Ski Vail

Ah, skiing in the Rockies. Definitely not a cheap vacation. Unless of course you have friends who have a house about 10 miles outside of Vail, can get you a deal on a rent-a-car and there's an air fare war on.

So, we make the trek and hook up with about 15 of our closest friends (big house, huh?) for a week of skiing at Vail and Beaver Creek. It was fantastic - great snow, warm temperatures and, of course, plenty of Apres-ski. This picture pretty well sums up the fun we had one evening after stopping in a local tavern for "one beer" - famous last words. Of course, we're not really getting arrested. We just couldn't resist the urge to get frisked on a Saab 9000 police car. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Camping on the Menominee Indian Reservation

Ah yes, camping. The poor man's vacation. Not a bad way to spend a three-day weekend with six of your best friends, either.

After the four-hour trek to the Menominee Indian Reservation, we pull into "Big Dave's Rustic Camping" and settle in for a nice weekend. The campground was actually "Big Dave's" back yard and certainly was rustic. Although, there was a shower facility with hot water and all.

So, we get the tents set up and commence lounging around the fire while enjoying some snacks and beverages. After several beverages, we decide that three days of just sitting around the fire is going to get old, so we plan a rafting trip.

The following morning, the entire crew heads to the Wolf River for the adventure. After handing over 15 bucks and signing some "death waiver," we hop on some old, beat-up, hunk-of-junk school bus and head up-stream. This being my first rafting experience, I calmly ask Shotgun Eddie if he has any pointers. He replies, "Follow the river."

So we did. We're cruising along enjoying the weather when we look down-stream and see Shotgun Eddie floating in his raft just off-shore. I was pretty sure he was waving, but as we got closer, you could hear the unmistakable sound of a water fall. It wasn't until then that we realized he wasn't waving. He was telling us to sit our butts down so we didn't get tossed as we want over the falls. I think there was only one minor head-injury.

Of course, after that experience, nobody wanted to be the first raft to hit the next set of rapids, so we all pretty much hung together. Curiously enough, after we'd successfully navigated about 9 sets of rapids and went to return our rafts, we noticed that Shotgun Eddie & Company we're only counting the number of rafts that returned, not the number of people! All of a sudden that seemingly standard "death waiver" seemed a whole lot less standard. I guess safety standards are a bit loose on the Reservation.