Christmas eve, Saturday December 24th was sunny and clear the whole day, a gorgeous day for skiing due to the full day snow on December 23rd. However the forecast was that there would be another winter storm coming to the Rockies next day - our day of leaving the resort and fly back home. Considering the wimpy Nissan Versa we rented, and the potential being stranded at Copper mountain, we decided to leave copper mountain on the evening of Christmas eve, about 20 hours ahead of schedule.
We got up early on Christmas eve and went to the slopes early in the morning and enjoyed the beautiful day and great skiing condition until 3:30pm. We cooked another big meal for the last dinner at Copper Mountain. Both families were fed and ready to leave by 6pm.
It was dark already, the wimpy Nissan Versa's defrost function did not work well, which made it hard to see the icy, snow covered service road. I drove cautiously slow (~ 40mph). Fortunately I-70 was not busy at the time, and the road condition was OK. We got to Golden, Colorado, a small city west to Denver, at the outer skirt of Rockies without drama, safely and at expected time!
Our flight home on Christmas day was at 7:30pm. Despite sleep in, we still had plenty time to kill before taking off, so we went to Colorado State Capital and surrounding area for self guided walking tours.
It was a very cold day, temperature was at teens with a persistent northern breeze, otherwise it was a beautiful day. We noticed that there was a large gathering in front of the state capital and a long line of people along coalfax road, That turned out to be the annual charitable event - Christmas at the Park. Volunteers gave out blankets, sleeping bags, winter coats and hot meals to about 500 homeless people according a lady in volunteer bib.
Passing the state capital ground, we walked west to the Civic Center Park, there was Voorhies memorial to the north, Denver city council building to the west, Denver Art Museum and Denver library to the south. We looked around and took pictures for about 30 - 40 minutes. We then drove to Larimer Square and Confluence Park for another walking tour.
It was a very cold day and restaurants were hard find for lunch, but comparing possibly stranded in Copper Mountain with 12 inch snow, we all agreed that leaving copper mountain early was a brilliant decision.
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| Colorado Capital Hill |
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| church with a green top |
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| Cowboys |
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| Zodiac sculpture at Civic Center park |
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| Art piece in front of Denver Art Museum |
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| Denver Art Museum |
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| looking west toward cloud covered Rockies |
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| Denver International Airport (DIA) |
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