up towards South Maggies Peak.

We passed this frozen stream on the way up
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Nice view of Emerald Cove on way up
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1000' above the trail head we came upon frozen Granite lake
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Mrs 'Seater taking a break
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View of Granite lake and Lake Tahoe
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About 200' from the top we ran into this and decided to turn around as we were in tennis shoes
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View of Granite Lake, Emerald Cove, and Lake Tahoe
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View of Heavenly from Comet Express Lift
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Notice lack of snow
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Sunset view from Deck of Condo
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Again on the way home, no bag fees, no overweight bag fee, flights were early, and although we had to stop in Las Vegas we didn't have to change planes.

Takeoff from Runway 1R at Vegas
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Lake Powell
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Are the 88's still out there?
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All in all a great trip despite the lack of snow. Still got 7 days of skiing in.

Re: Vail and Lake Tahoe PET

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 5:15 am
by smackaholic
Awesome PET.
Left Seater wrote:About 200' from the top we ran into this and decided to turn around as we were in tennis shoes
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I've been on that trail w/cockblock. It was scary enough in july. Good call turning around.

Re: Vail and Lake Tahoe PET

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 2:57 pm
by Left Seater
Yeah we made it there and watched the OSU vs Stanford game. Great location just above the ticket windows and plenty of TVs. Thanks for the suggestion.

We also went to Mezzalunas (sp?) just after the ski bridge into Lion's Head. Great happy hour specials and tons of locals which made for fun watching of the Denver and Oakland games on the last Sunday of the NFL season.

Re: Vail and Lake Tahoe PET

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 7:09 pm
by smackaholic
wasn't last winter one of the snowiest on record?

gotta love that whacky dick cheney and his climate change machine!

Re: Vail and Lake Tahoe PET

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 7:16 pm
by ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2
Nice pics, Lefty.

Okay. I am the only one who did a double take upon seeing the moustache on the chick on the left.
Left Seater wrote:Image
:lol: The shadows were playing tricks on Mrs. Lefty's face that day....

Re: Vail and Lake Tahoe PET

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 9:33 pm
by Left Seater
So I f'ed that one up. Mrs Seater is in the white coat. In the original pic I must have been thinking left to right across the chair lift. My bad.