Tom bringing the house down

OK, I know this photo is a little dark -- but the theatre was a little dark! Tom had a great setup that night -- it was a beautiful thing.

After Tom played, the headliners came out -- it was one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. It was a 3-piece band: acoustic (upright) bass, banjo & guitar (all miked up); the banjor player also stomped on a foot pedal to play a single bass drum, and the guitar player stomped on a foot pedal to play a hi-hat. The only description I can muster up is perhaps head-banging blue grass on acid. But the crowd was lovin' it....

Tom plays the Boulder Theatre

Tom had a great gig the other night at the Boulder Theatre. It was a great venue! We think it was built in the 1920s or so. It has been refurbished beautifully... and the acoustics are awesome. He played with "Buckskin Stallion" -- which is an alt-country band, but that night they were rockin'. The crowd was really into it -- which made for a great show.

Prior to the big OUCH

Well, this last weekend started off well... Tom and I headed up to Winter Park, CO, for a ski-weekend with a bunch of friends. Our friend Steve skis there because they have the National Ski School for the Disabled, with great accommodations for wheelchair-bound skiers. Steve started off the weekend skiing GREAT -- as you can see, his 3 instructors (behind him, in purple) didn't have to do too much -- just point him in the right direction!

Unfortunately, the weekend ended with a bit of a tragedy -- Steve had an accident, and broke both of his legs. But before his "great fall," we had a couple of days of good times -- so I've decided to go ahead a post several pictures of our adventures. We all are wishing Steve a speedy recovery.

Laurent & Ollie

Laurent & Ollie skiied quite a bit with Steve, too. Ollie is brave enough to telemark -- maybe someday I'll be skilled enough in snow sports to give that a try.

Woo-hoo!

Lanie and I were pretty psyched that they would let us snow-shoe up the slopes to where Steve was skiing so that we could watch. (Of course, by the time we hoofed it up there, we were pretty tired, too!) As you can see, Steve picked the coldest day in Winter Park history to be out on the mountain...

Steve getting on the lift

Getting onto a ski lift while strapped into a mono-ski looks like no small feat to me....

Lanie?

Although this might look like a wipe-out, Lanie was actually relaxing in the snow after a long haul up the ski-slopes. You can take the girl out of upstate New York, but you can't take the upstate New York out of the girl!

View from the condo window

When they say "ski-out accommodations," they're not kidding!

The snow-shoe gang

While the adrenaline-junkies were racing down the slopes, the rest of us chose a gorgeous hike outside the town of Winter Park. The trails were very well maintained, and the weather was perfect.

Ah, this is the life!

Rich enjoys a water/PBJ break...

Awesome trail

Although our first day in Winter Park had frigid, gray, blowing weather, our second day was unbelievably gorgeous. We enjoyed a 5 or 6 mile tromp up the mountain, with Nat, Lisa & Steve (from the Bay Area), Rich & Melinda (from Boulder), Lanie (from Seattle) -- what a great group!

Action shot!

Lanie & I had a great time snow-shoeing.

We've been getting in some great hikes

We are very lucky that within minutes of our apartment, we have a limitless number of awesome hikes. I never thought I'd say this, but when the sun is out (which is pretty common) and there isn't too much wind, 25 or 30 degrees is PLENTY warm to go hiking or snow-shoeing. Of course, whenever we have guests it seems like the weather hasn't been too cooperative.... but don't let that stop you from visiting! I swear... the weather is usually quite accommodating!

I'm gonna get you!

We stopped for a break on our hike -- and the snow was so light & dry, that it felt like styrofoam. Weird. It's been so warm that it's melting fast....