My First Business Travel Adventures and Other Stuff Too...
So, my dears. My adventures are long and adventurous. Thinking back on them makes me giddy, in fact. However, due to the shear volume of letters, I will put the whole story
Wednesday afternoon I traveled to Salida, Colorado for a PR Retreat with all the comm folks from all of Colorado's 26 ski resorts. Awesome.
Salida is a small mountain town tucked away in the southern part of the state. Monarch Mountain Resort is right there, and it's a huge river community- rafting, kayaking, ect. Like lots of places here, it's a bunch of rednecks and mountain boys trying to survive living with one another.
So we get in, tour Monarch's offices, and decide to walk around downtown Salida. There are some super cute shops. Of course, I'm poor and couldn't afford a damn thing. It starts to rain so we head inside a... yup. You guessed it. A bar.
We started drinking at 3:30. Then we headed to a cocktail party to consume light appetizers and copious amounts of vodka. My boss heads out around 8:30. I slam one more dirty martini and rally my new best friends to hit the bars of Salida. Literally, I had just met them.
I boldly led the way to Benson's even though its whereabouts were a complete mystery to me. Shouts from behind were my only directions- that and the flashing red sign.
We drank and drank like little fish. Nick, the other Ski Country guy, drove a group of us back to the hotel. My new sister in crime, Meredith from Aspen, wasn't ready for bed yet either. So we ran across the street to see if the liquor store was still open. Thank GOD it wasn't. I proceeded to call my rafting friends in Buena Vista (about 15 minutes away) to see if they'd come party with us in Salida. Luckily, they were all too drunk to drive also.
Meredith and I ended up crashing, which was the best thing that could have possibly happened, besides not drinking 80 million martinis.
7 am came awful early. We had a 9 am meeting to prepare for. "Oh dear, this is going to hurt," was all I could think. The meeting went smoothly. I repressed the urge to vomit by some miraculous act of God. Then we went rafting.
It was freaking freezing (it had snowed the night before). All I wanted to do was take a nap when we were done. Unfortunately I had a dinner party to attend. I spruced myself up and headed back downtown.
The wine and delicious food flowed at The Laughing Ladies restaurant. One of the PR directors raved about how I needed to look into becoming a hand model. The PR director of Telluride told me that I was an amazing asset to CSCUSA. Boy, those communications folks sure do blow smoke up your ass.
Meredith and I were the last ones out again. I had only had two glasses of wine over the course of our four hour dinner. I drove us back to the hotel. Then we decided we really, really weren't ready for bed. Since I was sober this time, I drove us back into town. We took a couple shots and got the party re-started.
Why do guys love to be picked on by good-looking women? These dumbasses kept coming up to Meredith and I with terrible lines. Or, this one kid just stood there looking at us. And I'm sorry, but if you're a dumbass, I'm going to call you out on it. Also, my sarcastic side totally takes over when I'm intoxicated. By the end of the night we were recent college grads and Meredith was headed to med school at some ivy league school. They ate it up.
We found our way to a "dance club." We were the only two on the dance floor and two of three girls in the place. Awesome. We dictated the music, we got free drinks, we were thoroughly spoiled. THEN when the place was closing down, the owners invited us to stick around for after hours. More free beer, more music, and a ton of pot. No, I didn't smoke. I don't like weed. But it was ridiculous amounts of fun to be there. And they knew Kyle! What a small world.
We stayed out until 4:30. I was sober by then and drove us home. Man was I ready for bed.
My boss and I left the next morning at nine. We talked and talked on the way home. It was great to really get down to the nitty gritty with someone who's been in the biz for a while. It's even better to hear that she wants to teach me everything she knows and grow me into someone who can do her job. Awesome.
Needless to say, it was one hell of a trip. I freaking love my job and the people I get to interact with daily.
Pretty spoiled, folks. Pretty spoiled.
Wednesday afternoon I traveled to Salida, Colorado for a PR Retreat with all the comm folks from all of Colorado's 26 ski resorts. Awesome.
Salida is a small mountain town tucked away in the southern part of the state. Monarch Mountain Resort is right there, and it's a huge river community- rafting, kayaking, ect. Like lots of places here, it's a bunch of rednecks and mountain boys trying to survive living with one another.
So we get in, tour Monarch's offices, and decide to walk around downtown Salida. There are some super cute shops. Of course, I'm poor and couldn't afford a damn thing. It starts to rain so we head inside a... yup. You guessed it. A bar.
We started drinking at 3:30. Then we headed to a cocktail party to consume light appetizers and copious amounts of vodka. My boss heads out around 8:30. I slam one more dirty martini and rally my new best friends to hit the bars of Salida. Literally, I had just met them.
I boldly led the way to Benson's even though its whereabouts were a complete mystery to me. Shouts from behind were my only directions- that and the flashing red sign.
We drank and drank like little fish. Nick, the other Ski Country guy, drove a group of us back to the hotel. My new sister in crime, Meredith from Aspen, wasn't ready for bed yet either. So we ran across the street to see if the liquor store was still open. Thank GOD it wasn't. I proceeded to call my rafting friends in Buena Vista (about 15 minutes away) to see if they'd come party with us in Salida. Luckily, they were all too drunk to drive also.
Meredith and I ended up crashing, which was the best thing that could have possibly happened, besides not drinking 80 million martinis.
7 am came awful early. We had a 9 am meeting to prepare for. "Oh dear, this is going to hurt," was all I could think. The meeting went smoothly. I repressed the urge to vomit by some miraculous act of God. Then we went rafting.
It was freaking freezing (it had snowed the night before). All I wanted to do was take a nap when we were done. Unfortunately I had a dinner party to attend. I spruced myself up and headed back downtown.
The wine and delicious food flowed at The Laughing Ladies restaurant. One of the PR directors raved about how I needed to look into becoming a hand model. The PR director of Telluride told me that I was an amazing asset to CSCUSA. Boy, those communications folks sure do blow smoke up your ass.
Meredith and I were the last ones out again. I had only had two glasses of wine over the course of our four hour dinner. I drove us back to the hotel. Then we decided we really, really weren't ready for bed. Since I was sober this time, I drove us back into town. We took a couple shots and got the party re-started.
Why do guys love to be picked on by good-looking women? These dumbasses kept coming up to Meredith and I with terrible lines. Or, this one kid just stood there looking at us. And I'm sorry, but if you're a dumbass, I'm going to call you out on it. Also, my sarcastic side totally takes over when I'm intoxicated. By the end of the night we were recent college grads and Meredith was headed to med school at some ivy league school. They ate it up.
We found our way to a "dance club." We were the only two on the dance floor and two of three girls in the place. Awesome. We dictated the music, we got free drinks, we were thoroughly spoiled. THEN when the place was closing down, the owners invited us to stick around for after hours. More free beer, more music, and a ton of pot. No, I didn't smoke. I don't like weed. But it was ridiculous amounts of fun to be there. And they knew Kyle! What a small world.
We stayed out until 4:30. I was sober by then and drove us home. Man was I ready for bed.
My boss and I left the next morning at nine. We talked and talked on the way home. It was great to really get down to the nitty gritty with someone who's been in the biz for a while. It's even better to hear that she wants to teach me everything she knows and grow me into someone who can do her job. Awesome.
Needless to say, it was one hell of a trip. I freaking love my job and the people I get to interact with daily.
Pretty spoiled, folks. Pretty spoiled.