I made it on my flight out of Raleigh-Durham on December 30th, but I was barely conscious. Five o'clock in the morning comes awfully early sometimes. We had one last family dinner out at Mount Fuji, the night before, sushi and sake and topped it all off with gelato. We had some experimental rolls, with different kinds of fish draped over flash-fried and panko-crusted other fishes and avos and such. Ella was in rare form, hilarious and engaging and it seems my nickname has devolved from "Aunt Kafren" to "Aunt Rafren."
I was fully packed, with my two suitcases to check, and then my yoga mat bag and my laptop bag to carry on. I ran into Hadley and her friend as we boarded the plane and they saved me a window seat on their row so we chatted a bit before she and I fell into a slumber for most of the 4 hour flight to Denver.
Does anyone watch "Dexter" on Showtime? He sat two rows in front of us, kanoodling with his real-life girlfriend who it turns out is his sister on the show. He looks smaller and younger in real life and the sister looks shorter as well. Odd, huh?
As soon as I checked into my Renaissance room I ordered room service then slipped into a dreamless nap for a couple of hours...shower and change, connect with all the folks driving up from Telluride, then over to their Residence Inn for the pre-show festivities. And what a show! The Pepsi Arena is large, 18,000 people or so but we managed to find a nice row where we could shove intruders out and keep our people together. Concerts are just so much fun. I was overdue for a cut loose couple of days and Panic delivered. I took a cab home to my hotel at 4:30am, showered and slumbered, awakened at 10 or so, ordered a pot of coffee and huevos rancheros, then slept again until 2 or so, whence I showered and readied myself again, this time for the big show, the New Year's Eve concert, and headed on over to the Renaissance again. I am a huge fan of staying a reasonable distance away from venues and throngs of partying friends, as I can show up and leave at will. Kelly came down from Boulder for a couple of hours and Jason surprised Erika on her birthday with tickets to the show, plus Matty drove up, oh and Layla and Emmet from Denver. It was Emmet's first time seeing Panic and about a minute into the first song he turns to me and says, "I get it." It was really fun to watch his face during the show and see how much fun he was having, just taking it all in. I danced like a freak and my arms and legs are still sore! I made it back to the hotel by 6:30 this time, again showered and slumbered and awakened to order room service before we organized ourselves and hit the road for the 6 hour drive to Telluride.
I got to loll about in the back of Corina's BMW SUV while she and Alex laughed and chatted up front. We stopped at a great pizza place in Idaho Springs, and also caught an incredible sunset in Grand Junction, the sky was blood red which is always a cool treat on New Year's Day, right?
Not so many photos for you all right now, just not in the picture taking mode, but I am sure that will all shift once I am fully into a routine here. When I awakened on my first morning I was looking right up Bear Creek, sunlight playing on the snowy peaks at the top and I felt some relief. I am finally here. That is not to say that I didn't spend the next day questioning myself, Are you sure you are doing the right thing? Are you sure you can spend this money right now? What are you going to do when the ski season ends? You have to get a real job at some point in time, right? Who do you think you are? Why was the pizza crust so thick in Idaho Springs? You get the idea. Although I think it is more healthy than not to question your decisions, I was happy to fall asleep and rely on dreams to keep me feeling slightly insane.
January 2nd, and I was out the door getting my new post office box and checking account, having lunch with KJ and little Townes and then I collapsed into a 2-hour nap.
January 3rd, and I am picking up skis and boots and poles and new bindings all in place. And my old snowboard, tuned with new bindings. Another nap, this one only one hour, and more dinner and movies with CoCo. The house is great and so is she, I will have to get some photos of her and her "living pillows" these two adorable dogs that lie on you when you are supine.
It feels good to be back, but not quite there yet. I need to work and tomorrow I start teaching yoga at the Peaks, my first class at 9am! I went up for some runs today, CoCo and KJ and M, we went all over, to 6 and 9 and ended up at Allred's eating truffle french fries and drinking cider and bourbon (them) and chatting with CoCo's dad and Meghan's mom by a crackling fire. So nice.
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