I am away on vacation

I am away on vacation, travelling to Nicaragua & Costa Rica (via Bruxelles & Southampton!). I'll be back on the 20th of March (assuming that my party and I are not kidnapped by guerrillas).

Trip to Colorado

As part of a work trip to the west coast, I managed to pull in a weekend stopover with my brother, Graham, in Colorado Springs. We hadn't met since we both left the UK in Feb 2005, so it had been a while. I really enjoyed seeing him again and we had a great weekend. Colorado is VERY different from Massachusetts, and the contrast was refreshing (though the radio stations out there are beyond belief).

Graham bought me a skiing lesson in Breckonridge for my birthday, which was a terrific present :-)
The lesson was at the ski resort of Breckenridge. We stayed with Graham's pal Mike in his cabin. Mike's a cool chap and made us a great breakfast before we hit the slopes. I went to the teaching slopes (Silverthorn) while Graham and co hit the double-blacks (starting with the highest ski lift in the USA: 16000 feet!).

On Sunday Graham took me to see various sights of interest including the Garden of the Gods: a park containing many weird rock formations. Colorado really is a stunning place with enourmous mountains, vast empty plains, blasted heathland and evergreen forest, weird rock formations, jagged cliffs and vert many opportunities to engage in outdoor pursuits amidst all these things :-)

More photos HERE.