Different Mountains. Same Family.

About 5.5 years ago, Peggy, Chloe and I went to France to catch some stages of "Le Tour." We knew before we even left the States that this was one of those "once in a lifetime" trips (though, we do hope to go back again.) We also knew that taking a 16 month old along with us was probably nuts. Thankfully, through the magic of the internet, we found another couple from the States doing almost the exactly same thing as us... heading to France with their 16 month old to watch some of the race, and as coincidence had it, seeing some of the same stages that we had planned to. (Insanity is best shared with others, eh?)

We made plans to meet Chris, Ann and their daughter Clare when The Tour hit the Alps and again a couple of days later on the final stage in Paris. And aside from yours truly having a major FAIL on the day of the time trial up Alpe d'Huez, our plans went well and we had a great time getting to know our Tour-mates.

Flash forward to near-present day.

Again due to that magical internet thing, we've been able to keep in contact with Chris and Ann. On one of Chris' facebook postings he mentioned something about looking forward to a family ski vacation in Breckenridge beginning on MLK weekend. After a few back and forth e-mails, we again made plans to meet up with Chris, Ann and Clare (as well as Addie, their other daughter, and some of Ann's family) in the mountains.

After a text and a call or two while on I-70, we agreed to meet them at the top of a lift around 9:30, sans their two daughters who would be in ski school all day. Thankfully, there was no major FAIL on my part today, and we were able to ski with them as planned. As luck would have it, Peggy and Chloe didn't have work/school on Monday, so we were able to hang out with them after skiing and enjoy a great dinner and some great wine. (An aside: if you have the chance to buy Seghesio Zin, do so, and thank Chris and Ann, for they introduced me to it.) Another great element to the evening was watching Chloe and Clare play... they were carrying on like "best buds" even though their only connection was a trip to France in 2004 that neither of them remember. (Even when we showed them pictures from the trip, they had no recollection of it!)

An early morning, full day of skiing, and night of great food, drink and conversation, eventually caught up to us, and we said our farewells and headed to our hotel in Frisco. And wondered if there's another mountain range in our future where we will once again cross paths with Chris, Ann, Claire and Addie.

(Pictures: Chloe and Clare, July 2004 and January 2010.)