Let’s think back to the beginning of March, you know when we were carefree and COVID-19 was not yet our problem. The virus had reached the state of Washington, but still most of us felt it’s isolated and it will be contained soon. Our original planned ski vacation route was to hit a couple places in Colorado, quick overnight in Wyoming, ski a bit in Montana, on to Idaho, into Canada, back into Washington state and then California. We left home with some trepidation about heading into the Seattle area as that is where there had already been one death and where the virus was first prevalent in the US. But nonetheless, we headed out. As we started to get more information, we quickly decided to reroute and avoid going into Washington state entirely. We kept up with our new plan and as the days wore on, Will became concerned that the Canadian border would be closed. And, if so, there was a real concern we would not be allowed back to the US for some time. And yes, I agreed that was quite possible. So, again we changed plans (car travel does add a lot of flexibility in the changing of travel plans). Fast forward another couple of hours and Will had decided that from Montana, we would just head back home. Will is much more cautious then I am and I get him to do things out of his comfort zone. So, when I was presented with this new change of plans; I was not happy. After all, I’m all about extending trips, not about cutting them short and hightailing it home. But yes, as the days or in some cases hours wore on, I came around just as many other people and businesses have changed their tune as well. Guess we balance each other out. So yes, we have been home for a few days and are currently sheltering at home. But hey, let me tell you where we went…
It was a gorgeous blue bird day and great start to our 2020 ski trip. We drove up to Salida, Colorado after making a few stops along the way. We stopped first in San Luis, CO, which is Colorado’s oldest town (established in 1851). Will wanted to stop at the R&R Market there. The R&R is Colorado’s oldest continuously operating business. It’s been run by the same family since 1857. And based on a book Will had read, there may be a family connection. Will talked to Felix, the owner, to get more of the history of store and the family. It was a little place with it’s combination of grocery and hardware store. After that, it was a short drive down the road to visit Fort Garland another interesting stop. The fort was built to keep homesteaders safe from the native Ute Indians. While the fort itself once consisted of 25 buildings only 5 have been restored. This fort was also the home to the 9th Unit of the “Buffalo Soldiers”, one of the African American units of the Civil War.
San Luis 
R&R Market 
Alcohol was not allowed in the fort. However, vanilla is made with at least 35% alcohol.
Our first ski area was Monarch, a great little ski area in southern Colorado. The lifts are mainly older fixed cable 2 seaters, but the snow and runs are great. Monarch does not have snow making and relies strictly on Mother Nature. They get around 350 inches of snow annually, so the snow is almost always good there. We almost always eat at the Sidewinders Saloon at Monarch. The food is really tasty and reasonably priced for a ski area. There is no lodging at Monarch, so we usually stay in Salida about 22 miles away. This time we chose to stay at the Palace Hotel in downtown Salida. A great older boutique hotel that was renovated about 10 years ago. It was built in 1909 and originally had 44 sleeping rooms. Now there are 15 luxury suites. We got a 2 bedroom suite with a large sitting area, in which they still kept some of the lovely Victorian period décor. Lorraine (Will’s mom) had a great day visiting the little shops in the historic downtown center of Salida, where she also managed to stop in for happy hour margaritas at one of the local Mexican restaurants. We had a great dinner at the Itailian restaurant right next door to the Palace Hotel, 216 Ferriero. It was recommended by the hotel and it was excellent. Although I was unable to par-take in their fresh made pasta, both Will and Lorraine said it was excellent.
Fiesta Nachos
The following day Lorraine decided to come skiing with us. She was able to ski for free at Monarch as a super senior. She was fine skiing, but both the chair lift and the magic carpet got the best of her. Maybe we can find her a more hospitable chair lift at one of the future areas. Another beautiful day of skiing.
No, you can’t ride it back down.
That night we headed north to Lawson, CO. The next stop on our skiing expedition was Loveland Ski Resort. Loveland is the 5th highest ski resort with the base sitting at over 10,000ft and skiing from the ridge at 13,700ft. I did take the chair lift to the 12,300 point, but no skiing off the ridge for us. The area is quite large with over 1,800 acres. Most of the lifts are the fixed cable lifts with the exception of one, Chet’s Dream. After a day of skiing, we headed over to check out the Ice Castle in Dillon, CO. We had seen a news report on the Ice Castle and decided since we were going to be so close, we should check it out. With temperatures in the 50’s, the days for the Ice Castle are numbered. It was still pretty neat to see and the kids there were having a great time going down the ice slide and crawling through the tunnels.
As Loveland also has no lodging, we stayed at the Adventure Park and Lodging in Lawson, CO., which is about 18 miles right off I-70. We rented a 1 bedroom cabin that had a small living room, kitchen, bed, and bath. It was cute and suited our needs perfectly.
After another day of skiing Loveland, we made our way to spend the night in Denver. We checked out the RV show that was in town that weekend. They had a Friday night, special with half price entrance tickets. We’re still looking to find Ms. Wynn’s replacement. It was nice to check out some different models and get a better idea of what we really want going forward long-term.
They were doing avalanche control. 
The Continential Divide
We continued north, spending the night in Sheridan, Wyoming. We like to keep our drive times limited to 6 hours or so a day. This allows us some flexibility for weather delays or sight seeing along the way. So, we made a stop in Casper, WY at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. Whew, that’s a mouthful. It was a great stop. The Center gives the history of the pioneers who were making their way west in covered wagons between 1841 and 1868. It’s also free to visit. That night, we found a great restaurant in Sheridan, Frackelton’s. It was a busy place and I would recommend reservations, if you want to give it a try.
Casper, WY 
Will wasn’t fast enough with the hand cart. He wouldn’t have made it to California. 
Got into Bozeman, Montana in the early afternoon and went to the Museum of the Rockies. They have one of the largest collections of dinosaur fossils in the world. There is also a planetarium and other traveling exhibits as well. We easily spent the entire afternoon checking out the exhibits and a couple of the planetarium movies.
Set out the next morning in overcast skies and foggy weather to Bridger Bowl, about 15 miles outside Bozeman. The snow and the fog caused us to keep our skiing to areas lower on the mountain in order to have some measure of visibility. We found some great powder stashes and enjoyed skiing the trees. Our next day at Bridger was much clearer and we were able to hit some of the other areas that we had missed the previous day. The NCAA Championships were going to be held at Bridger that weekend. It was neat to watch these athletes doing their practice runs.
It was time to head to Big Sky and meet up with the brother-in-law. Rob was in Big Sky for a conference and had asked us to come up and meet him for a few days of skiing. Got checked in to our condo and Rob didn’t have any events that night. So, we picked him and a co-worker up for dinner at the Gallatin Riverhouse Grill. Another popular place, we had a short wait on a Tuesday night. We ordered the family platter that is supposed to serve 4. It could have easily served 6. The meat was delicious and the cowboy atmosphere was nice as well.
Big Sky is one of the largest ski areas. The lifts are almost all high speed. One of the newest lifts, the Ramcharger, seats 8 and has heated seats and a windshield. Both of those things are great to have for those cold Montana winters. It was a nice couple of days skiing with Rob, but he had to fly home and we were off to visit family in Butte.
Lorraine’s aunt and uncle were happy to see us, as family from New Mexico doesn’t make it that far north very often. The next day, we had decided to go to Ski Discovery and give Lorraine time to visit. Ski Discovery is a small ski area that is not well known except to the locals. It’s about an hour drive from Butte. Will and I had a good time checking it out. We were surprised with the long runs and the challenging terrian on the backside. At only $52 for lift tickets, it’s a deal. We caught back up with the relatives that night for dinner at the Montana Club. The next morning, we pulled up to the house, for one more day of visiting, and there is 92 year old Uncle John shoveling his driveway. They’re a tough breed up there in Montana.
Empty store shelves in Butte 
But they still had plenty of Spam
As we left Montana for home, we started running into some of the restrictions other states had put in place to deal with COVID-19. Our hotel was only offering grab and go breakfast options. In Colorado, we could only get take out for our lunch and when we stopped for gas we noticed that people were filling all the extra gas cans they had. We made it back safely and were glad our little grocery store in town still had a decent supply of most of the essentials. But alas, even they didn’t have toilet paper. Well friends, I don’t know when we will be traveling again. Let’s hope things improve soon and everyone stay safe out there.