My New Favorite Place

Occasionally, I discover a place that makes me want to run home, pack up my stuff and move.  Usually, it’s a city like London (although, ahem, not so much lately) or San Francisco.  This is partly because it must have a good coffee shop in order for me to envision moving there – without my daily non-fat, no-foam latte that I would shrivel up and die.  But I digress.

My new favorite place is not a city; it is Breckenridge, Colorado -- a small town, nestled by mountains, accented by rolling streams and lakes.  I’d like to say that it is of those “undiscovered gems” that the travel magazines try to uncover, but it turns out that I am the last person alive to have discovered this little slice of heaven on earth. 

Of course, most people know Breckenridge (or at least its bigger neighbor, Vail) as a ski mecca.  Those people are seriously misguided.  Breckenridge could not possibly get any better than it is in the middle of the summer when the temperature is a perfect 72 degrees and the abundant “ski” accommodations are being offered at a preposterous discount.  And without all that pesky snow to slog through.

We stayed at BlueSky Breckenridge, a gorgeous condo resort. Here are some photos to give you a flavor.  I wish I had brought a wide-angle lens because these pictures really don’t do the place justice:

You may have noticed that there were several animal heads in residence.  I am still mulling over the cosmic implications of fact that taxidermy features prominently in some of our vacations.   In the meantime, if I did pack up all my stuff and move to Colorado, I probably would not choose to live so closely with animal heads (assuming they were not attached to live animals at the time). 

It did, however, add a rustic hunting lodge aura to our impeccably decorated condo.  I like to believe that the condo owners were hunters/gatherers who ate the animals to survive a cold, hard winter and were honoring the animal spirits, while simultaneously respecting the corporeal gifts that the animals had given them, by using and appreciating every last bit of the animals, including their regal heads.  I’m pretty sure that must be it.  It made me feel much better about them watching over us as we vacationed in their midst.

Speaking of animal heads, could someone please identify that animal on the right?  What the heck is that thing?

 

The punks loved the bunkbeds. One punk did fall off the ladder which I attribute to the fact that said punk grew up in a single-story ranch house and never had to climb anything indoors higher than the step up from our sunken living room.  [Why do they “sink” living rooms anyway? Discuss.]  Fortunately the punk survived and exercised some coveted whining rights for a while afterward.

 

There was a game room, free DVD rentals, various lounges, a pool with three hot tubs, and a gym.   In short, it had all the comforts of home -- assuming your home has impeccable decorating, animal heads, lounges, a game room, a pool with three hot tubs, free DVD rentals and a gym.  My aforementioned plan to move to Breckenridge should give you an idea of whether all (or even most) of those are currently available in my home.

Then it occurred to me that I had much better things to do with all those spare millions I just happen to have lying around at home than frittering it away on some impeccably decorated condo, even if it does feature animal heads.  There was that anti-taxidermy foundation I was thinking about starting up, for instance . . . . 

Comments

[Stefanie]

Fantastic photos, looks like a great place. I do love the animal heads, and I'm sure those who hung them found them dead of old age, and had them stuffed to memorialize their long lives. Not sure what the animal on the right is... a toothless beaver? (dying toothless of old age?)
I think you need to blog more often, this is fun!

[Angela]

Great photos. Breckenridge looks lovely. I've never been there. I think that animal is a beaver.

[Minneva Carker]

After living in an urban environment for a very long time, going for a change of pace is a fine idea. Man, living in that place can be a complete heaven if you love that kind of view!