Ritz-Carlton

In light of it being our LAST day in Colorado, we embarked upon one more family hike this morning. Many of the hikes we've done in the past are currently closed due to massive amounts of snowfall this past winter ("You could try it, but you'd need snowshoes...").

Greg researched a new trail... the "Village to Village" trail that would take us from Arrowhead to Bachelor Gulch - right to the Ritz-Carlton that he's been wanting to check out anyway. Originally, he planned a longer hike but decided on this one because it was shorter and we could just hike right back to our van.

Trail map distances can be REALLY deceiving.

It was a gorgeous day, and thankfully we packed lunches. We saw snow, unique wildlife tracks, and breathtaking views. After 2 1/2ish hours of hiking uphill, Grace was steadfastly plopping one foot down after the other while her face looked as if it was being dragged along against it's will. We began to wonder if I should turn back now with Grace, but she wanted to stay together and try to keep going.

Grace handed me a dandelion ("blow flowers" as we've always called them), and told me to make a wish and then blow. Silently I made my wish/more of a prayer- "Please let there be a way to catch a shuttle back, so we don't have to walk all the way again..."

After one more 1/2 hour of downhill (hallelujah) hiking, we finally came upon civilization. Serious civilization. We arrived at the Ritz-Carlton, tired and slightly sweaty. Right inside the lobby was free lemonade and iced tea, so you could treat yourself to an Arnold Palmer - which we did. I had a looming headache due to needing afternoon coffee, so Greg went in search of coffee. The nice concierge said he didn't believe any coffee shops were open, so he would make us each a complimentary cup. He brought us coffee and two little plastic cups of cream.

We thought we were blending in relatively well, except for Abby's back-sack that said "Sheraton" (a gift from OUR concierge guy who wasn't as friendly when we didn't sign up for an appointment to hear more about being owners...) and enjoyed the wonderful service we were receiving. Greg asked about a shuttle that might take us back to our car (YESSS!), and the nice concierge helped us out again (didn't even ask us to make any appointments).

We caught a Ritz-Carlton shuttle that took us to Beaver Creek where we caught another shuttle that was supposed to take us to Arrowhead, except it didn't.

"Who told you a shuttle went to Arrowhead?" our shuttle-driver asked.

"Um, the concierge at the Ritz-Carlton," replied Greg.

Next thing we know, he's on the phone telling on that guy with significant emotion. He then tells us he's gotten us a ride and to make sure we told the lady driving the Suburban exactly who it was that gave us that incorrect information.

We didn't.

Because the deal is... he was very nice and treated us as if we were staying there (which we tried to pretend was true) and if he would've said there was no shuttle back to Arrowhead, we would've walked that whole way back again.

But this way we had a personal Suburban ride back to our car.

And we lived happily ever after.