Vail Interlude

My daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters came to town yesterday to spend a couple of days with us before we head to France on Friday. Before they arrived, I took my car to "Octopussy Car Wash" (yes, that's really the name) so the car would be nice and clean for them to use after we leave. The plan was for all of us to go to Vail for three days. When the guy returned my car to me, all clean and good-to-go (or so I thought) there was just one thing wrong: the electric seat had been moved all the way forward (to vacuum in the back, presumably) and it wouldn't budge. It was crammed against the steering wheel in such a way that only a Cirque du Soleil performer would be able to squeeze into it. After an hour-long consultation with the manager -- during which his head appeared to be lodged under the seat as he was "assessing" the damage, he finally looked at me, shrugged, and said, "Sorry!" I was out not only the cost of the car wash, but a $5 tip (I handed it to him before I noticed they had broken the seat.) I was beside myself as I drove, with my knees next to my ears, to the auto repair shop. Finally, I decided we would need to rent another car for Bill and Elisabeth because there was no way six of us would fit into Brad's vehicle. But there wasn't a car in town. Not with Hertz, Avid, Enterprise, or Budget. Nada. I was recounting this sad tale to our next door neighbors (we passed in the alley) when they said, "Well, you must take one of our cars of course!" Problem solved -- thanks to the best friends and neighbors two guys could ever have.

Here we are in Vail from this morning. Elisabeth, Bill (a doctor in Houston) Abigail and Alexis and I took the gondola to the top of Lion's Head this morning. Brad rode 44 miles up Vail Pass and back to Copper Mountain. Whew! I'm exhausted! :-)