April didn’t waste any time getting me back on the road, and April 2nd found me returning back to The Silvertree in Snowmass, CO, which had been the host hotel for the annual StayAspenSnowmass area tourism meeting where I’d given the keynote address last November. When I met John Quigley (VP of Sales and Marketing) that day he’d mentioned they were looking for training in my topic areas, and after working with Linda Sonsini, their reservations manager, plans were finalized for me to come back out for a private, on-premise training. Ironically, this same hotel had been our first HSA client in Snowmass, although we’d not worked with them for several years even before I left.
I’d always heard that this was a great hotel for families, and as soon as I checked-in I could see why. Can you imagine how tempting it was for me to be here on business and to look out my window at this view?
Instead I found myself chained to e-mail and other tasks since I was planning to take a long Easter weekend with Cathy and the kids. But I do have to admit to having my mind wander and think about how nice it would be to bring my own family to this exact spot next year at this time, and to see Adam & Julia skiing down the bunny hills. It also wasn’t too hard to picture Cathy and I in this very same tub with Coors Light cans in our hands as the people out my window had.
It turned out to be an especially interesting time to be at this hotel, as The Silvertree was hosting a very special group – the Disabled Veterans Winter Games. Apparently this long-standing event is dedicated to providing all types of competitive and experiential outdoor activities, attracting over 1,500 attendees when you count the Vets, their families, and the organizers and assistants/attendants. What a fun group to mingle with! I have to say one of the most positive social experiences I’ve had in a long time as a hotel guest, and nobody seemed to care that the elevators ran a little slow on this day. It also brought a huge dose of reality in that a high percentage of the participants are younger vet’s of Iraq and Afghanistan. The highlight for me was seeing the incredible and heroic determination of these men and women, each of which somehow managed to work around whatever challenge had been hurled their way. It gave me pause to be thankful for my own family’s health, and to also be thankful for the marvels of modern medical technology and its dedicated practitioners.
The next morning it was time to present our full day reservations sales workshop, and I again found myself amongst familiar faces as one agent had even been through my reservations workshops over a decade ago. I also had a chance to meet some of our industry’s brightest new superstars such as Erica, who I have to say wrote the best-ever “alluring” descriptions of The Silvertree during our workshop activity! I have to also ad that Linda, the aforementioned manager who was responsible for setting up my workshop arrangements, was one of the most organized and efficient clients I’ve had in a long time. Here’s a picture of me with my group that day. (Erica is at my immediate right and Linda is next to last on my right side.)
I’m now switching tenses and writing in the present tense. This entry is being made after my workshop and while I’m back again at my desk looking at the skiers, who are winding down for the day, and the hot tubers, who are just popping their first Coors Lights for Après Ski. Yet I’m not jealous as I know my own vacation time will be coming soon enough, not to mention that I am headed down to the pub to try out another great local microbrew and to meet some more interesting fellow guests from the DAV group.
My goal all along has been to update On The Road while I’m actually on the road, so we’ll see if I can manage to keep it up. Another goal is to add multi-media content to this blog, starting with audio recordings of my various workshops and conference presentations, the first of which will be published here soon..
