Keystone, CO

Riding the lift to the summit with our bikes!

The Keystone Village below.

The back bowl at Keystone.

At the top of Schoolmarm.

Our descent to the bottom!

The continental divide was the first time that Richard (my brother) and I saw snow when we were abouot 3 and 4. I don't remember it but the story goes that we excitedly hopped out of the car and both hit the snow. We immediately slipped, started crying and said how much we hated it and wanted to go back home to Florida!

From Vegas, we pushed onward towards the Rocky Mountains (en route, we were surprised to be passing some of our early stops from our time in Southern Utah). The main reason we chose this route back was not because of Vegas, but rather to go to the ski areas and summer vacation spots that Laura visited throughout her childhood.

As we drove into the Keystone area, it was really neat to sit next to Laura as she recounted countless memories and shared family vacation stories. Her eyes lit up as she talked about ski school, mountain hikes, Country Joel, and the specific landmarks along the highway. Throughout the two days, she kept texting and calling Richard and her parents with another story to share. I had a blast just sitting back and hearing her side of the conversation.

For our day in Keystone, we decided to ride Mountain bikes. This was probably the last "adventureous" stop of the CCRT, so as you'd expect by now, we tried something that we hadn't done before and an activity that gave us a decent chance of getting hurt.

After riding up on the gondola that Laura used to ride up to ski down the mountain, we started down on the "green" or "beginner" trail. Beginner was actually hard. We ultimately decided that the first time down the mountain should be down the dirt road since we only a helmet vs. what looked like a modern-day's knight's gear that most experienced riders wore. The "beginner" trail was too big of a contrast to our coastal rides in San Diego and San Francisco, since it felt like the bike would spin out and crash at almost every dip and turn.

The transition from the 2-foot wide trails to the full dirt road was a good decision. We enjoyed the route down, taking in the views and going at a comfortable speed while gawking at the guts of the double-black riders.