After a bunch of family ski trips I thought it would be nice to do a trip with just my wife. We flew out to Vail Friday and flew home Tuesday.
Friday - night 1
We got in around 3pm, and had dinner at the Game Creek Restaurant - you ride the gondola up, then take a CAT to the restaurant - amazing views and great food. We ordered way too much food, but had a great bottle of champagne and ice wine!
We both had headaches the first night, I attribute it to the elevation change, Headaches were gone by midday Saturday.
Saturday - Day 1
The first day we covered a lot of ground. There were no lines for the gondola or any of the lifts. We did a good part of the front side of Vail, and hit Blue Sky Basin and China Bowl. After one run down China Bowl the wife was feeling tired so she rested in Two Elk lodge while I did a few more runs. We were a long way from Lionshead village and she was exhausted but happy when we got down. We skied a little over 21000 vertical feet according to the resort website.
We ordered a decent portion of the menu at the Vail Chophouse, everything except the oysters.
I don't always après slopeside, but when I do I prefer a Bloody Mary with bacon and shrimp garnish...
Sunday - Day 2
The next morning we were too stuffed to go out for breakfast, so we had the skier's breakfast of champions:
We got to the gondola around 9:20am to a huge line - the line took about 30 minutes, and lines seemed to be 15 - 20 minutes at each lift.
We did a few laps on Sun Up bowl and headed for an early lunch at 10 on the Mountain. I suggested a shortcut down an easy black run called Zot. This turned out to be a nice steep black run with waist high moguls - just perfect for an intermediate skiers (NOT!). We laughed and cried and finally we made it to 10 on the Mountain slightly discouraged. This place is awesome for lunch, they have a beautiful wood paneled changing room where you change into slippers before heading to the main dining room
For some reason we were feeling like Mai Tai's so they created a new drink for us on the spot - they called it the "Mountain Mai Tai" - highly recommended...
We ate way too much food, all of it really good. The lift lines died down after lunch, something about the Broncos and the playoffs... We skied a bit more, made it down to the village and took the shuttle from Lionshead to Vail village for dinner at Sweet Basil.
The best time to wear a striped sweater...
While in Vail we discovered Bogner - ski clothing that dramatically increases your ski ability through the technical application of fur and crystals. We loaded the wife up and I can say it made an immediate dramatic difference
Monday - Day 3
We hit the gondola early expecting big lines, but there weren't any. Since this was our last day skiing we thought we would take it easy and stay on the front side, we lapped Game Creek bowl a bit, then headed over to Mid Vail to have an early lunch at 10 on the mountain. I found a nice shortcut down an easy black called Look Ma. Much like yesterday, this turned out to be a fairly steep run with compact car sized moguls. All we could do was laugh as we barely made our way down.
After lunch we skied a bit more and found a really beautiful forest run that was miles long, I've got to study the map to figure out where it was.
We made it down to the Vail Chophouse - we still had the unfinished business of those oysters to take care of...
Tuesday - Day 4
We handed in our skies Monday night so we would have a relaxing day - we hung around the condo, packed, wrote in our journals and went to The Little Diner - a breakfast place we heard was a must try. It's this small diner with a U shaped bar that seats 18 people around the kitchen. This place is great! On most travel sites it's ranked the best restaurant in Vail which is no small feat considering they are only open for breakfast and lunch.
Everyone working there seems to be having the best time -- We told our waitress she had a great smile and she said "I smile because I love my job and also smiling is easier than frowning!" The owner Brian Little seems like a really humble guy who is doing what he loves. He's the guy in front of the grill, his nametag just says "Brian Little - Chef"
All in all this was a pretty magical mini-vacation for us -- my wife and I always take the kids skiing with us and enjoy the family activity. We infrequently take vacations without the kids, and this was the first real ski vacation we took just the two of us - it certainly won't be the last!
