Up on the slopes in Breckenridge, CO.
The accommodation offer from Mike and Libby was for shortly after New Year, and my sister Aud and Wayne were to join us. Our friends and associates at the marina could not believe that we were going to drive to Breckenridge, but we did not want to fly and miss experiencing the lie of the land on the way. It was a very long drive over three days, leaving at dawn and arriving at some or other motel after dark each day, but we wouldn’t have missed it for anything. We ate American fast food, slept in chain motels and filled our own petrol tank and checked our own oil! Highlights of the trip were a flight over the Grand Canyon, and a visit to the Arches National Park where the children earned ranger badges for picking up litter (they were extremely proud). Being well trained by their mother they resisted the temptation to fill their litter bags from a rubbish bin as suggested by their father!
The Arches.
Not such a pleasant experience was when we were pulled over for speeding in Alabama (which we were, by about 5 miles an hour), and for which a simple fine would have sufficed. But what transpired was Doug being slapped up against the car movie style and frisked, yelled at and threatened that he was going to jail because we were driving on a South African driver’s license. The arrogant cop had big time short man’s syndrome and thought he had made the arrest of the week. The children were in floods of tears, and our holiday looked like it was ruined. Every time Doug tried to explain that we had checked this issue out, were totally legitimate, and could prove it, he was nearly pistol whipped. When eventually the situation calmed down, and we were allowed to contribute, the cop was very contrite, apologized to us and to the kids and let us be on our way. We did not return via Alabama.
We had long since discovered Goodwill shops where we had shopped since being in the States, so once in Denver we found a Goodwill and kitted ourselves out for the slopes for a fraction of the cost of new. Goodwill shops are upmarket second hand retail outlets across the country, selling clothing and shoes, household appliances, kitchen paraphernalia, sporting equipment, household goods and linen etc. Virtually anything can be found at Goodwill and it is always in immaculate condition. It was great fun with all of us trying on and parading around. It was a first time for the children to put on skis and the unfamiliarity of the weird boots and long attachments was very entertaining.
A ski holiday is still one of the most invigorating and well worth family holidays. We had two weeks of great snow, exciting skiing and tubing, lunch on the slopes and many great times. We had a mystical horse ride in the falling snow through the forest and stayed in a lovely apartment complete with private jacuzzi. Wayne had a learning curve of his own – he was nearly arrested for peeing in the snow at 3 in the morning as we were all making our jovial way back to the apartment after a night out – apparently this is not merely a misdemeanor as when the snow melts at the end of season, the village starts smelling like a urinal. Likewise, Dylan learnt that the yummy looking powder snow on the stainless steel railing is best left there rather than licking it off. To this day I still think they could do DNA testing on the portion of his tongue left behind after this experiment.
We planned our return trip to coincide with a shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral, and treated ourselves to three days at Disneyworld while we waited for the launch date with huge anticipation. We booked into a hotel near the launch site with a big screen TV and view over the launch site and then started the sit in waiting. Day after day the excitement built with T-30 counting down and finally the launch being ‘scrubbed’ due to winds just slightly over the maximum permissible. It was very disappointing to eventually have to accept that there was no way of knowing how long it would take, and that we could not stay indefinitely. We eventually did see the shuttle launch standing on the jetty at Twin dolphin, distant and less dramatic, but nevertheless spine chilling; everyone was cheering and clapping to its success, very patriotic.
An Island in Disney World.
For visa purposes we needed to leave the States. We decided to sail to the Bahamas and then head up north to Chesapeak Bay, rebooking into the USA. Of course this meant a fair amount of preparation and detachment from our new life. Finesse needed to become a sailing vessel again, not a mobile home, and we had to say the inevitable good byes. We were on our way again.
– Val
Captions to be added at a later stage.
>>>>> Travel with us to the Bahamas and through the Intra-Coastal Waterways <<<<<
Sailing Katlyn 