I knew going into our latest trip to Breckenridge, Colorado that we weren’t going to be skiing knee-deep powder like past trips.

I knew, thanks to TikTok and news stories, that Colorado is in a snow drought.

But our Airbnb was booked weeks ago and would have needed to be canceled within 48 hours of booking. That had long passed as skiing buddy Dan Stewart and I still had hope of some major snow dump before our arrival.

That didn’t happen.

What did happen, however, was an offer of two free tickets from a Breckenridge newspaper reporter who is good friends with my daughter, and another free ticket offer from long-time friend Greg King, who we were going to see. His season pass also allowed for a 50% off ticket for a buddy.

So, in the end we ended up paying $60 each for skiing two days at one of the nation’s best ski resorts.

And despite a lack of powder or access to the famed bowls, conditions were fine. Sure, for Coloradans it was a little icy and unimaginable for this time of year. They are angry.

But for Stewart and me, it was a solid east coast groomer experience, but with vistas the east can’t match. Breckenridge, without the bowls, reminds me a little of Okemo in Vermont. A lot of medium-pitch cruiser trails with some areas with bumps.

Now, to be honest, if we had to pay the $240 ticket fee for what we skied, I’m not sure we would have skied two days. But our friends hooked us up and fun was had.

Oh, the Airbnb we booked had a trail right next to it, and shuttle stop in front. We could take a shuttle to a lift and ski right back to the condo. That’s always a great perk.

But this trip was more than just about skiing. Is was traveling with an old friend to see an even older friend dating back to high school and college. 

A day before the first ski day, King took us on a three-mile hike to a reservoir on Quandary Mountain that helped us acclimate to the 12,000-foot elevation. We were joined by King’s dog, Louie, which was really nice because I’ve been missing my winter buddy, Bear, who passed in May. 

On the beautiful hike, we used binoculars looking for mountain goats that King said are almost always there, but they weren’t that day.

We hot-tubbed with beers at King’s home after the hike as Louie looked on.

And we ate very well while there, including an amazing ahi tuna dish at South Ridge Seafood Grill, and a killer burger, corn dogs and huge onion rings at this cool burger joint called FlipSide.

Notably, the restaurants there also play great music, from Neil Young and Grateful Dead to Widespread Panic and David Byrne. There’s a neat vibe there.  

Another high point was getting to chat journalism with my daughter’s friend Kit Geary, who writes for the free Summit Daily newspaper.

As a communications professor, I’m inspired by her and I’ve had her Zoom into my classroom twice to inspire students only a couple years younger than her. The Summit Daily is lucky to have such a driven young journalist who wants to make a difference in her new home and I eagerly read her stories about topics like students designing skis and racism in schools. 

The only real bummer of the trip was a lack of sleep. Altitude will do that to you – and so will a family of tap dancers staying above you, who clearly were wearing either tap shoes or their ski boots every waking moment as they did laps above us until at least midnight. 

As I finish this, we’ve just completed day two of skiing. Another fine cruiser-groomer day with jaw-dropping views that need to be seen in-person to understand. We dropped off King at his car, said goodbye to his wife Jacqui at the unique hat shop she works at, and we’re packing up to spend the last night at the Lady Luck Casino, which is in between Breckenridge and Denver, where we fly out of on Thursday.

Given our luck with tickets, I’m pretty by the time you read this we will have paid off the rest of the trip from our winnings …