We are not celebrities, nor are we rich and famous, but we love Aspen- for the pure fun of skiing. The Ajax/Aspen mountain is so dramatic and challenging, right there at downtown. The facility is so thoughtfully designed, with trail map on some of the chairlifts' bars, you can review and decide on the next trail on your way up the mountain; and free and frequent shuttle buses between Aspen, Snowmass, Highland and Buttermilk mountains. The choices of restaurants are so abundant and quality high.
At Aspen, I skied more than three miles from top to bottom without any stop to catch a breath; I did a inverted Yoga pose with bulky outfit and heavy boots on a steep slope. At Aspen, we had one of the most romantic kisses :-), in the white world, with miles of rolling peaks beneath us, we'll remember it forever.
Aspen, we'll return.
Ski Trip to Aspen, Colorado
Valentine’s Day and Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book
It’s Valentine’s Day again, this season always reminds me of Chairman Mao and his little red book. Born in the 70’s China, although I did not experience Mao’s Cultural Revolution, I’ve seen many photos from the 50’s and 60’s—no matter what the occasion, no matter what gender, no matter what age, almost every person held a little red book in front of his/her chest. The little red book has Mao’s speeches. Guess back then, everyone was pressured and motivated to hold this little red book, to demonstrate love and loyalty for Chairman Mao, for the Communist party and for the country.
When Valentine’s Day approaches, red hearts dance all over stores and streets. There is also pressure (especially for men) and motivation to arrange some out of the ordinary activities, to buy special gifts to express love and loyalty for the other half. Even if the other half does not care into such, others around you care! Friends and colleagues would always ask “What for Valentine’s Day?” No plan? Oh, poor you, no one loves you, or you are so not romantic, or worse, your relationship must be problematic. In any case, you are a person with question mark.
I am such a person with question mark, not only I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, but when we started dating, I also requested K not to buy me flowers/gifts, and requested we share expenses. We did celebrate Valentine’s Day, once only, in the first year of our dating. Later, I just did not like following trend, I proposed dinner out only on Valentine’s Day, nothing else. Then later, I felt why should we dine out on the same day as billions of people to celebrate our own love? We dine out often all the time, but no more on 2.14. Yeah, this is perhaps my non-conformist and idiosyncratic side, but I think such “rebellious” action also derive from observation of the dating and married life of our own, of others—that everyday love and care is more important than special celebration, that substance is more important than form.
In life, I care about both substance and form in many aspects. But in love, I don’t care about form, nor any special day, nor any special arrangements/expressions, I care about the loving feeling in every ordinary day.
“Romance” is perhaps like “Success”, every person has his/her own definition. To us, romance is that wonderful connection of hearts when spending time and sharing emotions together. Romance sets on the foundation of a solid and pleasant relationship. Otherwise, it is no more than a masking tape over crackled mirror or glass.
From dating to marriage, 6 years so far, we’ve always been sweet and intimate, our life has always been relaxed, interesting and romantic. These words may sound showy, and they are cliché, but I can not find more simple and accurate words to describe our relationship and our life. There are many loving couples in the world, but perhaps few can be as relaxed as us, we’ve never got upset or argue with each other. We are like a pair of 3-4 year olds, just like being together, and can get along well. Not that we don’t have differences in opinions or approaches, we always like to discuss openly and always can come to mutually satisfying resolution.
We don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, but our life is full of fun and romance. In a way, we celebrate Valentine’s Day everyday. Everyday, we have gourmet food; every week, we have sports, nature and arts related activities; every a few weeks or months, we take a vacation traveling. We cook a lot and also go out to eat often, there is always something gourmet to enjoy together everyday. Every week, we’d be visiting museums/galleries or watching some performances, and sometimes doing both. All year round, we swim, yoga and golf. Of course, because of seasonal change of climate, and arts’ organizations’ performance season, we also have different activities each season:
In the Spring, we often go for concerts; and take our road bikes to ride in Central Park or around the lakes and mountains in upstate New York. Spring is also a season we like to take trips overseas.
In the Summer, we go for outdoor concerts and prepared picnics to enjoy along; we also started to learn surfing last summer.
In the Fall, we go for hiking and foliage trips often.
In the Winter, we watch ballet and operas often; every two weeks, we’d either snowboarding somewhere near NYC, or skiing in Vermont or the Rockies in the West.
In this everyday activities we do together, we share many romantic moments. In even more ordinary activities, romantic feelings always spring up, such as when doing grocery and cooking together on weekends; such as when cuddling together watching TV; such as when hugging in bed; such as when giving each other a massage; etc, Romance is about the feeling between two hearts, no matter when, what, where and how, and certainly does not need commercial push.
Currently we are skiing in Vermont, of course, it was not planned for Valentine’s Day, but we are having many romantic moments…
Ski Trip to Mt. Tremblant (Quebec, Canada)
Mt. Tremblant definitely offers the top skiing experience in the East of North America. We had fun, no doubt. But it was somewhat overshadowed, in our memories, by the Quebec-French cuisine and our stay at Avanlanche B&B and St. Paul Hotel.
French cuisine earns both respect and weaker interest (compared to Italian and Japanese) from us. The rich and creamy part of French cuisine do not excite us. But when every single meal tasted good, at a small inn restaurant close to our B&B, at Le Grand Lodge in Mt. Tremblant and at Cube Restaurant in Montreal, despite rich and creamy, we enjoyed them.
At Mt. Tremblant, we spent three nights at Avalanche B&B, warm and cozy without the stuffiness of some other B&Bs/small inns. The owners Nancy and Phillippe are especially worthy of mentioning for their sweetness, and great care in gourmet breakfast preparation. After Mt. Tremblant, our New Year's Eve at Hotel St. Paul
was a totally different style. Designed by Ana Borrallo and Carlos Aparicio, Hotel St. Paul is a modern and chic boutique. The rooms play ice, fire, earth and sky themes beautifully. And the "Fire on Ice" fireplace in the lobby, we want to have that style in our future home, hopefully!
Ski Trip to Vail, Colorado
Vail would always carry special meaning to me. In 2002, I flew there to learn skiing and loved it. In 2006, I returned, and this time with K. My skill level then was blue/single black diamond (recovering from a skiing-accident caused knee surgery in 2004).
We stayed at a grand log cabin style inn away from the mountain: Savory Inn. Although it is 5-8minutes away from the mountain, it's worthy of the distance. (You take a free bus to the mountain.) The Inn sits behind Gore Creek, and has only a dozen rooms, each uniquely named after a herb/spice and uniquely designed. It's intimate and warm. The Inn owns Vail Cooking School on site. Not only the breakfast tasted good, the complimentary apre ski snacks were generous and delicious. It's rated the highest 5 star by Vail Resort. And our room was $290 per night+tax (vs $500-$1,000/night for the same rating hotel room inside the Vail Village on the mountain), very good value.
Northern California: (3) Surfing in Carmel
I admired surfing even before I could swim. That aspiration helped me to overcome the fear of water and learn swimming three years ago. And I've been practicing swimming weekly since. Going to California, I'm ready for surfing lesson!
It was June, but only around 50-55F for the first two days we were in Carmel Valley, and was cloudy and foggy most of time. Just did not create a mood for getting into the water. I was also chickening out about my water skills too. I seriously wanted to cancel the surf lesson reservation. The next morning, it was worse, not only it was cold, it had a light drizzle. K was still enthusiastic. We went to meet the instructor, very reluctantly, feeling unsure, I put on the wetsuit anyway. I was glad I did.
It was cold (55F in the air, lower in the water), and the waves were getting big for beginners. While sitting on the board and paddling out to the ocean, I felt as if walking right into a wall, a wall of powerful water--the waves were higher than my head. Before the wave hit, there was a little fear. After the wave hit, there was pure bliss. And we were able to ride a few times towards the shore!
Northern California: (3) Bernardus Lodge, Vineyard Resort with Epicurean Flair
In a way, Bernardus Lodge was the most anticipated part of our trip. We've been to quite many nice hotels, but this would be our first time to stay in a vineyard. And it has a top notch "farm to table style" restaurant Marinus. (I learned about Bernardus through TravelandLeisure.com, my "bible" for travel planning. I can always rely on it for sophisticated and tasteful recommendations. )
The vineyards, the oak trees, the lavender scent in the air, the homelike rooms with fireplace, fresh flower, bottles of complimentary vintage wines and basketful of snacks, feather beds and Italian linens, gourmet food, and superb service, what else to ask for? We booked for three nights, but did not want to leave.
