Wolf Creek Part 2

I know you have all been waiting on the edge of your seats to hear about the rest of our ski trip. I can tell by the overabundance of comments I've received on my last few posts...

Anyway, Tuesday morning we got up with intentions to ski but in no hurry, and after a consensus, we were all pretty worn out and somewhat sick so we decided to take the day off and go into town. By the time we were all ready to go, it was getting close to lunch time. We stopped by Wolf Creek first to get a refund on our ski rentals (they were soooo cool about this, btw) and then headed to Pagosa Springs, which is quite a drive. The views were beautiful on our way there!



The backseat on the drive to Pagosa

 However, you could tell we didn't feel that great because the car ride was kind of quiet, considering there were six of us crazies all together in one vehicle on vacation. We pulled into Pagosa and stopped at the first decent-looking restaurant, a cute little malt and burger "shoppe."



Warning: Those who enter here may be verbally abused.

The food was actually very good but you couldn't tell that from the sketchy interior and the brusque waitress. Her service style was to insult the customer! Chris tried to order a diet Dr. Pepper but she informed him that they only had diet Coke, so he got one of those. After we had eaten, Chris went up to the counter to ask for a refill on diet Dr. Pepper and we heard this woman yell, "We don't have diet Dr. Pepper! Get it through your thick head!" I'm seriously not paraphrasing; that's exactly what she said. I found it amusing, though.

We drove around Pagosa a little and stopped by the hot springs, where they have several spas and a large resort hotel. We were able to look at the mineral formations and could see the people soaking in the hot tubs and such, but we didn't find out prices or anything because our swimsuits were back at the cabin.

Angela and Stephanie keeping OFF the formation

Peeking into one of the spa/resort areas

We also ran into Drew and Jamie, who had left for Creede earlier that morning but had found that most of the stores were closed, so they came to Pagosa. We checked out the Visitor Center and a few more gift shops, including the Rainbow Gift Shop (we had to stick to our theme!).

Archie and Brittany



The Girls at the Rainbow Gift Shop

Then we all kind of looked at each other and decided just to go back to the cabin. I was starting to feel worse and wanted to nap, so that's exactly what I did when we got back. The rest of them watched a movie and just relaxed. That evening we had discussed going out to dinner, but Drew wasn't feeling well so he and Jamie opted to stay home. We now think it was a conspiracy and they knew something we didn't. Chris has a friend at work who loves skiing at Wolf Creek, and this guy suggested eating at "the only restaurant in South Fork, which happens to have GREAT pizza!" We thought pizza sounded good and didn't feel like driving back to Pagosa, so we found the restaurant he described--it has a huge lumberjack in front of it--and went in. As we were seated and given menus, the first thing we notice is... no pizza. Bummer. Seeing as there were no pizza joints around, or restaurants at all for that matter, we stayed and found other things to order. Chris and I split a chicken fried steak with garlic mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables, as did Courtney and Jimmy. Stephanie and Brittany both decided to get baked mac & cheese, but also ordered some appetizers. The wings and spinach artichoke dip we got first were pretty good, so we were completely unprepared for the horror that was to be our main course. As soon as they brought out our entrees, Courtney looked at me and asked if I had taken a bite yet. As I sawed through the leather strip that was under pretense of being chicken fried steak, I noticed Jimmy and Chris reaching for the salt and liberally dousing everything on the plate with it. Not a good sign. Sure enough, the steak was tough and tasteless, the potatoes were cold, lumpy, and tasteless, and the vegetables seemed like they had been frozen for awhile and then halfway heated in the microwave. Nothing had any flavor. Oh, it was just horrendous. Made me want to be on those moguls again... okay, maybe not that bad. Anyway, Chris ended up choking all of his down but Courtney and I didn't make it too far and Jimmy couldn't even finish. Steph and Brittany said their mac and cheese was like little bits of the pasta and nacho cheese. Blech. Courtney and I, being the more... outspoken ones of the group, were debating whether to say anything to the waitress. Not sure she would have cared, to be honest. While we were standing at the front to pay, to top off our experience, a guy in a Dallas Cowboys hat stumbles over to us and starts asking us if we're leaving already and if we ate. He asked Chris what he had to eat, then started asking us individually. Courtney and I said "chicken fried steak... sort of." We told him we didn't really eat much. He told us he was a cook at the restaurant but was off that night. That was a relief, because the undeniable smell of alcohol was wafting off of him. He then started interrogating us as to why we were leaving so quickly and finally, Courtney had enough and told him the food was disgusting and she couldn't wait to leave. He seemed completely shocked and wanted details as to how bad the food was, so as we described it, he started arguing pointlessly, saying things like, "Nothing in this restaurant is ever frozen. Nothing." He wanted us to know that he is a great cook and that he would never have let us leave unhappy, to which Courtney said, "Well, I wish you had cooked for us tonight, then." His response to that was, "Shut up." We told him we would never come back, and Brittany told him we were from Texas so wouldn't be back. Courtney added that we would never come back even if we lived in this town. He asked what part of Texas, then told us he knows where Texas is. Congratulations. He then wanted to shake our hands. When I interjected that I was sick so he shouldn't shake my hand, he told me he wasn't talking to me anyway. Courtney refused to shake his hand and we ended up walking out on him. We got back to the cabin and made some grilled cheese and salads to fill our complaining stomachs, and rehashed the whole scene for Drew and Jamie. I still think they knew something...

Jimmy, Courtney, Brittany, and Stephanie had to leave the next morning, and I ended up sleeping late since I was up half the night coughing and feverish. I was really sad that we didn't get to ski Wednesday--it was a local discount day, so the lift tickets would have been $31! Plus, I felt that I had unfinished business on that mountain and didn't get to ski all the runs I wanted to. I am still pretty disappointed that I got so sick, but Drew was feeling ill as well so there was just no question. Jamie and Chris got to spend their last day in Colorado taking care of us and cleaning the cabin to prepare for us to leave. We tried to get them to go ski awhile, but to no avail. They were really great to do all that work by themselves! We left early the next morning, at about 7:30. The drive was long and somewhat miserable unless you love sitting in a truck looking at the Texas Panhandle scenery for endless hours. We arrived home in 13 hours, so it was 9:30 at home. I immediately went to pick up Noah and my dogs from my parents. He was glad to see us but didn't seem to have any issues with us leaving him for so long! I think he was just as happy to see all his toys at the house.

We had a really fun trip--the people you go with are what make it so great. I hope to take many trips in the future with this group! They are all easygoing and fun, adventurous, and courageous (Courtney!). We also really appreciated the awesome house and the connections through my Uncle Dan and Aunt Julie (thanks, y'all!). I don't think any of us would hesitate to recommend skiing at Wolf Creek--everyone there was helpful and patient with us, the runs were great, and the crowds were nonexistent. I hope you enjoy my blog about the trip! Maybe one of these days I can get some of the great videos Jimmy took and put them on here! Don't hold your breath.

One more story, in case you've been having Noah withdrawals: Monday after the GM plant tour, Mom and I stopped at Whataburger, where Noah informed me he wanted a "hamboiguh" instead of the PB&J I brought him. He ate an entire justaburger and some fries, and then asked for that PB&J, of which he ate half. Ridiculous. This child is going to eat me out of house and home. As he was eating the PB&J, he holds up a piece of it and says what sounds like, "Jaysos." My mom said, "Jesus?" and Noah said, "No! Itsa 'J'!" Sure enough, he had bitten the sandwich into the shape of a letter J. I'm not kidding. Mom says, "What sound does a 'J' make?" to which Noah responds, "The 'J' says 'juh'." OK, to be fair, he watched a leapfrog video about the alphabet last week, but still. He's two years old and has been correctly telling me what sounds the letters make, not to mention the fact that he BIT his SANDWICH into the shape of a LETTER! I'm impressed. He gets it from my side. ;)

To see all ski trip pictures, click on the link below:

Ski Trip 2011 WOLF CREEK