A Day in Breckenridge and Vail

It was a gorgeous day for a return trip to Breckenridge. The Fam (6 of us) were last there in 1992 after the "Our Farmington" production, for a rest and some relaxation. Maybe some of these photos will bring back memories. This is the Blue River which runs through town.

Breckenridge is an upscale ski resort and very nicely landscaped and cared for...lots of money here.

A tiki on the Blue.

We weren't aware, but we happened to arrive on the day of their great rubber ducky races. We ended up joining in the fun by buying a racing duck (for charity) and one souvenir duck and sticking around for 4 hours to watch the 3 different races: 1st the Children's Race...400 $10 ducks that kids could keep, 2nd the Businessmen's Race...200 $100 ducks, and 3rd the Great Race (everyone else)...7,250 $5 ducks. We had a blast watching and cheering and quacking with the crowds. I also got sunburned.

We had a great lunch at "The Quandary" and got to eat outside by the river. We thought this was the best warmed turkey/bacon wrap with salad (sunflower seeds, cranberries, chucks of blue cheese, etc.) ever.

Time for the Big Race. It all started here at Maggie's Pond. They are dumping the ducks into a corral.

The announcers are starting their countdown.

Opening the corral "gates."

The 7,250 ducks are on their way, over the spillway! There are 3 videos of the race at the end of this blog. Unfortunately, the camera setting was weird and the color is less marvelous, but it will be fun to see the action!

Young volunteers with rakes helped keep the ducks in play and over the rocks.

Close-up.

Here they come! I wanted to hum the Flying Toaster song at this point!

Under the bridge and towards the fish statue.

The Finish Line...about 30 minutes later. The first duck to enter the narrow channel entrance in the center won (owner received a trip to Orlando). After all other prize winning ducks (numbers on the bottom) finished, volunteers started scooping them out of the river with the plastic laundry baskets.

Dad at the finish line.

Mom in a duck shirt!

Here I am with our $1 souvenir duck. I chose a cat duck that matched my shirt!

After the afternoon of duck races we took a 3-stage gondola ride and a chair lift up to the Alpine Slide.

Dad at the end of the slide. He got stuck behind a very tentative, i.e. slow, rider and had a lousy ride, but the operators gave us another free ride!

Mom comes whipping down the track!

Then we went goecaching and found a few. Here's our last photo of Breckenridge at a cache.

We drove on to Vail, even posher than Breckenridge, not as fun. But we had a great dinner at the Blue Restaurant on Gore creek...outside once again.

Cool skinny horse sculpture.

Interesting architecture and wind spinners.

Bear and fish.

Moose.

This was interesting...the blobs reminded us of a lava lamp and they kept changing into many vibrant colors.

Here come the Rubber Ducky videos...............................yes, I'm easily entertained!