Day 2 - Lionshead, Vail Village, Gondola, Horseback riding - a full day!

We think the weather is changeable in NC and SC - but Vail beats both....it's really hard to plan day to day because so many activities depend on the weather.   We got up this AM to cool, sunny, lovely weather, had breakfast and headed over to buy Gondola tickets thinking we would go up in the AM while the weather was beautiful.  Since the girls wanted to do horseback riding on the mountain, we were told that the best deal was to do the 4:30 PM ride....so we bought the tickets,  and walked to Vail Village along Gore Creek, taking pictures as we went.

We split up in the Village and wandered through the streets,  stopping in shops and along the creek with plans to meet to go back to our timeshare for lunch and a rest before heading up Mountain.  The flowers in Vail are everywhere with vivid colors, in baskets, urns, along paths

 Had a lovely walk UNTIL the clouds suddenly blew in along with thunder and lightening.

Of course, this happened before our planned meeting.  After several phone calls and with rain beginning, Art went to get the car while we waited under shelter.  We called to cancel the late afternoon plans; no one was in a very good mood.  We ate lunch, watched the end of the World cup game, and, you guessed it...the sun came out; the clouds drifted away and we called to say we were coming to the Gondola (which had been closed during the afternoon due to the weather).

Had a fun ride up the mountains (except for leaving my UNC visor on the Gondola) and got to take pictures of the Back Bowl of Vail Mountain with some snow left on the distant mountains.  Note:  My visor had a car all to itself to ride back up the mountain and be retrieved . I was amazed that no one took it as a souvenir - maybe they were all Duke fans :).  

Jana and Sally went down to the stables to get their horses and we walked down a bit later to take more pictures of them on their mounts.

While they had their ride (which was fun), we sat on the patio, enjoying a Colorado micro- brew and the breathtaking scenery.  After the girls returned from their ride, we had dinner at Bistro 14, a casual restaurant with good food on the top of the mountain.  Soon after we finished dinner, the waitress said that we had to leave because of incoming 'bad weather' AGAIN.

 The clouds rolled back in and there was concern about possible lightening.  AND there was to be a wedding on the mountain top that evening.  As we rode down we passed cars coming up with the bride and her attendants....we  hope that the wedding came off OK.

We had wonderful Gelato in Lionshead village near the bottom of the Gondola ride; the rain started and we headed back to the car and our home away from home.   A good, day with a few frustrating moments.