Over my kid's spring break during the first week of April, I decided to take the family on a skiing trip to Winter Park, Colorado. It was a breath taking site seeing the Rocky Mountains as the plane approached Denver. During the entire trip the scenery was very picturesque. We had snow almost every day and it created a great atmosphere for skiing and added to the beauty of the area. If you have never been to Colorado, try to find the Coors commercial where one of the Coors family member is talking about the freshness of the water used in Coors (or something like that). The area is simply beautiful.
But I digress...so we arrived at the town home we rented and in my excitement I grabbed one of our largest suitcases and ran up the stairs to tour the new temporary home (also very picturesque). That is when it first hit me. By the time I reached the top of the long staircase, I was out of breath and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest. I literally almost blacked out. I laid down on the couch (after I crawled there) and pondered my situation -- it felt like I was having a heart attack -- I think -- I never have had a heart attack so I'm not sure. Anyway, it was very unpleasant. Then it hit me...we landed in the mile high city and then drove 4,000 feet higher up the mountains. The oxygen was noticeably lacking.
It took several hours and a half dozen Advils to recover from my plight and I was lucky. My wife experienced it even worse. She took altitude sickness in full form...this included:
- Severe headaches
- Nausea
- Irritability
- Dehydration
In other words...it was a normal day...oops...did I say that out loud....
No, it was pretty rough for her and there is really not much you can do. They tell you to drink a lot of water, take Advils, and just simply deal with it. It literally took her three days to recover!
The kids luckily were not impacted and to them it confirmed that mom and dad are just getting old!
The trip went well otherwise...I have added a new sport to my hobby list...snow boarding! We went as high as 12,060 feet to the peak at Winter Park -- that was an awesome site. Let me put this in perspective, I, probably like most of you, live life around 500 feet above sea level or lower. Also, it occurred to me as stared down the mountain at 12,060 feet that this is nothing compared to Mt. Everest which stands over 29,000 feet. I looked up and tried to imagine something that was more then twice as high I was at that point...I couldn't imagine it...
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