Breckenridge with the Camps (Part 2)

One of the days in Breckenridge, we decided to take a little break from skiing and go snowmobiling!  We went up to the Georgia Pass, where apparently some gold miners from Georgia came to search in the Colorado hills.



We got to see some beautiful views from the top of the Continental Divide and we were actually only about a peak away from one of the hikes we had done in September.





Leonard and his kids...



Barbara and about a third of her kids...



The Golias:



And of course Leighton had to get a few snow angels in on top of the world!



Snowmobiling was great, but next time we might have to opt for the dog sled rides instead; look how  cute they are!  Do you think they'd let us add our own crazy running dog to the pack for the day?

Breckenridge with the Camps (Part 1)

Earlier in February we got to spend another week in Breckenridge, this time with the Camp side of the family!  At the most we had 13 people together in two conjoined townhouses and we had a blast spending the week skiing, snowmobiling, eating, drinking, and hot-tubbing.



Here's the whole group at dinner one night:



Our second day there was the Super Bowl... here we are at the beginning, before the mood turned sour:



Here's me, Ashley, Barbara, and Alison getting ready to ski toward the beginning of the trip:



View from the top:



Dave and Josh:



Bob, Dave, Josh, and I:



Getting ready to go down my first black run ever with Leonard there to catch me (and Josh uphill to pick up the pieces if needed):



And I made it down without falling and even did a few more over the next few days of the trip!  I've definitely gotten a lot better at skiing this year.  I'd say previously I enjoyed the green runs most and now I'm at the point where I really like the blues and am comfortable on most of them.  It'll probably still be another year at least before I can go shred the blacks with Josh and not feel totally out of control, but maybe someday I'll get there!

And of course, apres-ski is almost as important as the skiing itself... here's a delicious smoked old fashioned and mint julep:



And we took a 6 year old to a bar.  And they gave her noodles with cheese and butter and she loved it :)

Snowshoeing Fail

Since we enjoyed hiking in the Sandia Mountains during the summer and fall, Josh and I figured we'd give it a try during the winter and go snowshoeing.  We rented some snowshoes from a local store and headed up the road into the east mountains.



Once we got there, we had to get the dogs' paws all waxed up to protect them from freezing and get their jackets on.  Then we had to get our snowshoes strapped on.  Oh, and did I mention it was 8 degrees with 30 mile an hour winds up there?



So once we were all geared up, we finally set off across the beautiful snowy landscape.  Bailey, as usual, had a blast.  Addie was, as  usual, not so sure about the cold.





Ultimately, our trek only lasted about 10 minutes because we could never regain the feeling in our fingers after getting all ready to go!  I think next time we will have to try it when it's not so cold!



Ultimately we decided to make the most of our day and stopped at a sledding area further down the mountain where we were protected from the wind and it was a balmy 14 degrees.

Exploring the Jemez Mountains

There's another mountain range north of Albuquerque called the Jemez so we decided to go up there to explore with some friends.  We found a gorgeous river and half frozen waterfall on the way so we decided to stop and climb around a bit.







It was a long drive, but worth it to play in the snow a while!  Bailey certainly thought so (Addie wasn't so sure and was happy to wear Bailey's jacket on top of her own) :)

Skiing Adventures

Who knew that it snows so much in a desert state?  We've had a decent amount of snow in the Sandia Mountains just east of Albuquerque, but haven't tried the ski area up there yet (it's on the to do list though!).  We went to Santa Fe on my day off a few weeks ago, which is only about 2 hours from leaving our house to getting parked and on the lift.



The visibility was really limited for most of the day because it started snowing pretty heavily and I was finally convinced that I needed to invest in some goggles!  Somehow I always think I look weird when we take skiing selfies...



Here's an artsy snow pic:



Last weekend we went to Taos for the weekend with our friends Megan and Rami.  This is the sign you see at the bottom of the main lift from the base as you look up a super steep mountain...



Megan, Rami, and Josh are all much better at snow sports than me (they all do snowboarding and I ski, but either way they are faster and more coordinated), so I did a few greens by myself.  I think that, as shameful as it may be, my favorite runs are still the greens.  I like the roads (unless they're completely flat) because I can get going a little faster without being too scared.



The group did put up with my slowness for a few runs though!  Here's a good picture of Josh and I near the top.



And another awkward selfie (with my new goggles, that I was happy to have because it snowed our second day in Taos!)...



There was a really pretty half frozen waterfall that you could see a lot better from one of the lifts.  This picture really doesn't do it justice, but taking your phone out on the lift to try to take a picture is a little scary, so this is the best we could get.



A few more of the beautiful mountains and the quaint little Taos Ski Valley village...





PS- Extra points if you can tell which photos were taken with iPhone 6s and which were taken with Google Pixel!

River of Lights

The ABQ BioPark Botanic Gardens does a display similar to the one at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens every year where they decorate the garden with a bunch of lights, so we took Jenny one night to see it.

There were all kinds of animals and other displays and it was a nice way to spend an evening!

Also some extinct/imaginary ones...

This one's for you, Dad...

And they even had boozy hot chocolate and coffee to help keep us warm :)

We haven't been to visit the botanical gardens yet during the day, but I'm looking forward to going back in the spring and seeing all the cacti blooming!