I flew into Colorado on Saturday night and was met by a friend of mine, Steve Jaszai. I got to know Steve and his family when they went to Crossroads a while back. Steve is a great guy with some great stories to tell. He went to the Air Force Academy, flew B-52 bombers and was a T-37 trainer in the Air Force, prior to moving into the Space Warfare Center. He grew up in Colorado Springs with a cottage right outside Brekenridge. Anyways, Steve and I headed back to his place and had a couple of beers. Colorado Springs is at about 6,500 feet and I couldn't believe how that changes the impact of alcohol on your system. I was ready to hit the sack soon aftewards.

On Sunday we got up early and drove out to Brekenridge via a beautiful scenic drive. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt that morning, ready to ski. As we started getting closer, a storm swept through with high winds, snow and hail. 70 degrees to 10 below wind chill within a few minutes. I bought a coat out there, rented some skis and a helmet and we hit the slopes. For the most part, the skiing sucked. The spring-skiing slush didn't have a chance to thaw out at all, so we were left with high winds, high altitude and michigan-quality skiing (ice base with about 1" of blowing powder). The 12,500 altitude made for an amazing view, but an oxygen mask would have been nice. I great time with Steve - it was amazing watching him ski the bumps. Having grown up out there, there wasn't much he couldn't ski. Not having skiied in 3 years, it took me a few runs to get back in the groove, but once I found it, I remembered how much I love doing it! My heart just came alive as I sped down the hills, carving nice turns on tough runs. Until I wiped out... At least I had a helmet. Reminds me of riding the bus as a kid.

Afterwards, we hiked around Brekenridge a while and then hit the road towards Denver and drove through some amazing scenery, including stoppiong off at Loveland Pass:

We headed to Denver and stopped off at Steve's folks, picked up his kids and headed back to Colorado Springs where he dropped me off at my hotel. I was beat. I fell asleep at 9PM.