Stranded in Steamboat

The path to the hot tub!

The first morning - it snowed for 5 more days!

Being stranded in Steamboat is not such a bad thing, especially when you are staying with my friend Annie - such a wonderful hostess with the kind of house you love to hang out in.  Although I worked, a puzzle loomed, chocolate was in abundance and there was the promise of bacon in the morning.  It was decadent.  I left the day of the storm - to come in that night and headed north on an adventure.  Somewhere around Fairplay it started to snow and on Hoosier, started to stick.  After a frightening slip, I carried on in 4WD, basically crawling down the hairpins.  The road was changing fast so I slugged along.  I arrived to my smiling friend and her funny big dogs and I disappeared into her lovely house for longer than I thought.  
It snowed, and snowed, and snowed.  My friend is only 5'2" - the snow finally let up at 58" - she only had 4" on it!    My car steadily disappeared into the snow, for 6 days.  The pictures above are only the first morning.   

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In the evenings, Annie went out to check the animals one more time, with her dogs in tow, bounding through the snow to the barn.  This is how she dressed to brave the snow and wind. 

Going home in the cold.

After 6 days it stopped snowing and I headed home - normally a 5 hour drive took all day.  I put-putted all the way home.  I rarely drove over 40 mph.  At one point there was a frightened sports car with a train of 25 behind it traveling 20 mph.  It was slow and steady like the turtle.  When I passed through Kremmling, it was -4 degrees - cold and slick as could be.  
But I had some John Denver on and enjoyed the view, which in Colorado is well, you know - outrageous.  Thank you Annie, for having me on a fine adventure.
I made it home to more snow -  a very good sign for the winter to come.  Snow begets snow and no snow begets no snow.   We are well on our way to wildflowers.