Scott and Melody: Teva Mountain Games

In the middle of the week last week we found out that we were going to be headed to Vail CO for the weekend! Scott's company, Goal Zero has a couple of booths at the Teva Mountain Games and so we headed out there to help man the booths. Well, Scott helped man one of the booths and Abby and I walked around sporting our Goal Zero shirts to help represent the company.

We were supposed to leave around noon on Friday but Scott got stuck at work doing paperwork, which kept us from leaving to go do the trip for the same job. Ironic, huh? I was a little nervous about the six and a half hour trip in the car with an eighteen month old. The ride there was not the smoothest experience but it could have been much worse. Anyone who has heard her scream can understand just how much worse it could have been.
We managed to arrive just before one in the morning and discovered we were staying at the Marriott(the company paid for the hotel). Nothing like pulling up to a full service hotel and having a valet and bellboy hovering around the car that Abby has trashed, waiting the unload our car. I had planned on staying someplace like Holiday Inn or Motel Eight. So, I brought a cooler of food and a box of snacks and a box of paper products, etc... that's a little awkward to try and load onto a hotel cart! You would think a full service hotel would have continental breakfast and free wi-fi. But, no. Breakfast is served in a restaurant and costs about $20 and wi-fi is $10.48 A DAY! You would think you would get more perks at a nicer place right? Just shows what I know...
Even with all that, we had a great time over the weekend. Vail has a free bus system that picked us up at the hotel and dropped us off at the Games which was great, no parking worried. It was great to see what products are new in the outdoors world. We caught a glimpse of a few of the competitions going on which expanded my view of outdoor activities. Who knew you could take a stand up paddleboard down the river?

Hanging out behind the goal zero booth in adventure town. And yes, that is one of Scott's co-workers in the background...

Company pizza party Saturday night

Vail was definitely child friendly in some ways. They had this great splash/wading fountain for kids. Abby is definitely a water child, she was in heaven splashing and trying to keep up with the older kids running around. Trying to coax her out of the water didn't work and as we carried her away her screams echoed across the area, you would have thought we were kidnapping her.