Training Day - Part #2: A Lesson in Colorado Towns

House-Keeping:

Straight after breakfast it's time to start on house-keeping; although check-out isn't till 11am, many people leave early to head to the slopes one last time, or get a move on the road, which is good for us because the sooner we start cleaning the sooner we're done. After house-keeping we get the rest of the day off until prepping starts for happy hour at about 4:30pm.

Click pictures for larger view

There are eight guest rooms in total (plus the owner's room and our room), so it's a pretty big place, bigger than your usual B&B, although it doesn't feel that big. The stairs are a little troublesome - there are three levels in this house. The first room we started on was Breckenridge, on the top floor at the end. All the rooms are named after towns in Colorado. At first I thought they were named after ski towns in Colorado, but a little more research into these place names and I found it wasn't quite so.

A little trivia for you - and us, so we remember, because we need to know which room is which:

• ASPEN: This room is the most luxurious, it's actually a suite on the first floor at the front of the house. That is why they named it Aspen - after the up-scale ski town. It's also the first letter of the alphabet and the first room in the house.  It has a king four poster bed in a big room with a bay window and a big bathroom with a huge spa tub as well as walk-in shower - making it handicap accessible. There's also a closet and another little room connecting the bathroom to the bedroom in which there is a desk. I love the chaise lounge (right) in the bedroom (which is not in the professional photo below).

• BLACKHAWK: is the next room, located at the top of the stairs on the first floor (second floor if you're American - so confusing! I just call it the middle floor instead), and this town is not a ski resort. But as I mentioned in an earlier post, this is one of the early places where gold was discovered back in the day. Being the second room, it also starts with the second letter of the alphabet. It has a fire place, a double bed, and a single bed too. Most of the rooms have the basin separated from the bathroom, and in this room the basin is located in the alcove containing the closet area. The town Black Hawk is located near Central City - and so are the rooms of the same name.

The professional photo above, and mine, right.

• CENTRAL CITY: was so named for three reasons: it starts with C, it is close to Black Hawk, and it is the middle room on this floor. Remember it was the city with the nickname "the golden mile" for all the gold being extracted there (no ski resort either). It has a fireplace like Blackhawk, and while it's not very roomy I think it's really cute. The closet space is located by the door, and so is the bathroom as you can see in the professional photos below.

• DURANGO: is located at the end of the hall and quite spacious but doesn't have a fireplace. It's not one of my favourite rooms but it's pretty popular with guests (Chase thinks it's because it is the least Victorian-looking of the rooms!). Durango itself is not a ski town either but there are a few ski resorts in its vicinity. One in particular, is quite popular, but when you know the name of the resort you'll understand why they didn't name this room after it:

          Purgatory.

Professional shot above, and mine with the new bedspread looking to the bathroom

All of these rooms on the middle floor are located on the back side of the house and have back entrances like our room (which is located on the other side of Blackhawk) with a little patio, which is a nice touch and also allows the guests in these rooms a private entrance. Besides our room on this floor, the owners, Greg and Laura's room is located above Aspen. Though it's not for guests it also has a name: Vail, and has the same layout as Aspen.

• TELLURIDE: Now we go up to the next floor, the top floor, and this is the first room on this level. Now the alphabet theory deviates to no specific order, but Telluride is a ski town, and though upscale this room is not a King room, or particularly more special than any other rooms. It does have a cute little alcove with a single bed though, and the bathroom is one of the biggest.

Both my photos, the professional ones don't do it justice

• KEYSTONE: this is another ski town, and in fact, all the room-names on this floor are taken from ski towns. I hadn't heard of this place before, and that's probably because it was founded solely as a ski-resort in the 1970s near Breckenridge. It has two queen beds and is priced as a King room. It is located in the far back corner of the house and is a very big room. It also has a bathroom like Telluride and also has a connecting door with Telluride. (Photos taken by me).

• BRECKENRIDGE: is a cute end-room with a gabled roof with a big window centred between it. It has a large closet with sliding doors, and a cute love-seat that folds out into a single bed with matching ottoman. It is just the right size, with a generous 2-room suite bathroom area. This is another of my favourite rooms, but I don't know whether this has anything to do with the fact that it was the first room we cleaned (My photo, left, professional photo, right).

• STEAMBOAT: is the last room and is another king room. It is named after Steamboat Springs, the town and ski resort, which is nicknamed "Ski Town USA" for producing more Winter Olympians than any other town in North America. Steamboat is also where the first ski-jump was demonstrated. It is located above Aspen and Vail at the front of the house, though its layout is very different and while a King room, its namesake is not particularly luxe. The bedroom is large and really nice, with recessed window facing out over the Divide, but the bathroom is a little cramped, laid out long and narrow into the roof. Nevertheless, it's another of my favourite rooms.

All rooms have huge flatscreen TVs and their own bathrooms. We also supply robes, lotion & shampoos, and bottles of water with glasses on a tray. There's a lot to remember when cleaning the rooms but it's not really hard work. Though who knew I'd be cleaning for a living (I'm not really much of a housewife!) but then give me money and a nice location and see what you can get!

We also provide a daily made service, in which we "fluff" the rooms of guests. This one we still have trouble remembering to do, but I get satisfaction in tidying up the room for guests and picturing what they'll see when they first walk back in the room after they've twisted up all the covers and trashed the room and seeing it all neat and tidy and the bed looking inviting with the covers turned down. What's more, an unforeseen benefit I hadn't realised - tips! They don't always tip, but when they do its very exciting, and the usual amount is $20!