Let me get this out of the way first – Delta Airlines sucks!  OK, now that I got that off my chest I can talk about our wonderful trip.  We got there Saturday afternoon (most of us anyway) and had time to do a little shopping excursion for condo supplies.

The next day was Superbowl Sunday and Gerard Pettit (who wasn’t even on the trip!) arranged for a delicious spread of sandwiches, salads, snacks, beverages and pizzas to be delivered to the trip leader’s room for a Superbowl party.  All I had to do was be there for delivery between 1:30 and 2:00 PM and have my cell phone with me to take any calls.  Well, Steamboat is a pretty big mountain and I have a bad sense of direction so I didn’t make it to the condo until about 2:30 and my cell phone, while with me and on, was set to “silent” mode, so I missed the 8 or 9 frantic phone calls from Gerard asking for my condo number so the food could be delivered.  Fortunately the condo management was kind enough to take delivery of the food and they delivered it to our door in time for the opening kickoff.  Except for the outcome of the game, it was a great party!

The locals complained of the dearth of snow on the mountain, but by east coast standards conditions were great.  We did a mountain tour on Sunday to get our bearings.  After that, one of our members (I don’t remember who) told us about the “Over the Hill Gang,” which is a group of skiers based in Steamboat who lead free tours of the mountain for anyone over 50 years old.  They knew the mountain well and were able to find the best snow.  I skied with them one day and volunteered to stay in back and be the sweep, but after losing 2 people before 11:00 AM (they were later found safe and unharmed), I was unceremoniously replaced with someone more competent than myself!  Many people liked skiing with them so much, they met up with them almost every day!

We got just enough snow during the week just to keep the snow conditions good (although visibility was tough at the top a few days), but the real snow waited until our last day – isn’t that always the way!  The snow was a bit “heavy” at the lower elevations and the visibility appeared like it might be tough at the top, but I suggested giving it a shot anyway.  Ralph commented “you know you’re out of your minds going up to the top in these conditions …. Can I join you?”  Well, it turned out to be a great decision because the snow up there was up to our knees and it was light and powdery.  The visibility was great too.  What a great way to end the week!

On Friday night, we had a group BBQ dinner at the top of the gondola, but not before we had a bring-all-of-your-leftovers party in our condo.  The BBQ was fun – even if the dance floor was dominated by the under age 10 crowd.  Most of us made a beeline for the door as the band played the Chicken Dance and the Hokey Pokey (could the Macarena be far behind?).  On Saturday we headed to Hayden airport to fly home, only to find that our flight was cancelled (again) and we would have to stay another night.  After spending several hours at the airport straightening things out, we headed to a nearby hotel for the night.  The hotel had its own restaurant and bar and there was even entertainment – a comedian (he was awful!) and a band (they were pretty good).  So in true Cresthaven form, we took lemons and made lemonade and had a great time on our extra night.