I stayed in Vail, Colorado from December 27-January 2, 2014. Boy had I missed Colorado.

My first stop was in Durango with my mom for another one of her business trips. Durango is a small resort town just North of New Mexico. I enjoyed seeing the town my mom always talked to me about. They have a train ride (we weren’t able to go on) and a historical downtown district. We arrived on Christmas day when everything was closed, so we weren’t able to get the “full” Durango experience, but we still made our own fun as always. My mom went to work the next day and I worked away from the office editing a video for my job. The next day we drove back to Albequerque (where we originally flew into) and I caught a flight on Southwest to Denver, a short 2-hour drive from Vail. I arrived in Vail Friday evening.

Day 1 (Saturday, December 28th): This was my first day of ski school. I’d only been skiing once, in North Carolina, and I thought I would get it down instantly. I was wrong. I attended a half day of ski school and decided to go ahead and “ski” on down the mountain.

Let’s just say I got down the mountain without breaking any bones. But it wasn’t pretty. Afterwords, I definitely took advantage of the hot tub and some cold Coors Light (I was pretty excited to hold my beer out in front of me and look at the rockies on the can with the real rockies in the background).

Day 2 (Sunday, December 29th): We took a break from skiing, and went to the next town over to watch The Wolf Of Wall Street. I loved this movie, but I do agree with critics that we got the point of all the drugs, alcohol and partying. Maybe cut 15-30 minutes of it, the movie still would’ve been great.

Day 3: (Monday, December 30th): I took another shot at skiing on this day. It was better but not perfect. I basically hung out on the bunny slope for half the day. The other half, I slid down the green slopes.

Day 4: (Tuesday, December 31st): On this day, I got to ski with my boyfriend and his “uncle”- Randy. He’s basically an expert at skiing, been skiing for over 40 years.

I had high anxiety on this day. I was starting to get anxious and down on myself since I hadn’t “mastered” skiing. I like to be good, if not the best at the things I do. I like to think I’m athletic enough to pick up most sports, so I was really disappointed in myself and wasn’t in the best of spirits.

Luckily, I received some help that moved me to the next level. Randy helped me with my stops, which were the hardest for me to master. He also helped build my confidence. After going down a couple slopes, I was getting better and I felt better. I still felt a little anxious, but I knew I had control. We went all the way down the mountain and ended in Vail Village. Funny thing is, they tricked me and brought me down blues the whole way. I was still a little scared, but I pushed through and got down only falling once.

Once we got to the bottom, we definitely made a stop at Garfinkel’s to enjoy a beer. I felt so accomplished! That’s one of the biggest reasons I love trying new things- although I can’t expect myself to be perfect at something new the first go around, it’s such a rewarding feeling when you’ve achieved a goal. My goal was to learn to ski and not look like a complete fool while doing it. Maybe next time I’ll learn to snow board.

Later this night, we went out for New Years to a cool place in Vail Village. I forgot the name, but it was a nice restaurant, pretty large on the inside. There was a band and a champagne toast at midnight. The songs the band played were a mix of oldies and songs from today. We definitely had fun and rang in the new year the right way.

Day 5: (Wednesday, January 1st) We watched skiers ski down the mountain from the living room and patio on this day. We were worn out and relaxed. There was a lot of cleaning and packing to do. We went out to eat for dinner and watched the Baylor football game. I was sad to leave, it was so much fun and so beautiful in Vail. But between the physical and mental requirements of skiing for the first time, I was also extremely tired. It was time to say good bye.

This is a trip I will never forget. I’ve visited Colorado several times before, but not like this. I am so blessed and am thankful for the people who have been in my life and allow me to enjoy these experiences.