34" of New Snow at Vail

This Saturday four friends and I loaded up in the Party Van (El Van de Fiesta), this sweet conversion van owned by my friends Jeff and Sarah, with the singular goal of skiing the 29" of snow that fell in Vail over the last few days. Truth be told, I should have been on my bike, but a powder day trumps all. And damn was it good. We skied trees all day, perfect soft powder turns through ponderosa pine as another 5" dropped on the mountain. Ahhhhhhh.
On the way back to the Springs, we stopped off at the South Park Saloon (yes, it does exist) for a pitcher. Then to continue our streak of tiny mountain town bars, we stopped at the HOB. Now most people think that HOB stands for "Hartsel's Only Bar", but in truth, it refers to the Heartless Old B* (I'm editing for any youngsters reading this) who owns the place. Well, she wasn't there, but her daughter was, and she certainly earned the title. But we had a great time. The half dozen or so people in the bar propped the door open for us to come in, and promptly started cheering as soon as we entered. By the end of that round, we had some new best friends, hugs all around and tears of parting as we finished our tired trek back to home.