Settle down guys !

Very fashionable !

Come on team !

The second big driver was just the attraction of being one of the few people (to say the least) to ride a bike from Vail to Denver for a business meeting.  Call me crazy … everyone does.

So Sunday afternoon at 2:00 (after walking 18 holes and shooting a million, by the way) I set out from home on my trusty Giant armed with rain gear, a couple fresh jerseys and a healthy supply of “vitamin i” in my backpack.

3:00 found me at the East Vail exit feeling great.

Shortly after passing our namesake signage on the way up, by 4:20 I was cresting Vail Pass and happy, happy, happy.

A mere thirty-five downhill minutes later it was hi and bye to Frisco.

Who knew that the bikepath across the Dillon Dam was painted bright pink … what’s that all about?

Forty-five minutes further up the road, I pedalled into Keystone.  It was at this point that I started feeling less than 100%.  When I realized that one of my original two water bottles was still half full, it dawned on me that I wasn’t drinking nearly enough and might be getting dehydrated.  Duh.  In retrospect,  I was already well beyond what I could fix by simply drinking a bunch.   In fact, although I didn’t know it yet, I was toast.  More on that later.

After hanging at Keystone from 6:00 to about 6:30, eating power bars, drinking Gatorade, drinking Gatorade and eating power bars, I hit the road still foolish enough to think that Loveland Pass summit would be no sweat.

Notice that the sky is a bit dusky.  Right.  What should be an hour and change took me over two (with more than a couple catch-your-breath stops (piss me off).  At that point I had been on the road for six and a half hours, it’s beyond “dusky” and I hadn’t pee’d once.  Pardon me, but this isn’t good.

Nevertheless, the gratification of being at the top, combined with less than no alternatives of what to do next, made for an exciting (shall we say?) descent.  Just me, my bike, my little headlight (thank you again, Evelyn) and an occasional eighteen wheeler.  Yipee.  By the time I rolled into Georgetown at 9:30 I was beyond pooped, and really, really happy to call it a day.

I posted a picture of my luxurious motel room on Facebook and quickly got a “Motel 3?” response from Boomer.  I replied “two point five”.   But who really cares?

I should back up and tell you that the destination for this (not ill advised, but poorly executed) adventure was a CACI Executive Committee meeting at the University Club, a block from the capitol building in Denver.  Prior to being dim-witted enough to let myself dry out, I was sharp enough when I met with them the week before, to ask Darla and Eliza (our queens of PR) if they could deliver my suit to said destination.  Brill, and thanks.

Day 2 -Rise and shine … 7:00, out the door, back on the steed and Ya-hoo … another 18 mile thrilling descent into Idaho Springs.  And this time I can SEE WHERE I’M GOING!  It just doesn’t get any better.

From there, it’s a not-too-tough climb up Floyd Hill.  Now I’m no medic, but methinks that the dehydration screwed up my system beyond what guzzling water and one night’s fitfull sleep could fix.  When it took me at least twice as long as it should have, to climb FH and everything else, I was sure of it.

Reminiscent of Loveland Pass, reaching the crest of the hill next to Lookout Mountain got me stoked, with those familiar great views both east and west.

Toasted or not, the E-ticket ride down Route 40 is a hoot.  I confess to being a little preoccupied with the prospect of having to crawl back up that same path later in the day, but it was still really fun.

Once in Denver, I made my way east on Colfax (bad idea) and some side streets (slightly better) until I eventually reached my final resting place destination.

It was 10:30 and I had time to shower (thanks U Club), change, and get ready for our meeting.  I did my best to not let on that I felt somewhat like badly overcooked spaghetti, and seemingly got away with it, as the meeting went well and we adjourned just prior to 2:00 like usual.

When it came time to head out, I shared my adventure with Dan, Ann and Chuck, but predictably left out the part that I felt like hell and should have been ever so much smarter about drinking an ample amount of water along the way.  They were each more impressed than was deserved and Dan even went so far as to email out my undertaking to the entire CACI board.  Slightly embarrassing, but okay.

True to form, Ann took a picture.

Once changed back into my bike gear, I texted Evelyn that all was well (although my pants were on fire), telling her that the meeting went fine, but I didn’t feel great and was starting to question my ability to make it all the way home.  I presumed that we would communicate more and ultimately make arrangements to meet in Idaho Springs or similar.   You have to know that Ev was never too fond of the whole idea in the first place.  A short time later I got a return text telling me that she was passing Frisco and “on her way”.  At that point I had mixed emotions, part of me unhappy with her rush to judgment (and action), doubting my abilities altogether.  The other half of me was completely of the attitude, “OH THANK GOD!”.  By the time she picked me up just as I was about to begin the long ascent up to Lookout Mountain, the latter feeling had won out completely.

In sum, I think I can claim to be one of the few people to ever ride from Vail to Denver for a business meeting, but it does still leave me with one more goal for the future … down AND back.  And I’ll be a LOT smarter about how much water I drink!

Thank you for a great season to all of our employee’s,  guests and owners and also for making the Antlers at Vail a fun place to work and play!

Once the meeting was over Randi Accountant Extraordinaire/Human Resources Guru, and Magda Queen of  Sales/Master of 4 languages proceeded to hang the Balloons to start the celebration, good thing Randi is tall. Amy Reservations/Bionic Woman, kept watch at the front desk just in case the Boss decided that he wasn’t quite done working for the day. Katie Jane of all Trades/Foodie tirelessly filled the balloons with air and  Greg Director of Nothing/Bowling Aficionado, supervised the process and helped to tie the balloons off.

It was a difficult task but we got it done in record time. I think some of us even enjoyed ourselves! Now all we had to do was hang out and wait for the Birthday Boy to show up… When he did arrive, even with the festive mood he couldn’t resist doing a little work!

Randi and Magda worked all night making cakes for everyone to enjoy, and it turned out that there was another birthday (Aniceto’s) to be celebrated so we all got to sing twice.

Since we couldn’t get everyone to totally enjoy themselves with the temptation to work so strong we decided to play hooky and go skiing. It was hard to tear ourselves away but we did our best to enjoy it.

P.S. Don’t tell the Boss!

One sheet, pillow case, towel, wash cloth...at a time.

It’s very busy around here. 

The snow is “epic”.  The atmosphere is festive. Grand-parents, parents, kids, cousins and friends are all having a thrill. 

Un-noticed while the outside world spins is the quiet man. This particular person is working as hard as anyone at the Antlers this time of year. You need to know what goes on downstairs and what he does.  A few facts and history.

One of the requirements on the original job description stated “individual must have the ability to work independently”.  Aniceto Quinones was looking at the classifieds in 1994 and jumped out of his chair and ran to the kitchen where his wife was cooking his favorite meal.  “Ilda, Ilda, I found the job I want.  I’m going to the Antlers to tell them I’m their man.”  Millie Barela hired him that week to take care of the overwhelming laundry situation we have here.  Ever since, he’s been the first here in the morning, one of the last to leave at night and he takes his job very seriously.  On average, Aniceto works 10 hours a day because he wants to and as Randi put it “we have to force him to take a vacation.”

He told me “I love my job and it is very important not to fall behind.  If we miss one day it is very hard to catch up.  Our guests would not like drying themselves after a shower with a wash cloth.” 

“So how much laundry is there Aniceto?”  He got out a scratch pad and started writing numbers down and then multiplying them by storage closets and whoa.  “Many thousands every week and do not forget that I have to do bath mats, bedding and throw rugs.”  He also tears and squares linens and towels that are not up to standards for guest use.  Those are recycled for housekeepers to use as rags.  He washes those as well.

Two commercial washers and three large capacity dryers are his co-workers for most of the day.

To make matters even better, during the pub crawls Vail PM throws every Tuesday night (last one is this coming Tuesday ending at Samana) our luck continues. One of our front desk associates came away with 2 Denver Nuggets tickets a few weeks ago at the George on Bridge St. Most recently I finally felt the love when I came away from this past Tuesdays pub crawl with the grand prize of an Epic Pass! Sadly I have already been provided one by my gracious employers so I either need to give it away or save it for next year. I guess I’m stuck here in Vail for another season. Drat…

Tyler
Antlers resident lucky geek

Going over the edge

Don’t drop the brush

Hey, you missed a spot

Here is the line up for 2010:

Darci- sleeping beauty

Katie- Maleficent

Sarah- Snow White

Cole(Sarahs husband)- Gaston

Steph- Jasmine

Steph boyfriend- Jaffar

Tyler- Captain hook

Cj- prince eric

Jen(CJ’s friend)- Cinderella

Amy- Ariel

We are still working on Cinderella, Belle, the Evil Queen and Ursula so if anyone out there would like to participate please let Amy or Darci know here at the antlers.  I am also  making several of the costumes so if anyone is a master seamstress and would like to help let me know!

By your 20′s Halloween can loose its appeal and why not, we don’t get a day off for it.  Plus finding a GOOD costume can sometimes be a pain. Well,  I have decided to justify it as I am more excited now in my late 20′s about this holiday then  I was at 7.  In our industry it is rare that we spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, New years, Spring break, Labor day, Presidents day or 4th of July with our families.  These are the busiest days in our year and a majority of the people in ski towns general work, but Halloween is a different story.  #1 It is the off season, #2 we have few guest  coming to visit, #3 no one has much work and #4  no one can afford to go anywhere. So why not celebrate this holiday.

Our Halloween extravaganza schedule of events:

Wednesday at Red Lion bingo, the grand prize is a fat tire beach cruiser and for the past 3 years I have been trying to win this bike.  Well I blew my luck and won the grand prize this week, that being said I have a pair of 171 liberty skis for sale please call Amy.

Friday we are off to the sandbar for the Journey cover band.

Saturday we will be traveling to Samana in Vail village for their vixens and villains party, not sure if we will fit in too well, but it is worth a shot.

Sunday we are just having a small party at someones house possibly Darci’s then venturing off to the village.

If anyone has these nights free and would like to join our festivities please let us know we would love to have you along for this Spooktacular week.  Below are pics from last Halloween.

Don’t forget your halloween candy treats!

Alice played by our Darci Walls.

White Rabbit played by Joel aka Darci’s boyfriend.

Mad Hatter played by Kaite (conference sales)

Queen of Hearts played by Amy (front desk)

Alice played by Darci (front desk)

White Queen played by Chef Angalee (not in photo but we did participate)

Rob Gray