I learned a long time ago that the quality of a New Year's celebration is not determined by the popularity of the party, or how much you spend on the accommodations, or how exotic the location.  New Year's is all about getting together with friends, reflecting on the good times that you have had with your friends over the past year, and looking ahead to new fun times to spend with the same friends in the year to come.   It seems a bit repetitive, but trust me it is a formula that works. 

Cecilia and I had spent the previous New Year's together hiking on a lesser-known Inca trail in Bolivia.  It sounds exotic, but trust me it was not.  It was just the two of us, and we spent actual New Year's camping in a small swampy spot alongside the trail - it had been the only opening in the lush tropical terrain that we had found for several miles, and we even had to hike back to it after previously refusing the thought that it was really the best thing available.  We had not even stayed awake for midnight, but had passed out many hours earlier after a tough day on the trail.  It seems like a poor choice of celebration, but honestly it is one that I still can remember clearly today, while many other great New Year's parties have faded into one lumped memory.   In 2005 Cecilia and I decided to separate for the holidays - we had done several great trips together that year, including a two-week bike trip in November, so it was not that tortuous to be apart for the holidays.  Cecilia had went  with her mother on a wonderful kayaking trip in Belize, and I went to Arizona to spend time with my parents then to Colorado to ski/snowboard with my Houston buddies for New Year's. 

We had rented a small condo in Vail which I would definitely consider an exotic location, and indeed we paid the price in terms of lodging and lift tickets.  It was Scott, Steve, Vic, and I from Houston, plus Andy who now lived in Iowa, plus Scott and Andy's original Iowa buddies Rob, Heronimus, plus Heronimus' girlfriend-at-the-time Kelly, plus two of their friends from Denver.  We spent the first several days skiing and snowboarding, the resort had received a huge dump of snow just before our arrival and we were rewarded with even more snow during the days that we were there.  During a trip like this there is no better Christmas present  than fresh powder.  Vic and Scott spent their days learning how to snowboard, and I spent my time trying to keep up with Heronimus and Andy.  It was no easy task, but the great snow made everything ten times easier.   A few images from the slopes: