Day 42: Vail, CO

After a week's delay while her pet turtles recovered
from a nasty case of some kind of fungus,
I finally got the green light to visit with
Sammantha Diep and Chisolm Woodson
at Chateau Woodson, their retreat in Vail, CO.

About 2 hours west of Denver, at an elevation
of almost double that of the Mile High City,
Vail is one of the foremost ski resorts in the USA.
And at that elevation, it is difficult for
flatlanders like me to breathe.
But I did ok.

As soon as I arrived, I was shown quickly around,
put my bags in my room,
and was instantly engaged in some 9-ball with Chisolm.
He ran the first rack outright after I missed on the break.
Then he ran the next rack, and I was two down
having lifted my cue only once.
This dude is one excellent player.
The walls of his pool room are lined with trophies,
and there are many more propped up on the floor
because he just hasn't got around to hanging them up.
And they are all from 2004/5/6, so he has been BUSY!

Back to the game...
The table is absolutely the finest Diamond table
I have ever played on.
Covered in Simonis 760 (yeah, SEVEN sixty!)
it is faster than anything in my experience.
You can draw the ball almost with thought alone!
And the cushions are very lively.
Flat, level, and great lighting make this
a true pleasure to play on.

After the first two games, Chisolm showed
signs of being human, and I won the next several,
and then we started trading back and forth.
We weren't keeping score but we agreed that
we were about even, so I can feel good about that.

We took a break for dinner, and I insisted my treat.
The took me to what must surely be the finest place
in all of Vail ("Terra"), because the food was spectacular.
Best meal I've had on the road so far.
We were all stuffed, but went back to the retreat
and Samm and I played some 8/9-ball in the
US Amateur format until about 3AM, and that was
all I could take so I called it quits after
winning two sets, 7-4 and 7-3.
Samm said I was shooting pretty good, and
I do remember making some nice shots,
but I think I got lucky a couple of times too.

As tired as I was, I had difficulty getting to sleep
because of the elevation and thin air,
but probably conked out at around 4AM.

We will be playing a lot more.