Posted by Curtis Fong on Mar 7, 2019
Road Trip to Rehab Chapter lll Thursday, February 7, 2019 – Continued: Still being upset about losing my credit card, Dan took the steering wheel as we headed out of Gunnison on Hwy 50 east, over Monarch Pass and down to Salida… We have driven over this pass many times and in both directions… It was snowing over the pass and visibility was near white-out at times, but with studded tires and fog lamps, the Subaru pushed through to crest the continental divide, passing the entrance to Monarch Ski Resort and down the east side to Salida where we turned north, heading to the front range. Our destination was Eagle, Colorado, west of Vail and Beaver Creek. We drove through Leadville and took the turn, passing Ski Cooper and down to Minturn where we hit westbound I-70… And, finally arriving and checking in to the Eagle River Lodge (formerly a Holiday Inn Express). We would stay here for a total of four nights. I did not get a return call from Garlic Mike’s, so I called them again and got a live person. They confirmed that they had my credit card and I was so relieved… I asked them to mail it back and they agreed to do so… Thankful that I did not have to cancel the card and wait for another from the bank. We ended up heading to Restaurante Casa Mexico for dinner and this place was definitely authentic… They featured a 22 oz. Margarita to which several other patrons were enjoying, and I had a huge Mexican style Carne Asada burrito… It was grandioso! Friday, February 8, 2019: After a meager breakfast offering at the Eagle River Inn, we headed out east on 1-70 past Beaver Creek, Vail and all the other resorts to Frisco and onward to Arapahoe Basin… This was one resort that remained on my bucket list as in all the years traveling to Colorado and the resorts on the front range, I had never skied here… Traffic was backed up coming through Frisco as there was some kind of accident near the Keystone Resort turn off… By time we got up the hill to A-Basin, we got one of their last parking spots in their upper lot… Thank goodness they did operate a shuttle to the base lodge. Interestingly, their lower parking lot was for early...
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Posted by Curtis Fong on Mar 2, 2019
Road Trip to Rehab Chapter II Saturday, February 2, 2019 We departed Moab, continuing the drive to Durango… Clouds were surrounding the red rocks and a sun beam protruded down to the valley floor with the La Salle’s in the background… Awesome site and awesome drive… Dan and I road-tripped to Durango about 6 years ago, when they hosted our NASJA Western Winter Summit. We both agreed that this was a fun resort with lots of diversity and Durango was great community with expanding mountain culture, great music, beautiful art and year- round outdoor recreation… fishing, paddle sports and great mountain & road biking They even host an annual bike event, The Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, that races the infamous Durango & Silverton Train, 50 miles up the canyon from Durango to Silverton. For more information on Durango, Colorado visit: https://www.durango.org/discover-durango/ We arrived in Durango about 12:30pm and drove directly to Purgatory… This was a Saturday and they had a good crowd and we found one of the last parking spaces in their mid-level lot. Actually, it was on their tennis court… This was a long walk to the shuttle pick up, but thankfully, Dan offered to carry my skis and negotiated the walk carrying two sets of poles… took me a while to get there, but we eventually got shuttled to the village base area… Greg Ralph, Marketing Manager and his lovely wife, April, both old friends, greeted us and he set us up with ski passes… We rode up the Village Express to the top and skied down to Chair 3, rode back up and skied down to Chair 5… Rode back up and Greg & April had to depart, so Dan and I continued moving across the mountain to ski Chair 8 “Legends Express”. This lift was recently replaced with a high speed detachable quad and made riding up super-fast… I really like the layout of this mountain and how the runs have been designed through the trees with rolling bumps and tree islands… A great area to ski on flat lite days… We eventually made our way to Dante’s on the mid mountain to take a break and grab a bite… We skied a few more runs and made our way back to the Village, where I checked out for the day and Dan continued to make a few...
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Posted by Curtis Fong on Feb 27, 2019
Road Trip to Rehab… This past year has been extremely challenging, personally, with medical issues looming in my mind as well as keeping up with my Bike the West events… Recalling early last year, being told by my cardiologist not to elevate my heart rate with No Skiing, No Biking, No Working out and basically No Life… But, I heeded the warnings… I did ski, but half the days and half the number runs I normally ski – just cruising blue runs… It was extremely hard not to ride my bike or hike in the summer months… I did get out a do some fishing, but limitedly… Well, I’m pleased to say that after a series of three surgeries, from end of June through end of October, to correct aneurysms and re-plumb both my legs and repairing the aortic aneurysm, I have a new lease on life and hoping within a few months to get back to my normal active outdoor lifestyle… Unfortunately, it is taking longer than I imagined, to get my legs in shape as I still suffer fatigued buttocks / gluts when walking any distance, but have found, it is easier for me to be sliding on skis, than to walk. For the past 18 years, I look forward to my NASJA (North American Snowsports Journalist Association) Western Winter Summit Meeting as a kick off, with old friend and ski buddy, Dan Giesin, to our annual road trip incorporating the meeting with another 2 weeks of travel to other resorts… The NASJA Western Winter Summit meeting was scheduled for January 27 – 31, 2019 for Salt Lake City with skiing the resorts in both Little & Big Cottonwood Canyons… Here is the account of my Road Trip to Rehab. Saturday: January 26, 2019: Blue Skies and Sunshine predicted this day as I prepared and posted my Lake Tahoe Mountain Resort Report on my www.bikeandskitahoe.com website… All resorts were open with snow depth bases ranging from 40 to 100”. This will change immensely by the time I get back… Dan had to take care of some business that morning and was driving up from his home in Marin County that afternoon, so I continued to prepare and pack for the 17-day road trip… I had the Subaru serviced a week before, knowing that I would be putting at least 3000 miles on the road and gassed up and pre-packed the...
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Posted by Curtis Fong on Feb 17, 2018
Friday, February 2, 2018: Drive to Salt Lake City – Alta Ski Resort We packed up the Subaru and enjoyed our included breakfast and bid our farewells to the Kalispell and Whitefish Mountain Resort… There was dusting of fresh snow this morning… Today would be another long drive heading east and south all the way back down to Salt Lake City and base of the Cottonwood Canyons resorts… Heading out of Kellogg was smooth and easy back on Hwy 90 towards St. Regis and beyond… as well as navigating through Missoula… We connected to I-15 just short of Butte and continued to Dillion where we stopped for a Subway lunch break… By this time, although Subway Sandwiches are a good and healthier option to the fast food chains… I was getting a little Subway’d out… About two hours later we came through Idaho Falls…and continued, until we cross the Utah border… Somewhere back there, can’t remember the crossing or town, but we had to stop for fuel as the Fuel light came on and glad we did as there was less than a half gallon left… Lots of traffic on I-15, and plenty moving at a much faster pace as we got nearer to Salt Lake City… Negotiating the freeway system in Salt Lake is now a breeze as the GPS Mapping System, put us on I-80 toward Park City, but the 215 Exit before it winds up to Parley’s Summit… The 215 freeway runs along the west side of the Wasatch Range and delivered us to the Cottonwood exit that we were looking for… Our accommodations were at the Hyatt Place Salt Lake City / Cottonwood… Hyatt Place We were fortunate to have this set up by our friends at Alta Ski Resort and Visit Salt Lake Visitors Bureau… This was a really nice hotel, more of a corporate business hotel with a very welcoming staff, large relaxing lobby and large food seating area for accommodating their included breakfast… Starbucks and bakery snacks also available as well as a bar… But, you couldn’t just order a drink at the bar, as it is a restaurant and you had to order food from their menu to get a beer or drink… Understood as Utah alcohol laws have been changing and since the 2002 Winter Games and although you still have to go to a State Owned Liquor Store to...
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Posted by Curtis Fong on Feb 15, 2018
Monday, January 29: On the Road Back in the USofA and to Whitefish, Montana With the Subaru loaded, we decided to have breakfast in the Legends Restaurant in the Lake Louise Inn that offered a nice breakfast buffet… I like choices… great service as well… We hit the road at about 8:30am and programmed the GPS Mapping program, setting our end destination to Kalispell, Montana, where our next accommodations was set up… There was no 35cm of snow on the road and we were thinking that the server from last nights dinner, might have misread the report at maybe 3.5cm of snow… there was snow on the roadways and our concerns about the drive diminished. Snow was on the roadways in places but for the most part, easy going as we climbed back up over the pass and back through Radium Hot Springs… We made a short stop in Radium before heading to the Canadian/US Border… We presented our Passports at the US Border entrance at Roosville and headed south on Hwy 93 towards Whitefish, Montana… Lunch was on our minds and stopped at Cafe Jax in Eureka, Montana… We had stopped here in a previous road trip and they deliver great food and fun service! A few miles north of Whitefish the GPS Voice told us to make a right turn off the highway and so we did… not sure if this GPS System detects traffic and delays, but the route took us to the west of Whitefish, bypassing the highway going through the town and brought us back on Hwy 93 south of Whitefish and on to Kalispell… We had reservations at yet another Holiday Inn Express, just few miles south of Whitefish and at this junction there was everything one could want with shopping centers, restaurants, lodging and more… including a Cabela’s… And, no wonder… Kalispell is the gateway to Glacier National Park and this area has been growing as more and more retired folks are moving to this area… Dan was also interested in picking up some real estate information from this area, as you never know where one may migrate to in the future… We drove into Whitefish that evening to meet with old, but young, friend, Dan Hansen, who formerly worked at Mammoth, rode his bike across the US one year and works with the local tourism agency… We met him in the Great...
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