The views from the ski lift. Steamboat had some different scenery because of its lower elevation relative to other ski resorts. This just means lots of Aspen trees rather than pine.
On Saturday night we broke out our new pasta machine (thanks Mom and Dad!) and made some pasta with ragout following the recipes we learned in Italy. We also found The Godfather on TV and had it playing in the background. Italian food + The Godfather = one of Travis's ideas of heaven. The food was amazing!
Showing off our lift riding while taking a self portrait skills.
Sunday we skied all day and ended the day with a little apres-ski beer at the bottom of the mountain. One of my favorite parts of being able to stay the weekend in a ski area is that you get to enjoy that apres-ski time! Later that night, after dinner, we made the trek out to Strawberry Park, which is this amazing collection of natural hot springs pools. It's situated right next to the (Yampa, I believe) River so the hot springs water can mix in with the river water. They have pools of varying levels of heat, depending on how much of the nearby river water they allow to flow into the different sections. I went during the summer after the triathlon, but it's a much different experience during the winter. For one, with the snow everywhere, you could see a lot easier, which also means less naked people (thank goodness). Second, the pools that felt the best during the summer are completely different than the best ones during the winter. I suppose this is due to the river being colder. The large one that we hung out in for awhile this summer was just about completely frozen over!
On the way home on Monday, we came to a stop on the highway we were on. At first we weren't quite sure what was going on since this road's in the middle of farm country, but then we saw this:
It was a cattle drive! Crazy, huh? There were lots of cattle, a few cowboys on horses, and even a couple of blue heelers to keep the cattle in check. I don't think I've ever been that close to that many cows. At one point they had the car completely surrounded. That was a pretty cool way to break up the drive and end a great weekend!
