Breck or Bust (Ski Trip - Colorado)

I've been looking for an opportunity to go skiing out West for years.  A great opportunity came up this Winter when some family was planning a trip out to Breckenridge and Vail and I jumped at the chance.  Jolene had work conflicts and we've also agreed that she does not handle altitudes well so she stayed behind.

The trip started with me beating the group there due to flight times with a chance to walk the streets of Denver as as slowly began to snow.  By the time the rest of them arrived the snow had picked up and we quickly retrieved our minivan rental to start the drive into the mountains.  In retrospect the fact that the roads were already covered in snow and it was pretty obvious our windshield wipers were not working well we should have taken a U-turn and traded up for an SUV (paying the extra money).

Do not drive a minivan through a blizzard in the Rockies

We continued our journey to Breckenridge that night through the snowstorm.  On multiple occasions I voted for us to pull over and spend the night waiting for sunlight to finish the journey the next day but was out voted by the team.  This eventually led to us stranded on the highway, sideways, in a blizzard at night with a group of firefighters trying to figure out how to help us.  Eventually a tow truck (already on scene) was able to tow us up the hill and let us "coast/slide" through the rest of our journey.  I once again tried to make the group stop in Frisco but they were going to make it to Breck(enridge) or Bust that evening.  Once we finally arrived that night we all agreed we'd never get back into the minivan "death trap" again.

After that initial challenge we had a great trip.  Able to ski-in/ski-out and walk to all the shops in Breckenridge.  During the week we were there we got 69 inches of snow and never did make it to Vail for a day as planned (illegal to drive without chains, roads temporarily closed, and multiple avalanches across the road we wanted to take).