Breck yo' self! (Colorado)

This past weekend I went to Colorado for what would be the second annual snowboarding trip with my high school buddies. All of my previous trips have been with college friends but this new tradition seems more fun. I heart snowboarding. Every year I get an itch. I need to go. It's a highly addictive drug. I've been skiing/snowboarding at least once a year since 2003, except in 2008 when Andrew was born, so with baby Ty in the picture, this trip almost never happened. But with an understanding wife and helpful parents, I got to feed my addiction.

Friday morning I left Lynn and the three boys and got on a plane to Denver. (I was not the only person leaving his wife and kid(s) at home.) After landing, getting the car, eating lunch, driving into town, etc. we finally got on the slopes by 5 pm. We did some night boarding at Keystone, got in a few good runs and our day was quickly over. Afterward, we ate some pizza and watched Linsanity on ESPN. Now that's a whole 'nother story.

Our $1.6 million house.

My bed was on the left thanks to my dominance in 6-cards.

Saturday we spent the entire day (from morning to close) at Breckenridge. I was exhausted by the end of the day. I think I took two naps. That night we played cards, beer pong and I introduced the group to LCR. Good times.

The group. Picture from Au's Nikon 1.

Early Sunday morning (4 am), I woke up from stomach pains and headed for the bathroom for a nasty #2. Then again at 5 am. And at 6 am. What the hell? I initially thought it was from all the random food (and alcohol) I've been consuming during the trip since I'm so used to eating relatively healthy. When 9 am rolled around (the time we were supposed to be leaving for the slopes), no one was ready. Apparently I was not the only one with the runs. Nearly half of the house (there were 17 people) had suffered from diarrhea. It was BAD. The cause of our food poisoning was probably the overcooked lasagna from Costco.

Keystone.

Drinking a beer while waiting for the rest of the group.

Still waiting...

We eventually made it to the mountains (Keystone) by lunch time. It had snowed everyday since we arrived but that night, it came down hard. There's nothing like boarding at night with limited (terrible) lighting and poor visibility due to the heavy snow and wind. On our very last run before it closed, the snow and wind had stopped and we were boarding on fresh powder. It was incredible.

Goodbye Breckenridge. Walking back home.

But the best part of the trip... winning fantasy football and other side bets nearly paid for the entire trip.