New Year's in Vail, CO

I arrived in Denver on the 28th. The same day as the second biggest snow storm ever. I had a shuttle to Vail confirmed but when I arrived they cancelled it. So Mark and I rented the only car available, a Ford Taurus. Yeah we were going to travel through this storm with this piece of shit with no chains in a white out. I guess you can say we have balls.

Before leaving Vail, a random girl, Sember, asked if she could join us in our journey through this white hell. So the 3 of us were on our way. We were going an amazingly fast 45 mph for about an hour and then we hit our first steep hill. It was one of those moments where cars were going everywhere and if we stopped we'd get stuck so there's no way we were stopping. I was maneuvering through the cars, shake and bake baby! We got through the steep hill and thought we were home free until the snow really started coming down and all the cars stopped. I guess a bunch of trucks got stuck and jackknifed blocking the entire road, so we made the best of our situation. We made snow angels in the middle of I-70...how many times can you say that in your life?! After 3 hours they finally closed the roads and started re-directing cars back to Denver. I knew if we stopped we would get stuck. We weren't the only one's. Everyone was getting stuck. Luckily, Mark and I were Shaking and Baking and pushed our way out.

The next morning they opened the roads and we were on our way. We got to Vail around 3 and went to Pepi's. It's my friend Tom's favorite place in Vail. As soon as we walked in the one man band playing announced that Tom McCarthy was in the house. Tom has been to Vail every year for the past 20 years so he's pretty good friends with this guy. Pepi's was fun for awhile we played flip cup and sang songs but the only problem was I looked around and we were the only people in our 20's. Everyone was old.

We left and went out on the town. I noticed very quickly that this place was full of guys and old people. Any attractive girls were there with their boyfriends. Luckily, we had a bunch of friends.

The next day we got a snowboard instructor before we hit the slopes. The instructor took us to the Bunny Slopes and I must say it's really embarrassing when you're going down the same mountain as 4 year olds. Tom and I picked up snowboarding really fast and made it down the hill no problem. Ricky and Mark on the other hand weren't as fast. Hell, Ricky's first time down he bruised his ribs. Pretty funny stuff. You gotta love going to Vail with 4 buddy's who have never Snowboarded before. It's a funny sight. We were falling all over the place. Tom, Brett and I decided to go to the Blue slopes. I was on my high horse until I actually saw the Blue Slopes then I found myself sliding down the hills on my ass. Snowboarding is all about confidence and mine was shot. I couldn't get up, I was tired so I told Tom and Brett I was going to find some Green Slopes. I found them and couldn't snowboard down those either. I couldn't do anything. I finally made it down the mountain and my body was so tired. My knees, back, wrists, thighs, basically my entire body hurt so we decided to have an early night and sleep in so we could be ready for another day of snowboarding and bringing in the New Year without being tired.

I woke up at 11:30 on New Year's Eve and even though I was in pain I had to get back on that Mountain and tear it up. I had to get my confidence back. I'm one of those people that if I don't do something well I will practice until I'm good and that's exactly what I did. Tom and Brett went straight to the Blue's and I took a walkie talkie and went to the Green's. I had to bring up my confidence slowly and get the hang of it then I'd get on the Blue's. When they were leaving me I said "I hope I find a cute girl that's as bad as I am." They said "good luck knowing that the only girl's in Vail are Cougar's" (that's what they call old women looking for young blood). I went down Lost Boy and was not getting the hang of it at all. I finally made it down the hill and was getting ready to go up the lift. I asked if these two kids wanted to go up with me (it's a courtesy thing). The kids looked like they were in high school and I thought they were a couple. Going up the lift I asked what grade they were in and I think the girl got a little offended. I found out that she was 20 and in college and her brother was 15 and in the 10th grade. We got to talking and they were as bad as I was at snowboarding so we all decided to go down the hill together. I don't know what it was but when I was going down with them I was actually good!. Probably because the girl was cute and I was showing off. (Yeah I'm a tool like that). They were actually pretty good and in the end we made it down a Blue Slope. Thank god for a pretty girl because it motivated me not to suck.

The night came and my friends and I decided to go to a buffet at the hotel (we are fat ass's and need a lot of food) Ricky was coordinating the events and when we asked him about the place he goes, "It's disgusting." My friends and I look at each other and shook our heads and said WHAT?! Again he said it was disgusting. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Why in the world would he think that we'd want to bring in the new year at a place that was so gross?. So, we finished dinner early and started looking for another place that wasn't as bad as this one.

So we go to the "disgusting" place and found that it wasn't that bad. However, the decorating did look like I was at Prom. I'm talking streamers, balloons, the whole sha-bang. We visited about 5 other places and realized that the disgusting place was going to be the best place to go. We got in and they gave us a table next to the bar and we had our own bartender so it was pretty bad ass after all.

The band went on and all they played was bluegrass type music. I thought I was at a Phish concert. We were wondering if these guy's were even going to sing at all.

Finally the DJ went on and the party started. With 5 minutes til midnight I had to pee. So I went to use the bathroom and while I was "going" I heard 10, 9, 8... I asked the guy next to me, "Dude, is that the countdown??! I was like you have to be kidding me!!" Most people bring in the New Year with a kiss but I brought it in with a Piss...How bad is that? So yeah. I rang in the New Year standing at a urinal with other dudes.

The rest of the night was one big blur! We ended up staying at our disgusting little bar and partied all night in the back of the club. So as you can see, New Year's in Vail was amazing!