Stop #5: Australia
It was a 3,500 mile and 7 hour flight to Australia, crossing the equator and Indonesia on the way. Flying across the continent was pretty, with the vast red deserts of Australia's outback underneath the plane. We got here last night, and we are so excited to be in Sydney!!! Our hotel is near the city center, within walking distance of the harbour, the bridge, and the opera house. It was dark by the time we checked in, so we did a quick change and headed to the restaurants and bars lining Darling Harbour. It was packed with people eating, dancing and having fun. We went to a bar with a long, wide front facing the water, and most of the front was open air. It is late summer/early fall here right now, so the weather is perfect- 70's during the day and 60's at night.
Today we walked to the Sydney harbour bridge and to the opera house next to it. The opera house really is as impressive to see as it looks, with the soaring white structure sitting out in the water as sailboats float by. Sydney's downtown is beautiful, the city has done a great job in keeping the historic buildings in the Rocks area looking good, while building newer skyscrapers nearby. There are great parks downtown and more palm trees everywhere. Good thing we have several more days here, as there is lots to do!
Thanks for the comments on the website, keep them coming!
Last days in Singapore....
We went to the Boat Quay area in downtown Singapore for dinner. A large river runs through Singapore city and out into the ocean, and Boat Quay is a section of the city with dozens of nice restaurants and a walkway along the river. We took a river tour in a "bum boat", which is a low, flat boat which used to be used to ferry cargo along the river. We saw many of the government buildings on the water, and a large Merlion statue at the end of the river facing the ocean. The Merlion is Singapore's national symbol and is a mythical animal with the head of a lion and the body of a fish.
The next day, we went to Sentosa, which is a small island just off of downtown. We actually got to the island by riding a small, glass cablecar, just big enough for the two of us, out of the 20th story of an office building, across the green water, and over to the island. The cable car was 300 feet up in the air, and was definitely a little freaky, but gave us wonderful views of downtown Singapore city, the harbor, and several smaller islands. Sentosa is a small resort island for the locals, and we walked around the whole island, seeing several gardens, Merlion statues, and beaches. We walked along one beach which is the southern most point of continental Asia. We went to the aquarium on the island, which had a huge overhead tank full of all kinds of sharks and eels. The aquarium also had great displays of tropical fish, jellyfish, and seahorses. Next, we headed to the pink dolphin show. The pink dolphins were fun to see, they were a light gray on their backs, but had bright pink stomachs and sides.
We ate a light dinner near our hotel, and sat at an outdoor cafe for a while, before making it an early night as we left for Australia the next morning.
Singapore is an interesting place. It is beautiful, and we enjoyed the visit. The best analogy we can think of is the Jim Carrey movie "The Truman Show" in which he lives his life in a city inside a bubble. Singapore is definitely inside its own bubble. The island is immaculate, and the people seemed very middle class and above, shopping for Gudi, Versace and name brands everywhere. But it was only big-name companies that we saw, no small businesses or entreprenuers at all. We also never saw one policeman, as there is no crime with Singapore's infamous penalties for chewing gum, littering, and even for not flushing a public toilet. However, there are cameras EVERYWHERE! We think we would go a little stir crazy living in Singapore. One waitress told us about taking one vacation abroad, to Australia to see their Mardi Gras parade, and she told us how crazy she thought it was, she had never seen anything like that in Singapore!
We would definitely recommend visiting Singapore for a few days. It is so pretty, and everything about it is just nice. Even the subways smell fabulous, we honestly think the government must pump pleasant smelling scents into them!
A hole in the ground toilet; one of many in Asia. Step one: stand on the white blocks on each side...
The cable car we took from Singapore island (in view), across the water to a hill on the smaller island of Sentosa.
The largest statue of the Merlion, on Sentosa island.
Boat Quay in downtown Singapore City, we ate at several great Thai and Indian restaurants on the water here, in addition to taking a boat cruise from here with views of the city buildings and a Merlion statue at the mouth of the bay.
Singapore was full of orchids; we walked through an orchid garden with different colored orchids grouped together along the path.
A leopard just finishing a swim a few feet in front of us at the Singapore zoo. The lions and white tigers were amazing also, along with the chimps and other animals roaming the grounds.
Stop #4: Singapore
It was a short flight from Bangkok, but Singapore seems like it's on another planet. The weather and palm trees are the same, but everything else is different. We haven't been here long yet, but Singapore is the cleanest place we've ever seen. The people here are Chinese, Malay, and other races, so there isn't one culture, but everyone speaks English. We are the only Americans we've seen here, but there are lots of European tourists, as this is a major stopover for Europeans flying to Australia. Our hotel is on Orchard Street which is full of malls and new, air-conditioned stores full of high-end brand names like a Rodeo Drive. Totally different than the dirty street stalls selling knock-offs in Bangkok.
For dinner last night, we went to a side street here which is full of restaurants and bars with outdoor seating and lounge music playing in the background. We picked a good restaurant- vodka pitchers were on the menu!
This morning, we headed to the zoo. We took the tram and then a bus, so we got to see a little more of the island. The residential neighborhoods are incredible. All of the housing is apparently built by the government in planned communities and then sold to the residents. All the housing is high-rise condos, each condo is painted in matching colors to all of the other buildings in that neighborhood. Each area has its own schools, pool, and facilities. Even the sides of the highways here are immaculate. There are rose bushes covering the guardrails, then a few feet of bermuda grass with trees, then a swept sidewalk, and then ferns past that before the wild shrubs and trees start. The zoo itself is one of the top in the world, and unlike any we have seen. At one point, we walked around a stone wall and found ourselves just a few feet from half a dozen lions. We both almost freaked out, but calmed down after a while. All of the animals are kept in outdoor environments, with just a few feet of water or low fences separating us from them. The white tigers and the jaguars were some of the highlights, as they were playing like kittens. We also had to stop to let a group of orangutans cross the sidewalk in front of us. Our pictures from the zoo will be great!
We also went to the orchid gardens near the zoo. All varieties of orchids grow in the wild here, many of them 15 feet tall, and one variety is the official state flower here. There were rows and rows of different colored and shaped orchids.
Heading out soon for our second night in Singapore, more later!
One last night in Bangkok....
An afternoon in Bangkok's Chinatown felt more like being in China than Hong Kong did. We pass through a couple streets and we are suddenly in a maze of small allies filled with stalls full of everything you can imagine. Actually, most of it was things you can't even imagine, as we couldn't identify most of it in the food stalls. There were stalls of curries, tea leaves, fruits, fried somethings, and raw fish. By now, we are experts at identifying which stalls to hold our breathes as we pass, as the fish stores in Hong Kong, elsewhere in Bangkok and here in the China town are very pungent. We were the only white people here, but most people acted like we weren't there. Chinatown was also clearly a major trade area, as we passed wholesale storefronts, where Indian businessmen were bargaining with Chinese salespeople who were selling Thai-made shoes, belts, bathroom fixtures, diesel motors, etc. We saw small storefront factories where workers were twisting strands of steel cables by hand. Before leaving Chinatown, we stopped at a dim sum restaurant for a bite to eat. We ordered, and accidentally got a custard bun (which we would never have tried normally), but it was sweet and amazing.
We took the train back to the Sukumvhit area where our hotel was and stopped for another massage. This was a two hour one and was a workout! We both got a Thai massage which beat up our muscles and left us feeling sore and a little tired for the next day.
For dinner, we broke two of our eating rules: 1. Never eat at any place recommended in the guidebook, and 2. Never eat at any place that's not crowded with locals. However, we wanted some authentic Vietnamese food to compare to back home, and there was a place recommended which was close to our hotel. It was a nice restaurant, however, the food was just okay. The kick in the ass was when the bill came and we figured out that they had charged us for our napkins and glasses of water, in addition to the usual 10% "service charge" which is common at restaurants here. We have to expect that this will happen once in a while, especially when we are in Europe in a month, but we would feel a lot more comfortable arguing about it there than getting thrown into a Thai jail.
Overall, it was a good night though, as we had three elephant sightings! We also walked back to the hotel through the Soi Cowboy "Cowboy Street" which gained fame for the women who service GI's during and after the Vietnam war. It's still common today as many of the tourists here in Bangkok are single guys who came here. Even our dinner cruise on a nice yacht had older English men with their "dates". We ended the night at an outdoor cafe with a nearly full moon above.
Thoughts on Bangkok- We would love to come back to Thailand, but would like to hit the islands and beaches where we could enjoy the Thai food, friendliness, and weather. It's hard to describe the contrasts in Bangkok. The people are friendly, but the hawkers trying to sell you knock-off clothing, the taxi drivers, and the restaurant and bar touts are annoying- probably due to how poor most of the people are. The city seems modern at times, but then you realize an elephant is standing next to you on the sidewalk. It would appear that there is a lot of construction, but actually many of the half-built skyscrapers are abandoned projects, many of them left after the 1997 Asian crisis. It was fun though, and we enjoyed it as definitely the most different place we've seen. We are very excited to try cooking even more Thai dishes at home!
A baby elephant walking down the street in Bangkok.
The local grocery store; one of the food stalls in China town in Bangkok. The vegetable stalls like this one and the fried food stalls were okay, but we learned to hold our nose walking past the fish stalls.
A view of the stalls in Chinatown in Bangkok. These narrow streets between buildings were covered stalls, offering huge bins of food, and wholesale manufacturers of clothing.
The enormous weekend market, which would take days to walk through. There are stalls with a thousand pairs of $7 jeans stacked to the ceiling, hundreds of booths with $5 shoes, and $4 t-shirts everywhere. There are plates, sculptures, furniture, and food everywhere also.
Boat tour we took along the main river in Bangkok, with views of the King's palace and intricate temples.
One of the Buddhist shrines common on many street corners. People offer flowers, incense and paper offerings here throughout the day.
More Thailand
On Saturday, we figured out the elevated train and the subway system here, so we took the train to Siam Square which is a shopping and basically hang-out area for the local youth. Most of the stores are small, independent shops and many are even temporary stalls, but there was also a Hard Rock Cafe and things like that. We noticed in Hong Kong, but even more so here, Asians love to shop! We had a great lunch at a restaurant by the American embassy. It was our hottest meal yet, but I think we say that every meal we have here!
The heat and steam outside are a little tiring, so we take our walks in shifts, and try to stop at air-conditioned restaurants and shops every little bit. After the shops, we took the train back to the hotel (the elevated train is also a great way to see the city, which is very spread out, and traffic is extremely slow). We went to the hotel pool, which is on an 8th floor terrace and is beautiful.
That evening, we went to a Korean barbecque for dinner. We've never had it before, and no one in the restaurant spoke English, so it was a little challenging. We were trying to order, and our first waitress, a young girl, ran away from the table laughing before we could finish. Another waitress had to take over, and proceeded to bring dozens of unidentifiable dishes to our table. We figured out what was the barbecque pork that we ordered, but not much else.
After dinner, we headed to the Silom area in Patpong which has night market stalls along the street, and lots of go-go bars. It was early in the evening, and we went into one little, almost empty, bar playing good music for a few drinks. After a while, it became obvious we were in a gay bar. I think the old American army guy smoking a cigar at the bar was as surprised as us. When the drag queens walked in, we walked out....
We thought we would call it an evening, but it wasn't as easy as that. Very few Thai speak English, so the hotel gives us cards that say "Hello, I am staying at the Westin Sukumvhit, please take me to this address..." written in Thai. We got into a cab, handed the card to the driver, and started down the street. Although the driver was Thai, he was unfortunately illiterate, which we figured out when he held the card upside down and looked confused. We made him stop the cab and we got out, trying a second cab. This driver was illiterate AND had a glass eye! Still laughing and wondering if we were actually going to make it home that night (the train had stopped running by then), we finally found a third cab driver who could read the directions and spoke a little English. However, we only made it a block in the cab before there was a huge traffic jam. Of course! An elephant was crossing the highway!
On Sunday morning, we succombed to getting pizza for breakfast to calm our stomachs after all the spicy food we've eaten so far. We ordered a plain pizza with tomatos, onions, and ham. After half an hour, we were wondering if our food would be out soon, when we saw the owner walk back into the restaurant with tomatos, onions, and ham. Looked like this was going to take a while, but it was good when it finally came!
We took the train to the Chatachak weekend market which was enormous. It was all tiny stalls, selling everything you can imagine, and would take several days to see each stall. Although very hot, as it was all outside, it was fun seeing all the local families coming to the market to shop and eat. Too bad we don't have room to bring more things home, as we especially like some of the furniture, vases, and small Buddhas we've seen here and in Hong Kong.
After a rough day, another $10 massage was in order. Mel tried the traditional Thai massage, which involves a lot of stretching and pressure points. After another nap, we did a famous Chao Phraya River cruise, seeing the Temple of Dawn, the King and Queen's Grand Palace, the Rama VIII bridge and some other sights. The temples look as good as the pictures suggest, very ornate and architectually detailed. The cruise was two hours, with a great Thai buffet and some wine, which is somewhat rare here, since it is so hot and many restaurants don't have air conditioning. Stacy and I both danced with our waitress on the boat, and one of the other workers asked if we were movie stars. After dinner (and another elephant on the highway sighting), we headed to a bar at the new Metropolitan hotel, which looked very South Beach-ish and trendy. It was a private party; we had gotten invited by the promoter of the DJ we had seen at the club we went to our first night here. It was a lot of fun, and we got a great night's sleep back at the hotel.
Now it's Monday afternoon, and we've had an amazing Indian lunch, with tender Tandoori chicken and a vindaloo different from any other we've had. Off to China town this afternoon, maybe another massage, and then our last night in Bangkok!
Stop #3: One night in Bangkok, and the world's your oyster....
After another great Cathay Pacific flight, we arrived in Bangkok, Thailand. It was sad to see the signs still up at the airport for tsunami relief workers and victims. There was a long line outside for taxis and we headed for the hotel.
While Hong Kong seemed easy and familiar to us, Thailand is different. This is hot, steamy raw Siam. Traffic is slow and there are smells of curry, fish sauce, jungle and trash. However, the city has lots of contrasts. There are roosters in the median of the highway, while brand new Mercedes are driving past 3-wheeled bicycles called "tuk tuks". The people are more laid back, seem to be smiling all the time and always greet us with a short bow. There is also a warm energy in the city. With the tropical environment, there are plants and flowers everywhere. We really enjoy the orchids, which were what we had at our wedding in Jamaica.
We check in to the 5 star Westin hotel here and feel like we are kings and queens. Thanks to Priceline.com, we are staying at 4 and 5 star hotels for $100 a night during our Asia trip. However, we can't get used to this, since the same $100 is only buying us a hostel for our Europe trip in a month.
After being on the go so much during our trip, we take a break and spend the whole afternoon in the spa here. It was wonderful, we may do this every day here...
After the massage and a 4 hour nap (our sleep schedules are completely off), we headed out for the night. Even at night, it is hot and steamy here (Stacy loves it!). Our first stop is a dinner of authentic Thai cuisine. The red curry and our garlic pork were several steps above any Thai we've had in the states, and only cost $2 a dish!
We jumped into a cab for a popular bar we had read about, but the cab driver took us to the latest popular club instead, with new, shiny black Mercedes and Range Rovers lined up outside. After our cheap cover fee that included two free drinks, we started to dance. The DJ was great and played some funky beats. The crowd appeared to be some wealthy young locals, along with some European and Australian tourists. Stacy is still pretty much the only blonde though.
It's the next morning now, and we are heading out to explore the city. Miss you all, more soon.
Hong Kong continued
After our day in Macau, we went out that night for a great Indian dinner in Hong Kong. Mel's pork vindaloo was en fuego! Definitely hotter than anything in the states. After dinner, we walked through the famous Temple night markets. The scene seems like something out of a movie- crowded streets lined with stalls selling knock-offs of clothes, watches, purses, etc. Neon signs in Chinese are above us, with flags and banners crossing the streets. We walked the streets for a few hours before heading back for the night.
Last day in Hong Kong-
Congee??? We had seen this dish listed on several menus, and finally tried it for breakfast our last day. It is like a rice porridge with meat and spices, we got chicken, and it tasted sort of like chicken dumpling soup, but much better. Perfect breakfast meal. Stacy also got a fried egg, too bad we didn't have the camera to catch her eating it with chop sticks.
After breakfast, we headed to the electronic stores lining the streets, selling everything you can imagine. Hong Kong is far more advanced technologically than the U.S. Everyone is walking around with their advanced cellphones on a cord around their neck for easy access, since they are always text messaging someone or talking on the phone. Except of course, when they have their MP3 earphones in, as nearly everyone does. Even the kids have cellphones with better cameras built into them than you can even buy as a stand-alone camera in the U.S. We brought our digital camera with us, but had to jump into the action and get a camcorder to record the rest of our travels. For those who care, we got a HD camcorder that records 2 hours directly onto a re-usable SD memory card for less than a cheap tape camcorder would be in the U.S., and I don't think it's even available in the US yet.
We then headed over to Hong Kong island from Kowloon to walk around the SoHo area, which is full of very nice restaurants and Asian antique furniture shops. This area is below the Victoria peak, and is very hilly, reminding us of San Francisco. There is a public transportation escalator which goes up the hills and is the longest escalator in the world. While walking around we saw some funny signs plastered on the walls everywhere. Apparently, there is a popular Asian Elvis imitator named "Melvis". We snagged one of the signs for a souvenir, and Mel is hoping that's not his new nickname for the rest of the trip. We ate dinner there also, in the Lan Kwai Fong area. We sat outside at a Lebanese restaurant, while Hong Kong business men and women walked by, and Mercedes, BMWs, and Ferraris drove past on the narrow street. We noticed a line of people and lots of flashbulbs across the street, so we went to check it out after eating. It appeared something was going on at this place, called the C Club, so we talked and smiled our way down a literal red carpet, velvet ropes, and papparazis taking our picture. Once inside, we talked to the locals and discovered we had gotten into a private party with all the Hong Kong celebrities. We had an interesting coversation with one import/export trader here, who said that Hong Kong is still a center of business, but he worries that it is being bypassed as companies are starting to go more and more directly into China instead of passing the trade through Hong Kong.
With an early flight in the morning, we headed home about 11 p.m. and took the Star Ferry across the bay back to Kowloon. Riding the ferry at night was something we had been looking forward to, as you can see all the lights of Hong Kong on both sides of the water. Of course, we captured the scene on our new camcorder.
Final thoughts on Hong Kong....
The city was amazing. It was like a clean, efficient, polite New York. Hong Kong is huge, but there is never a rush of people or any problems getting around. The public transportation was easier to use than any other city we've been in and spotless as well.
One street of the many night markets in Hong Kong. More stuff to buy than you can imagine, lots of people, music and tiny restaurants all around.
Macau island- The facade of Ruinas de Sao Paulo, all that remains of a church that caught fire during a typhoon in 1835. Macau is full of beautiful, Portugese architecture, and of course, casinos!
The view from Victoria's peak on Hong Kong island, looking across the harbor to Kowloon.
More Hong Kong....
Finished about an hour walk around Victoria's peak yesterday afternoon. It seems the smog here is nearly eternal, but we got lucky and had a sunny day and could see most of the city, peering out through the tropical trees on the peak.
Dinner last night was another good Chinese dish, we never know exactly what we're going to get when we order. We've asked for water several times and always get a glass of steaming hot water, finally figured out today that we need to ask for the distilled water, which is cold bottled water. The restaurant last night also had the first bathroom which was a hole in the ground, I'm sure we'll see more of that during our trip, lovely....
With only a few hours of sleep on the plane during the previous night, we called it an early night (6 pm) and slept until 6 this morning. Feeling much more energetic today, so we headed to the ferry terminal for the hour ride to Macau. The Sands Casino Macau is the first thing we saw as we pulled up to the island. Macau was Portugese territory until it was turned over to China in 1999, the same year the British gave back Hong Kong. Macau is the only legal gambling area in China, but gambling is obviously very popular in Asia, as we discovered from all the mainland Chinese coming here to bet. The tables in the casinos were several people deep, and people standing behind the players could add their own bets to each player's hands. Guess they wanted to not only take their chances on the cards, but on the player's skills as well.
We walked around the main island, enjoying the strong Portugese influence on the architecture and the large plazas in the city. We sampled an assortment of candies and strange dried meats from a store and ended up buying some spicy pork to snack on throughout the day. Hong Kong and Macau don't let you eat any food or drinks on public transportation, and we think we've figured out why- the foods smell so strong (and sometimes funky!) Next we went to the Westin Macau for a drink in their gardens and walked along the black sand beach.
Back in Hong Kong, we are heading out again for dinner and the famous night markets. More soon...
Stop # 2 - Hong Kong
After arriving to LAX airport three hours early, it took us less than 10 minutes to check in and pass security. Not bad...
For all those curious, yes the flight was 14 hours and 30 minutes and over 7000 miles. It went by so fast. We had dinner around 2 a.m. PST, then watched one of the multiple channels on our own personal mini TV's, then slept. Woke up at 3 a.m. Hong Kong time and ate some eggs/ ham and killer banana bread.
Arrived in Hong Kong early this morning and took and easy train and taxi ride to our hotel. We passed the cargo ports, which were amazing. Railway and truck cars were stacked literally dozens and dozens high. We looked at the labels on our clothes and laughed, thinking that most of them had probably come right through this port at one time. The city of Hong Kong straddles a bay, with parts of the city on Hong Kong island, and parts of it on the mainland. We are staying in Kowloon, on the mainland. We don't need a visa to visit this part, but we would if we went much further into mainland China. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we started walking. It seemed like the city was still asleep, until we passed one street and saw some very tired looking barkids coming out of a club at 7 a.m. Further on, we walked into Kowloon park and saw locals of all ages doing Tai Chi. With the little sleep we've had, the Tai Chi group is definitely more our speed! Actually though, the coordination and balance of the older people in the park was impressive.
We are sitting at a coffee shop at the top of Victoria Peak. Mel just ordered some funky Gingseng water that is not very good.
Earlier this morning, Stacy did finally got her PF Changs fix after missing it (due to a hour and half wait) in Newport Beach. We shared red curry beef, barbq pork and beef with a black bean pepper sauce - awesome - at a small Chinese restaurant.
Going to walk around to the top of Victoria Peak for awhile. More after we sleep tonight - yippee.
Jet lagged, but doing great.
The traveling Martens
Lori, Stacy and Shannon out in Newport.
Mel and Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray, hanging out in The OC.
Sylvia, Stacy and Joselen looking pretty on Mike's porch.
Chuck, Mel, and Mike on the patio of Mike's new house in Newport Beach.
Stop # 1 - Newport, California
Six hours and counting until we depart for Hong Kong...
We arrived at LAX Friday morning around 10ish. Sunshine, white sand, sailboats, celebrities, and friends are just a few words to describe our three days in Cali.
It all starts at a Mexican Restaurant in Newport. After a great dinner and a few drinks, we were standing there with Mike F., Silvia S., Chuck, Bridget and Josie Auer. All of a sudden, Mark McGraff (SugarRay and Entertainment Tonight) walks into the restaurant. Mel goes right up and asked for a picture with him - classic. We will try to post that one soon. After the photo shoot, we headed to Sharkie's to meet Lori (who surprised us and drove to Newport from Phoenix), Shannon and Chris (friends who just moved to Newport).
The next morning we went to breakfast at Cappie's and guess who was in the booth next to us??? Mark Mcgraff with two friends. I think he was following us.
The night was topped off on a roof overlooking the beach. We all watched the sun go down over the ocean and then started to BARBQ. After awesome food and many laughs, the boys decided to head out on bikes. Lets just say that Mel ran into a jumping rose bush (like our friend Brian F. many years ago in Phoenix). He ended safe and sound, just another great story to start off our trip.
Thanks to all our friends for a great trip in Newport! Off to PF Changs before leaving for Hong Kong. I know, Stacy was craving Chinese.
Stacy joins Russell Investment Group
Stacy is happy to announce that she has accepted a new job at Russell Investment Group -
www.russell.com. She will spread Russell's multi-manager investing approach all around the Southeast. She is very excited and starts July 5, 2005 out of Miami, Florida.
Miami here we come!
Ski Pic- Getting ready to ski; it's sunny, 50 degrees, and we have beautiful views of the mountains. Spring skiing at its best!
Denver and Ski trip
We've just returned from skiing for the past week. One day here at home, and then we're off to Tampa, Florida for a few days. We'll be adding pictures of our Steamboat trip as soon as we can.
Last Thursday was Stacy's last day at AG Edwards. After a fun happy hour that night, our flight left bright and early the next morning for Denver (ah, the sunshine state!). We spent the day (April 1 - Mel's birthday!) walking around downtown Denver. We went to a tapas restaurant called Ninth Door for a great dinner that night, then to the Church nightclub and heard Steve Porter who was DJing. The Church was a fun place, actually in an old church with lots of separate rooms, very similar to Limelight in New York. Bright and early the next day (April 2 - Stacy's birthday!), we met Mel's mom and niece Samantha in Denver for breakfast and then drove up to their house in Steamboat Springs.
We've been to Tahoe, Whistler, Vail, etc, but Steamboat is the best all around combination of skiing terrain, scenery, no crowds (unlike Tahoe), and small, ski-town environment. The mountain had received about a foot of snow a few days before we got there, but our first day of skiing was sunny and 50 degrees- what could be better? The weather was sunny again the second day, and Stacy took a lesson while Mel wore himself out skiing moguls. The third day, we woke up to snow, and quickly headed up the mountain. It was snowing hard and visibility was close to zero on the top half of the mountain. We skiied together in the morning, while about 8-10 inches of new snow fell; it was Stacy's first time skiing in fresh powder and she did great. That afternoon, Stacy went for another lesson, while Mel got a private bumps lesson from a coach on the Steamboat winter sports club, the local skiing group that trains all the Olympians that come from Steamboat. Our fourth day of skiing was sunny and 60 degrees, with plenty of fresh snow left from the day before. The mountain was nearly deserted, so we had runs to ourselves, and skiied to the peaks just to enjoy the view. The scenery is incredible, seeing snow-capped mountains in every direction; we felt as if we were standing on top of the world. We started heading down the mountain for our last run of the day. At the top, we were nearly above the tree line and snow was everywhere. By the middle of the mountain, we were surrounded by snow covered trees and enjoying the snow. By the bottom of the mountain, we were practically skiing through slush, and we came out of the forests at the base to see people laying out in bikinis by the pools at all the condos at the base. It felt like we'd just gone through three seasons, winter to spring to summer, in our 45 minute descent! We ended at the Slopeside Grill, which is the local happy hour hang-out. About a hundred local skiiers (and their dogs) were all sitting in plastic chairs out in the snow listening to music, talking and playing cards. We finished our last night with dinner at a great Mexican restaurant in Steamboat with Mel's family.
Now we're back in St Louis long enough to unpack, do laundry, mow the lawn, and repack for Florida. Mel has never seen Tampa before, and Stacy hasn't seen much of it, so we're excited to go check it out and see if it might be the new homebase of The Traveling Martens.
