• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Because the Family that Skis Together, Enjoys Life Together.
  • Home
  • About
    • Awards
    • Featured Author
    • Brand Ambassador
  • Brave Ski Mom Stickers
  • Contact Me

The Brave Ski Mom

Building a new generation of skiers and snowboarders.

  • Skiing
    • Skiing With Kids
    • Ski Racing
    • Learn to Ski
    • Cross Country Skiing
    • Telemark Skiing
    • Snowboarding
  • Ski Resort Reviews
    • United States
      • Alaska
      • California
      • Colorado
      • Connecticut
      • Idaho
      • Maine
      • Massachusetts
      • Michigan
      • Minnesota
      • Montana
      • Nevada
      • New Hampshire
      • New Mexico
      • New York
      • North Carolina
      • Oregon
      • Pennsylvania
      • Utah
      • Vermont
      • Washington
      • West Virginia
      • Wisconsin
      • Wyoming
    • Argentina
    • Australia
    • Austria
    • Bulgaria
    • Canada
    • Chile
    • France
    • Finland
    • Greece
    • Italy
    • Japan
    • New Zealand
  • Ski Gear Checklist and Recommendations
    • Equipment and Gear
    • Product Reviews
    • Brave Ski Mom Stickers
  • Hiking
    • Camping
  • Biking
    • Downhill Biking
    • Mountain Biking
    • Road Biking
  • Good Stuff
    • Parenting
    • Health
      • Getting in Shape
    • Reflections

On Road Trips, Tall Tales and the Nation’s First Skier, 2010

October 26, 2010 by braveskimom

Because of where we live, we drive. A lot. Not that we live in a wild remote area, but it is 5 miles to the nearest grocery store and 6 miles in the other direction into town. When my son goes to High School next year, his school will be 13 miles away. That’s a lot of driving, but it hardly qualifies us to live in the Outback. No, what causes much of our driving is our remoteness from Denver and the things we like to do: namely skiing.

Thus, this past weekend, in the middle of the first real winter storm of the season, we were burning pavement to Breckenridge to get a free School of Shred pass for our 11 year old son. “Free,” mind you, is relative after one gases up the car at nearly $3.00 per gallon, eats lunch out, and pays for skating and swimming at the Breck Rec Center. Still, four free days at each of the Vail Resort Mountains is pretty good and we are still money ahead. (For more information on School of Shred, see my post of August 31, “Kids’ Passes: Gettin’ Schooled.”) You see, Vail Resorts is now based in the metro-Denver area and in their wisdom they do not offer the pre-season School of Shred pass on the Western Slope. Hence, we drove past Beaver Creek and drove past Vail to get a pass that we will use at Beaver Creek and Vail. But I digress…

Breckenridge, October 23rd

All complaining aside, it was a great day. A super day. Freed from TV, the computer, their individual friends, daily chores and general boredom, our boys read, slept, chatted and laughed together more than I’ve heard since last ski season. You see, we love car trips as a family. Stuck together in a confined space, we have two choices: get along and have fun or be miserable. It really isn’t that hard a choice even for brothers who love to push their parents’ buttons and pick on one another when at home. In the car, it is all about togetherness.

We don’t have a DVD player in our car. On long car trips (such as our every couple of years jaunt to SoCal) we used to try to watch movies on a portable DVD player. Bad idea. It turns out that while our guys can read in the car, they can’t watch in the car and they nearly went through our entire stash of sick sacks.

Beaver Creek from I-70

Instead, when the boys were really young, we discovered a CD label called Rabbit Ears. I don’t even know if they are still in print (in burn?), because they were hard to find even back then except on Amazon and we often bought them used. Rabbit Ears records famous actors telling American and International tall tales, backed by original music from famous musicians. Thus, we heard the story of Aladdin and His Lamp told by John Hurt with music by Mickey Hart. John Henry is read by Denzel Washington with music by BB King.

Copper at 75 mph

There are about 45 Rabbit Ears stories and I am completely convinced that because we got into the habit of listening to them in the car when our kids were young, we all like car trips now (and the kids have awesome vocabularies — one thing Rabbit Ears most definitely does not do is dumb the stories down). We don’t listen to many Rabbit Ears CDs any more. Sometimes someone gets sentimental for one story or another and we pop it in, but mostly, now we talk and talk…mostly about skiing.

Jeff Cricco - the Nation's First Skier, 2010?

And so it was on Saturday. As we passed Beaver Creek and Vail, we could see that the ski season truly is upon us. Copper and Breckenridge are looking good too. With each mile through the mountains, we got more and more excited for the upcoming fun. At the top of Vail Pass, I got out to throw a couple of snowballs. There were only two cars in the rest area parking lot: us and a tele-skier, cranking the Dead and putting skins on his skis. We had to talk to him. Turns out that his name is Jeff Cricco and he’s a photographer for Powder and a blogger for Freeskier. In our minds he is also the season’s “first skier.” Jeff and a buddy were heading out to ski the grassy Bowman Short Cut chutes on the first snow of the season, the day before the lifts cranked up at Loveland. Loveland likes to claim that they are “first in the nation.” This year, I think honors go to Jeff and his buddy. Look for his photos in Powder. I’m sure we’ll all be jealous.

© 2010 – 2014, braveskimom. All rights reserved. Any use or publication of content, including photos, requires express permission.

Spread the Love (thanks!)

  • Email
  • Print
  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Related

Filed Under: Product Reviews, Skiing Tagged With: Colorado, Family, Freeskier, Powder, rabbit ears, skiing, Vail Resorts

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. James says

    October 26, 2010 at 11:04 am

    BSM – I am huge fan of Rabbit Ears CD’s – don’t despair as the original owners are back in control of RE and check out their website at http://www.rabbitears.com/ for their entire collection. Looking forward to skiing soon!!

  2. Deborah Weingrad says

    October 26, 2010 at 11:40 am

    Yes, Rabbit Ears Entertainment is still around! We have a library of 65+ titles that are available as CDs, DVDs and hard cover books, and starting just this month, as mobile apps! The CDs are distributed through Random House Listening Library and the DVDs and books through the Rabbit Ears website, http://www.rabbitears.com. They are also available as video downloads from iAmplify.com.
    To find out about the mobile apps, go to http://www.ruckusmediagroup.com.
    Reading your blog makes me wish I knew how to ski!!

    • braveskimom says

      October 26, 2010 at 11:48 am

      Thanks Deborah! I am so glad that you are still around. Not only for ski trips, but any car trip, I love Rabbit Ears. And I truly do think these amazing cds made our boys smarter! Who needs Baby Mozart when you can hear Robin Williams as Pecos Bill? Thanks for commenting. I wish you knew how to ski too! Take care.

Primary Sidebar

2023-2024 Partners

FERA
World Snow Day
FERA

Welcome

I'm Kristen, a western Colorado mom, wife and trail boss in a busy outdoor family. Our family has a passion for skiing and my goal is to provide information to help other families enjoy their skiing adventures. Whether you have tiny toddlers just learning to slide or grown children with whom you're planning a reunion, you're in the right place. Cheers!

Never Miss a Post

Enter your email address to subscribe. You'll receive notifications of new posts by email.

Follow Me

FacebookInstagram Pinterest Twitter

Today’s Most Popular Posts

  • No Snow? No Problem: Summer Skiing in North America
    No Snow? No Problem: Summer Skiing in North America
  • A First-Time Family Guide to Skiing Breckenridge, Colorado
    A First-Time Family Guide to Skiing Breckenridge, Colorado
  • Ski Fashion 2016-2017: Season Highlights from WinterWomen.com
    Ski Fashion 2016-2017: Season Highlights from WinterWomen.com
  • Quotable Ski Quotes?
    Quotable Ski Quotes?
  • Don't Go Hungry! Ski Vacation Tips for Feeding the Family
    Don't Go Hungry! Ski Vacation Tips for Feeding the Family
  • Summer and Fall Skiing on Neveplast at Buck Hill
    Summer and Fall Skiing on Neveplast at Buck Hill

Categories

Footer

Recent Tweets

My Tweets

Featured In

snowlink world snow day snowkidz
liftopia mtn town learn to ski and snowboard mom trends
Copyright © 2025 · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · Affiliate Disclosure · Product Review & Giveaway Policy · Guest Post Policy · Privacy Policy · Login
 

Loading Comments...