Stratton 12/12-12/14

HEAVEN! That's right! I thought I died and gone to heaven! OK, OK, so I'm exaggerating, but when we arrived to our Stratton penthouse I felt speechless! Getting there was interesting. We had numerous changes and alteration, but finally the weekend crew was finalized. We had Tingy and Peter, Geri, Christie, Eugine and Marina in one van. My car had the polish skiers: Derek, Tomek, Dawid and Beata. Christine Patalano came on her own. At first I thought we won't fit all of us and our gear in my car but leave it up to the polish guys and they can accomplish anything! Trip was almost 5 hours with a break or two and dinner at a Thai restaurant... over all it didn't seem that bad. We left slightly after 4PM and arrived after 9:30PM . When we entered the apartment everyone dropped their jaws to the ground. One - we had our own elevator, two - we had 3 fireplaces and flat screen TV in every room, three - we had a movie theatre room!!!!!!!!! The layout was fantastic and once everyone arrived we polished good 5 bottles of wine and Sarosh and his friends provided some beer. Everyone was in great mood, drinking to Derek's health, afterall he's the one who got us the place and at 3am things fizzled out. In the morning nobody felt like going skiing! We enjoyed our fireplaces and cozy beds. After a quick breakfast I was one of the first people out and it was close if not after 11AM. The temperatures were low and by 4PM I was pretty cold, the lifts were closing and we were getting ready for the happy hour:) We ended up splitting into groups for dinner and then we regrouped back at our place. The energy was different - everyone was recuperating from the last 24hr, not to mention the commute. Some watched TV, some heated up some wine and others played Gestures! Sunday morning came too fast:( Derek asked for a later check out and this time I was one of the last people out! We checked out, skied til 4PM, packed out gear and headed home. On the way we stopped by a cheese factory and I went overboard buying cheddar...
Ride home was even quicker for some reason then the ride to Stratton. Once I got to my place I started to feel chilly...of course...it's holiday season and I'm getting sick once again...I guess health is what I have to ask for this year. Let's hope it turns out to be nothing:)
To summarize things, other then hanging and spending time with friends it was nice to see guys take over the kitchen...I wish I had breakfast in bed, but I guess I'm asking too much. Company as always was great and I'm waiting for our next endeavor.
Post-vacation everyone was bragging about our place and how much everyone wants to go there again...I think it will be hard to stay in a regular hotel once we've been spoiled by the penthouse. I wonder if we'll be able to get it again!