Coolorado

So last weekend, actually Thursday through Monday, I went with my friend Rob (owner of Bikram Yoga) to Colorado - my first visit there. It was fantastic! We flew into and out of Colorado Springs, but we spent the majority of the time in the town of Silverthorn, about an hour west of Denver near Copper Mountain. The first night there we ice skated at Keystone Village on the largest outdoor ice rink in the U.S., actually a natural lake frozen solid - that was really cool! Then we snowboarded for two solid days straight at Copper. I haven't been snowboarding in two years, but I felt extremely confident and comfortable, like I had been doing it all along, falling only a handful of times and not seriously. The great snow conditions probably had a lot to do with that (compared to the icy, hard conditions we encountered in Nagano two years ago). My equipment worked great, and I was hardly sore at all after two days. The family we stayed with included two guys that graduated from my high school shortly after I did, but whom I hardly knew back then. Rob is our mutual friend (the Philipino connection at its finest!). But it really is a small world because I and those guys and their family know a lot of the same people. Six degrees indeed! Plus, on day two of snowboarding another high school friend that I haven't seen in 20 years and who now lives in Denver doing pediatric nursing came out to spend the day with us on the slopes. It turned out to be a mini-reunion! Coloradians (is that correct?) were so pleasant and laid-back, also; especially in the stores and restaurants. When you get away from the East Coast, you realize how high-strung, aggressive, and OC people are here. I really think we'll end up living in the West Coast area at some point in my life (and eventually back to Japan!). Now I just need to plan my escape from Jacksonville! Who's onboard for the prison break?