Eagle-Vail

Billy had a mission to accomplish at the Eagle, CO post office this morning, so we all participated in the mailing of a thank you gift to his hosts in Canada. It was as if the clerk behind the counter had never handled an international package before. After about 30 minutes, we were on our way! A lively debate ensued about false advertising, and government services. Among the shipping options advertised at the post office was a "flat rate box", which was marked "$10.75 for domestic or international" destinations. When Billy's shipping postage totaled $23.00, we asked the clerk if we could use the flat rate box. She said "No, that's only for domestic mailings." Go figure. Anyway, we toured the sweet little ski village of Vail, which was alive with summer activities and tourists. Solo waited patiently at our feet while we had a lovely lunch next to a babbling brook. He was later rewarded with a swim. As we watched in horror, he got caught in the rapids, went down a little waterfall, fought the current and found his way back to us on the  river bank.  Whew! Bill took the helm of the Odyssey on the narrow, curvy and steep road through White River National Forest. It was a  beautiful ride. We explored various sites for which to set up base camp for several nights, but quickly knew we were out of our league with the rugged challenges (no water available) and waayyy scary remote locations. Jeff and Leslie, long time friends from NYC, insisted that we stay at their home in Vail, so we decided to take them up on their generous offer, albeit a little too late to arrange for the night.  Unable to immediately reach Leslie, we went back the the Best Western in Eagle, and then later firmed up a plan to meet for breakfast. We heart Colorado, though the teens think it's "red neck" country.