Gondolas and Chair Lifts

The morning before we left Colorado, Aaron and I woke up earlier than the rest of his family (we aren't so talented at this sleeping in past 8 thing), so we headed to the mountain side for a free gondola ride and to look around. I have never been in a gondola, although I have had nightmares where I am in them, so I had a mix of excitement and fear going on.

From the parking lot.

Doors closing, no going back now!

Taking off.

So turns out it wasn't scary at all (if you don't think too much about how you are hanging in a heavy contraption from a tiny little cable). The gondola was basically a hopper that stopped at a couple sections of the resort to eventually drop people off at the base of some chair lifts around peak 6. 

It was about a 15 or 20 minute ride to the base of the mountains, where they had a little summer fun park set up (think human maze, bungee trampoline thingy, some rides down the mountain). It was all a little pricey, so we decided to opt for just the scenic chair lift ride that set us back $18.

Chairlifts in Michigan are normally scary enough for me, but I was happy to find out that mostly all of the chairlifts in Colorado have bars you pull down in front of you, so you don't have to worry about falling to your death so much. As long as Aaron DIDN'T MOVE AT ALL I was ok!

Up we go.

Once we got to the top of the chair lift, we were required to get off, so we walked around a bit. Aaron pretended to ski off. We were at 11,000 feet and I was wearing flip flops, so we weren't exactly equipped for a mountain hike, but we did our best.

Looking down a black diamond! Those gaps in the trees behind him are ski runs that absolutely blew my mind. If we ever ski in Colorado I will be sticking to the easy green and medium blue runs.

Heading back down and enjoying the view.