TimDunklee.com » Snowboarding

California + Colorado = Perfect Vacation

tjdunklee — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:46:36 +0000

We are now back in Minnesota after a vacation to remember. This adventure took us to San Fransisco, California which was followed by Aspen, Colorado. It was a great combination of sun and snow which can’t be beat in my mind, especially since it rained cats and dogs in Minnesota while we were gone…

The first portion of our trip was to California to visit Kate’s brother Mikey and his lovely family. Mikey officially lives in Oakland which is right across the bay from majestic San Fransisco. I was amazed by the multi-million dollar homes which were literally hanging off the side of the hills overlooking the entire bay area. Constantly I was picturing houses slipping away in a mudslide as often seen in breaking news stories… Mikey took me on a great day-long tour of San Fransisco were I saw all the sights that a tourist should indulge in (including the most homeless people I’ve ever seen). My favorite stop of the tour was definitely the Golden Gate Bridge. Who knew a boring bridge could look so majestic? Other than the tour, we also partook in a showing of Disney on Ice with Kate’s niece Sidney. The show was actually really impressive and we even enjoyed it as adults (kind of hard to admit).

After our time in California had been expended, we jumped on a plane to Colorado! Kate’s friends Alex and Kendall graciously scooped us up at the airport and drove us to our hotel in Golden, Colorado. Bright and early we woke up and drove straight to Breckenridge for a great day or snowboarding which included a nice layer of fresh snow. Even though the snow hindered the view of the mountains, it was a nice change from the Minnesota concussion-inducing icy conditions. After our first day of riding, we jumped in the car with our friend AJ to head off to Aspen for the rest of our vacation. Much to our dismay, the main road to Aspen had been closed due to a major rockslide. This untimely closure caused us to spend an additonal 4 hours in the car, but once we arrived at Aspen we realized it was well worth it. We loved our time in the Aspen/Snowmass area and even had some really great powder to float around in. I could blab about the snowboarding all day long, but I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. Thank you to everybody that was involved in our perfect vacation!

The Transition from Fall to Winter

tjdunklee — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:11:33 +0000

It’s been a while since I updated my blog, and in the meantime a lot has happened. The fall arrived in full force with it’s beautiful colors and disappeared almost as quickly. There are still a few signs of fall left, but most of the colorful leaves are laying on the ground waiting for a rake to come disturb their sleep. Thank you fall for providing a few beautiful days, but next year can we get possibly a few more?

I will miss my bike rides through our beautiful neighborhood (pictured), but like always, I’m excited for the upcoming season. Of course the season I refer to is winter, or the season of the snowboard as I like to refer to it. When everybody else around Minnesota is complaining about the future snowfalls, I feel like a kid in a candy store. As soon as the local ski resorts start making snow, I will be strapping in. I’m crossing my fingers for colder weather….

Annual Visit to the North Shore

tjdunklee — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:37:00 +0000

For the 4th year in a row, we traveled to the North Shore of Minnesota for our spring snowboarding trip. Lutsen Resort hosts the annual Mountain Meltdown celebration which was our main destination. With 4 cars and 13 people sandwiched inside of them, we headed up the scenic highway 61. The condo which we rented from Caribou Highlands was perfect as usual and actually accomodated all of us very well. Snowboarding the next day was nothing short of fantastic with Lake Superior always making its presence known in the background. By Easter Sunday everybody was in need of a good relaxing car ride so we headed back towards the Twin Cities. After a little stop at Gooseberry Falls, and a little grub at Grandma’s Restaurant, we arrived back home around 8pm. All in all, it was a great trip and I would like to thank everybody for coming. Unfortunately, it slipped my mind to bring my camera….

Montana is pure heaven.

tjdunklee — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:26:53 +0000

We just got back a couple days ago from Montana and it’s hard adjusting to normal life again. The trip turned out great and we miss being able to see the mountains. Driving to work this morning I was hoping that the mountains were just behind a cloud! Here is a quick synopsis of our vacation:

The Drive: Incredibly clear roads for the whole trip! Stopped by the world’s largest buffalo…

Day 1: Big Sky Resort, powder only in the trees. Took a crazy ride up the tram at the end of the day. Overcast weather=snow is coming!

Day 2: Woke up to 5 inches of powder at Moonlight Basin and it snowed all day long! Incredible conditions and an amazing resort. Definitely our favorite resort of the trip. Hats off to you Moonlight, we will be back.

Day 3: Checked the weather in the morning to find that Bridger had 15 inches of champagne powder! The wind was blowing hard but it didn’t stop us from exploring all over the huge wide open mountain. Amazing place with endless possibilities.

Going home: Stopped by Mount Rushmore which is always inspiring. Once again clear roads the whole way home!

Check out the gallery for all the pics!