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In January Bradley packed up our SUV and headed off to Colorado for three months of skiing while I headed back south for more golf in Florida. Our friends, Chip and Barb and Barb's friend from New York whose name is also Kathy Clark (!) agreed to meet in Crested Butte, Colorado in February for a week at the Club Med ski resort.

I flew out to Colorado a few days early to catch up with Bradley in Denver. After visiting some friends and doing some shopping (most notably for a helmet for me!) we set off for the four hour drive to Crested Butte. It was a scenic and mostly uneventful drive, except for the time we stopped for gas and I thought Bradley had been abducted by aliens. We were in a very small town and I needed to make a phone call. Our cell phones only had Roaming coverage so I used a calling card at a pay phone. Bradley needed to walk to loosen up his back after sitting so long, so he told me to pick him up at the "end of town". The phone call took a little longer than I expected so by the time I was done and I drove the quarter mile to the end of town, Bradley was nowhere to be seen.  Beyond town was an intersection with the main highway. I couldn't imagine Bradley had gone walking along the highway so I decided just to wait at the end of town. After 15 minutes, I was really wondering what could have happened to him when my phone signaled it had a new voice mail. I had never heard the phone ring (it still only had a Roam signal). The message was from Bradley saying "where are you? I'm cold. Come and get me!" But he neglected to tell me WHERE he was. A call to his phone only got his voice mail - for some reason our phones wouldn't ring but we could get voice mails.  After several voice mails back and forth, I determined that Bradley had actually walked down the highway and was now four mile away! Soon I was able to find him and we were on our way.

We arrived in Crested Butte and checked into Club Med. One of the nice things about Club Med is that it includes everything - three meals a day, lift tickets, and a full week of ski school. Once you're there, you don't have to worry about a thing. We signed up for ski schools - me for an intermediate level and Bradley in the expert class. Chip and Barb were delayed getting their flight out of Denver so they didn't arrive until the next day.

The weather in Crested Butte was ideal - we had several inches of good snow the first night and a nice eight inch snowfall mid-week. Ski school was great - I was in a class with some great people all at the same level and we learned a lot and had a good time. Bradley enjoyed his expert class too, though he moaned in pain almost every night! The food was great and we all enjoyed our time there.

Chip, Barb, and Kathy had to return back home while Bradley and I set off for our next stop - Telluride. It was another scenic drive covering about five hours. In Telluride we caught up with our friends Becky and Susan. Becky is an expert skier and has a condo in Telluride. Susan was on skis for only the second time in her life. After a few warms ups, Susan went off for a lesson while we explored the mountain. Susan was a remarkably quick learned and was soon skiing the longest green trails on the mountain (and there are some LONG ones). We had a great snowfall late in the week and were able to ski fresh powder in the bowl for a whole morning.

Becky and Susan had to return back home. Bradley and I set off for the drive back to Denver - once again a beautiful trip. We stopped along the way for some hiking and made it back to relax for a few days before I headed off for Las Vegas.