The Family Sideways: Steamboat part Three (final?)

Steamboat part Three (final?) 11/18/2005 12:09:00 PM

OK, here we are, finally arriving at my third (and, I hope, final) installment of the Steamboat Story.

Sunday, continued.
We arrive at the airport a little more than an hour before our flight, and all seems well. We check our bags and check in for the flight, and Dana schools me in some Ms. Pac-Man while we're waiting to go through security (the airport is so small, they don't even open the security checkpoint until a flight is about to take off).

We're notified after a while that the plane arriving from Denver - the one that is to turn around and take us back there - can't land becuase of the snow - basically white-out conditions - and that they were going to circle for a while to try and wait it out. Well, circle they (presumably) did, but to no avail - eventually the flight had to turn around and head back to Denver. D and I talked about renting a car to head to Denver, but decided instead to take a "Snow Day" and return to Steamboat. We were rebooked on a noon-ish flight the next day to Denver, with our connection to Houston remaining the same 6pm-ish flight.

Dana called Ron, who said someone would come back to get us (he did so himself), and I called the B&B to tell them we were on our way back. Dana and I both took it as a sign that we were not meant to leave Colorado.

As it turned out, Lisa had already called the B&B to re-reserve our room, so they were ready for us. On the ride back I told Ron that we knew they had lives (and business) to attend to, and not to worry about entertaining us. He left us at the B&B (again), the snow really coming down at this point, and we (again) said our goodbyes.

At dinner on Saturday, the four (Ron, Lisa, Sheila and Wes) had told us about a place in town (Rio Grande, I believe), who imposed a three-margarita limit on their customers because they were so potent. We decided that we had to try that out. (They were good, but I'm not so sure about the 3-limit. Though we both only had one).

We asked our waitress for the nearest liquor store (wanting to buy a 6-pack and head back to the B&B, which we again had all to ourselves), but she informed us that as it was Sunday, they were closed (strike two, Steamboat!). We instead headed to a gas station, got our 6-pack (they are still allowed to sell beer), and headed back to the B&B.

Barbara, the B&B manager, had gotten a fire started for us in the woodburning stove. I stoked the fire a little, and D and I decided it was high time to hit the hot tub. We got some glasses, brought out the 6-pack, and hopped in.

Digression: Before my first trip to Steamboat (incidentally) two years ago, I never understood the draw of getting in a hot tub while it was freezing (and snowing) outside. Since then, I have become a full-on convert. There is simply nothing better than relaxing in a bubbling hot tub in see-your-breath temperatures. Unless, of course, it's snowing. That is better. End Digression.

After the hot tub, we came inside, grabbed some tea/hot chocolate, and sat by the fire for a while. After absolute-complete relaxation had set in, we decided it would be advisable for us to throw The Shining in the VCR, since we were alone, in a snowstorm, in a Colorado hotel. Awesome, except we both fell asleep during the movie. What can you do.

We called it a night and headed to sleep.

Monday. Or, extra day #1
So we awake Monday to what I have decided was our best breakfast at the B&B, a homemade breakfast burrito. Umm, YUM! I called to reserve a shuttle to take us to the airport, we read the papers, and headed up to shower and pack up (again).

With no time to head into town before the shuttle was to pick us up (it was about ten minutes late, and then got lost twice trying to find the other people that were supposed to get picked up - an argument for satellite navigation right there), we just waited and, well, got picked up.

Most/all of the snowy pictures were from this morning. See, we woke up and it was a beautiful (if slightly overcast, but otherwise clear) day. But about five minutes before the shuttle was to come get us, it started to snow again.

And then it just got harder and harder. It got to the point that when we were dropped off at the airport again, it was coming down harder than the day before. Steamboat was officially getting dumped on.

When we checked in for the flight, we were told that the flight was still on its way in from Denver. I went over to the Avis desk anyway, just to check availability of 4WD cars - Dana and I had already decided that if our flight was cancelled again, we were renting a car and heading to Denver. Since our flight from Hayden was at 12:45ish, and our connection from Denver (normally 3-4 hours away) wasn't until 6, we thought we had a good chance of making it.

Avis did have cars available, and as I was walking back I saw a line starting to form at the ticket counter. All told, there were maybe a half dozen (out of about 100) people already at the desk in front of me, but I learned my lesson from the day before and went ahead and got in line, expecting the worst.

And sure enough, soon after we were told the flight was "circling", it was cancelled. Dana came over to take my spot in line at the ticket counter (to make sure we could skip this one leg of our flight and drive straight through to Denver), and I went over to close the deal with Avis. I was the first in line there.

We escaped after not too long and hopped in the car. It was REALLY coming down now (all the pictures you see from here on out will be Dana's handywork from the car, between the Hayden airport and Rabbit Ears Pass. After that, I was too busy concentrating on driving to bother her about taking pictures).

As you can see from this picture, visibility sucked. Traffic was barely moving, and the snow was coming down fast. REAL fast.

As we were headed up to Rabbit Ears Pass, there was one car ahead of us and one car behind. Not many people were venturing up there. I was vocally hopeful that the storm was stuck on the west side of the mountains, and that once over the pass things would clear up. Not so.

It was just like The Shining. Crazy snow everywhere. Whiteout conditions. White-knuckle 15 mile-per-hour idle in first gear kind of driving. All in all, I felt like I had good control of the car (it was a new Ford Escape that handled a LOT better than I remember our Exploder handling, but my mom can be rough on cars - she's that extreme). The full-time 4WD didn't hurt either, to be sure.

Probably two to two and a half hours later we were an hour from Steamboat, in a town called Kremmling where we were to switch from Highway 40 to Hwy 9. We pulled over at a gas station for a bathroom break and some grub, and got moving again.

From there, we headed towards Interstate 70, about 38 miles away in Silverthorne. Even though every time I looked down we were doing 40 miles per hour, it somehow took us at least an hour and a half to get there. (Math was never a strong suit)

By the time we reached Silverthorne (which neighbors Keystone, CO - where I learned how to ski oh so many years ago), we heard news that they closed I-70. Dana checked out the (crappy, not-to-scale) map that Avis had provided us, and realized that if we continued south on 9, we would eventually hit Breckenridge. And in Breck we could hop on 285 north to Denver. If we were lucky, and our flight was delayed from Denver (likely because of all the damn snow), we could still make it to Houston.

So crawling through "rush-hour" traffic in Silverthorne (the Red Cross was busy setting up shelters for out-of-luck travellers, much like ourselves), we continued south until I guessed (correctly! - one point, man-instinct) where the turn-off shortcut to 9 was. And it was closed.

So we tried another route. No luck. Also closed.

Unless we wanted to head back out of Silverthorne the way we came, there was quite literally no way out.

We headed back to the 9/70 intersection hoping to find a restaurant nearby where we could keep an eye on the condition of the roads, and see when they opened 70 back up.

Instead, we found an Irish Pub, as luck would have it.

Jesus, forgive me. I have to make this a four-parter. I just can't go on anymore.

To be continued (again)...

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2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, the escape 4wd system is more of a - when the front wheels slip the rear wheels get power - type of deal. So not really cosidered full time 4x4. More like AWD when needed. But now that you have experienced an Escape, you can imagine what the hybrid is like! :)

I do NOT miss getting stuck in snow on my various trip to/from Detroit. Uggh...

posted at 1:30 PM

Anonymous said...

If you only partied with us Fitz two years ago, I could have saved you a trip to the grocery store and sent you right to the gas station!

Ahh, hot tubs in Steamboat are simply the best!

posted at 5:38 PM