Move there and they will come

I’ve come to realize over the past year or two that there are certain benefits to living in the Vail Valley. One of these benefits is being blessed with visitors who are coming to see you, of course, and not just the fresh powder and acres of ski terrain. They are coming to see me right?

Sometimes I wonder if I am in fact the focal point of the visit because when East Coast ski areas look more like a site for a monster truck rally and advertisements start howling about how much snow is dumping in Vail, almost like clockwork I start getting calls from every friend, acquaintance, classmate, teammate, second cousin, third cousin, neighbor, ex-roommate, and ex-girlfriend I’ve ever had. Ok fine, I was lying about the ex-girlfriends, but the truth is that since they know someone living in the mountains of Colorado, people feel that it is their God-given unalienable right to plan a ski vacation and use your home as their personal chalet for as long as they‘d like. I’ll get calls that often go something like this:

“Hey man! I just booked my plane ticket.”
“Who is this?”
“I’m coming out for a week this year, none of this long weekend stuff.”
“No really, who is this?”
“I’ve got a few friends coming too. And we’re not too thrilled about renting a car; can you pick us up in Denver?”
“What are the dates,” I mutter as I flip the conversation to autopilot.
“You can get us a deal on lift tickets right?”

And it just so happens that this week is the time that fit conveniently into the schedule of my brother and some other friends for their ski getaway. Now I don’t want to be a total grouch about this thing, because within limitation, I do truly enjoy visitors. For example a couple of weeks ago I had some friends in (and friends of friends of course). They were enjoying their vacation late in the evening when I had to work the next day, when they realize that someone had lost the keys to their car that was parked in my garage. So instead of hitting the mountain after twelve plus inches of snow on Saturday, we ransacked the house in a fruitless attempt at finding the key and then had every tool in our garage strewn about while making a reckless effort of hot wiring the car.

Though this is beside the point, the hot wiring maneuver was successful and the car was driven back to Denver with no key. Friends of friends are much more welcome when they have the handyman skills of MacGyver. Maybe I’ll have an unexpected bomb ticking in my kitchen for this visitation, however I doubt I‘ll be as lucky with the skill-set of my visitors.

Being around people that are on vacation when you’re not is always a little difficult to handle. There’s a certain psychological benefit to going away for vacation. Even when I take some time off, flicking on the vacation switch isn’t as easy as when you land in Honolulu and a cute native throws a lei around your neck. Maybe for this visit of friends and acquaintances, I’ll wear my own lei and throw sand, a beach chair and a heat lamp in the living room.

So I really don’t want this to be a deterrent to any potential visitors, because like I said, I do enjoy the camaraderie. I look back on some of my visitor weekends from last year, and though there were times of mild inconvenience, they were the most enjoyable experiences I've had while living up here.

So feel free to come on out, crash on the pull-out, raid the fridge, borrow my car, lose your keys, hell, go ahead and take twenty bucks out of my wallet while I’m sleeping - after all, you’re on vacation.


Send John Poole your flight itinerary at poolejohn@gmail.com