It has been a godsend to have my parents back in town, as Melody was gone for a conference last week and I was taking off for Vail Vitrectomy this week. I am no skier, but was grateful to be invited to one of the most pretigious and exclusive meetings in my field. With little time to plan the trip, I was relieved to find two friends to share a rental car for the 2-hour drive from Denver. We stopped at Idaho Springs for lunch, but opted for muffins and coffee over the hour-long wait at Beau Jo’s, before arriving at the Hythe in Vail. The meeting was small, which combined with the lifting of mask mandates, made for livelier discussions. On Sunday, I strolled past Lionshead Village for Indian food before returning for Susvimo training and my talk. I stayed in my hotel room the next day to get work done and binge on a Crime Scene series on the Cecil Hotel. I made instant noodles using the hotel room kettle for lunch, which saved me some cash to hit up Matsuhisa solo for their so-so omakase menu. Tuesday’s schedule was light, giving me time to go fat tire biking at the Vail Nordic Center. Biking in the snow was much more of a workout than I had anticipated. So I turned back before completing the 8-mile trail to fill on wood-fired bone marrow and short ribs at Mountain Standard back in town. We left the hotel at 4am for the return drive to the airport, which allowed me to catch an earlier flight back to join Westley’s school potluck and share night. After tonight, I’ll have just a couple of days to assemble Westley’s bookcase bed before we depart for spring break.