Summer 2020: Vail, Colorado

As with a majority of people from around the world, our summer vacation plans were significantly altered. We normally have my step-kids with us during their summer break, but since they would have to travel from Sweden to the US, that got canceled. Not seeing them was definitely the most difficult part of 2020. However, we all had to look on the bright side that everyone is healthy, and even though we are apart, we all had a great summer. Next summer will be even better!

Dan and I kept our first pandemic trip simple with a day excursion to the local mountains. Vail is a two-hour drive from Littleton, and we had never been there. Although certainly known for its first-class skiing, Vail is also filled with summer activities. We are more summer people anyways, so this suited our style.

Our trip was on July 3rd and in efforts to beat holiday crowds, we set off at sunrise, grabbing a Starbucks en route. The drive is beautiful early in the morning and we arrived in Vail just as the town was waking up.

Vail is not inexpensive. We had sticker shock when we pulled into one of the parking garages and saw the price list. Being from Los Angeles, I’m accustomed to high prices, but Vail was a surprise.

Luckily, there was a free lot a little further down the road. I suspect the lot that we parked in is not normally free, but it was a promotion to entice people to visit during the pandemic. In any case, it was a great bonus that we won’t expect the next time we visit.

We were meeting our friend’s Julie and Ryan for breakfast at nine, but as we were so early, we had over an hour to explore the town. Vail was very quite and a majority of the shops in the village were not open, so we poked around and took pictures. The Vail village is enormous with a European vibe and colorful flowers absolutely everywhere.

Covid-19 safety measures were reinforced with signage and reminders. With the exception of eating and quick pictures, we kept our masks on. It wasn’t a big deal, until later in the day when it got very hot. We managed though. I was disappointed to see that many of the visitors in Vail were ignoring the safety measures, Our trip was before Governor Polis enacted our state-wide mask mandate, which has seemed to make things better.

The Vail Public Library had adorable critters on its roof.

And we found a restaurant that reminded us of our previous home in California.

Julie and Ryan arranged our breakfast at Vintage. It was a good thing that they made reservations, as it was booked-solid. The Covid restrictions on restaurant capacity means planning ahead to avoid disappointment.

Vintage is a lovely breakfast spot with excellent service and delicious food. It’s definitely higher-end, about thirty a person for an entree and coffee, no alcohol. It was a treat to eat here. This might sound strange, but the side salad was particularly delicious. Dan isn’t a salad fan and even he loved it.

After breakfast, we went on the Vail scenic chair lift. Normally, the chair lift has a variety of activities at the top, such as a alpine coaster, but due to Covid, those activities were closed. We could have gone hiking, but that was not the day we had planned, There was a restaurant at the top, but we were full from breakfast. So we basically rode it up, took a look around, and rode it down. It was forty-four dollars each, very steep for the experience. It was pretty at the top, but I’m not sure I’d recommend this or do it again. The lift at Breckenridge is much nicer and less expensive.

Our next stop was the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens. The gardens were a long walk to the other side of the town (Vail does have a bus system, but we didn't feel safe cramming into a bus) and it was starting to get hot. I think I would enjoy visiting Vail in the early autumn, when the temperatures cool down, but before the snow arrives. In a contrast to the other things in Vail, the gardens were free. They are small and we finished in about twenty minutes, but the gardens are lovely and definitely worth a look, if you’re in the area. Also, next to the gardens is a massive park and playground, perfect for families.

Our final stop in Vail was Joe’s Famous Deli for ice cream. I had mango sorbet that was fantastic.

We left Vail around 2pm and headed to our next mountain town, Breckridge. Stay tuned for my Breckridge trip report on an upcoming post.

Social Distancing in Florida: Week 22

As a birthday surprise, Dan took me on a four night vacation to Florida. Florida has quite a bit more covid cases than Colorado, so I was a little nervous about traveling. However, we took many precautions, and I’m thrilled to report that our first major trip during Covid seems to have been a success. We are going to be extra careful for the next few weeks, in case we did become infected, but overall, I feel like we were able to have a safe and wonderful vacation.

We flew first class on United from Denver to Tampa. The flight to Tampa was one of the riskiest parts of the trip. Unfortunately, the flight was full, and although we thought we were playing it safe by booking first class, I don’t think it mattered. If anything, it might have been worse, as everyone in first class was given a Tapas Box for a snack, and the guy across the aisle from me had his mask off for over an hour, as he leisurely enjoyed his snack. I was disappointed that the flight crew didn’t take a stronger stance on the masks. There were a few announcements, but little enforcement. When we landed, we were not dismissed off the plane row-by-row, which I had been expecting, and as usual, people jammed the aisles.

Our return flight was a better experience. The snack was just a bag of chips/cookies, so people didn’t remove their masks for an extended period of time, and we were dismissed by row. The airports were different too. Tampa was much better with signage and enforcement. Denver was far more relaxed, including several people at the United check-in desk without masks, and none of the employees enforcing or even asking them to put on a mask. This was frustrating.

Here’s a picture of the social distancing measures at Tampa. Tampa is a much nicer airport.

Originally, our trip was supposed to be four days at the Doubletree Hilton in Redington Beach. We ended up having enough of the beach after two days, and moved to a Hilton Grand Vacations near Seaworld in Orlando. Both hotels had signage regarding social distancing and required masks in communal areas, things that were followed by a majority of the guests.

On the stretch of beach outside of our hotel, we were able to rent a pair of sun beds for thirty dollars. This gave us bit of space at the beach, especially as the beds were spaced apart. The beach wasn’t very crowded and I felt safe. It was a similar situation by the pool in Orlando; the beds were spaced apart, and as soon as we finished, attendants sanitized them. People stayed with their own groups in the pool, spaced apart. It was actually a really nice vacation experience, as nothing was crowded.

The restaurants all had similar covid procedures to the ones we have been dealing with in Denver, so nothing seemed a surprise, except for the Seabreeze restaurant, which asked us to text before entering. I thought this was a great idea, as it eliminated unnecessary people entering the restaurant and crowding the host stand.

This trip was not about theme parks, yet, we found ourselves unable to resist the siren call of Seaworld. I had never been to Seaworld in Orlando, and Dan had not been since he was in elementary school, so it was a new experience for both of us. We are huge theme park fans and this was our first theme park in 2020.

With the exception of the Florida heat, it was a great experience. We arrived at opening and spent about two hours and then returned in the evening. Masks are required and hand sanitizer was absolutely everywhere: every ride, every store, every restaurant. Our temperature was screened prior to the ticket counter, and it was an easy process, just a sensor that checks for temps without even having us slow down. We went to Disney Springs on the last morning of our trip and they used hand-held thermometers, which took a few seconds longer than the scan at SeaWorld. Both were a painless, quick process that didn’t impede on our enjoyment of the parks.

The park maps are all digital. The shows were open with spaced seating, and at the end of the show, employees dismissed the theaters row by row. There were a few people trying to leave before their rows were dismissed, but it mostly worked well. The ride queues were spaced, and we only had to ask one person, a kid, to step back. It’s hard, I think people in general, especially young kids, are excited to be at the parks, and the instinct is to push forward/bunch up. This wasn’t a huge problem, but guests need to be a bit more aware of their surroundings and less in a rush. The park is certainly less crowded and the lines are shorter, but also things take a bit longer, and we all need to have patience. For example, on some of the coasters ( oddly, not all) we observed the seats/restraints being sanitized. This slowed the load times, but also, the lines were much shorter than average.

Overall, I felt safe at Seaworld and I would definitely return. The biggest obstacle was wearing the masks in the heat. We couldn’t do it in the middle of the day and had to take a pool break at our hotel. Also, if you ride Mako, hold on to your mask. Mine nearly came flying off!

On this trip, I got to check a dream off of my bucket list: Dan took me on an airboat ride to see gators. It was awesome, although we saw more cows than gators. The landscape was gorgeous and the ride was thrilling.

It was hard to return home and back to the daily grind. I hope another Florida vacation is in our near future. This week we have political news with the Democratic National Convention happening. It’s virtual due to Covid, but this election year is certainly an exciting one. I’ve never felt more invested in my making my vote count. I want to get a Biden/Harris t-shirt.

After our yummy vacation food, Dan brought out the pasta maker, which hasn’t been used in years, and made us some fresh spaghetti. It was delicious. It’s shocking that all of the months we were stuck inside this winter, we never attempted homemade pasta.

And the cutest of cute cat pictures, comes courtesy of Tom, and his new toy from Florida. We bought him his own purple stuffed animal, so he’d stop stealing Figment. He loves his new toy. We let him think that he was stealing it off of the shelf. Naughty kitty!

Social Distancing in Littleton: Week 23

Oddly, I don’t have much to report this week, so I will keep it short and sweet. Our life has continued with this new-normal. We ate out a few times and had our friends, Julie and Ryan, over for dinner. Generally, we have not been seeing friends, and we have been avoiding big gatherings, but I feel safe with Julie and Ryan, as they are just a two-person household and they work from home. They’re being cautious.

Bigger than Covid this week are the Colorado wildfires. The air quality has been horrendous, but the sunsets have been stunning.

Our community recreation center is nearly finished and the pool is being filled. Due to Covid, we can’t actually use the center, although I think they’re coming up with a plan to open it with a reservation system to keep social distance. I hope we have the chance to use it before it gets cold. The weather has been in the 90’s, but I know that cooler temperatures are just around the corner. I need to start working on those snow shoveling muscles!

A few fun pictures of birthday presents that Dan bought me: A floating flamingo tea infuser and the “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” sign. We didn’t go to Disney World last week, but we did make it to Disney’s Springs for some shopping. Disney’s fans will recognize the quote from the sign! Is the song stuck in your head? Also, we saw similar desk signs (non-Disney themed) in Vail and for essentially the same product/same quality, they were triple the price. I was happily surprised that the Disney item was affordable- especially as it was a gift from my husband! All of this is to say that not everything at Disney is outrageously priced….but everything in Vail is insane!!!

Ending with our cute cat picture of the week: Tom dominating his toy!