So who did that? Who did that song for her? It wasn't me. She didn't ask me to do the title song. I mean, I don't know any other host who has their own name in a song like that. I mean I knew a woman named Amy, and she did pure prairie leagues Amy, but that doesn't count. This is a first and last name intro song. I have no idea. Hey, I'm John Caldera. As you know by hearing my friend Jimmy before me, it's Christmas time. What
does that mean for you? Sadly, nothing but b listers. Yep, Mandy's off enjoying her holiday and you're stuck with me. I see this as my opportunity to really scare away her audience. I judge my own success by other people's failures, and it's worked really well so far. All right, the number here three or three seven, one, three, eighty five, eighty five. I enjoy having conversations with you, so don't don't be bashful about calling in. I really enjoy that
back and forth conversation. And of course, a you know, well prepared talk show host has guests and topics and plans every every moment. Yeah, that's not gonna happen here, so give me a call, help me out. Three O three seven one three eight two five five. I hope
your Christmas was spectacular. I hate Christmas. Nothing personal. It's just that the older you get, the more Christmas is about obligation than it is about, you know, relaxing and having a good time, because there's just so much to get done and people want you here, people want you there, and that's that's good. It's great, it's terrific. But it's not like, oh, I don't know, Halloween or or New Year's or anything else. There's just not the same obligations
to go here, go there. And you know what I'm talking about. It's a tiring, stressful time of life. It's a time of the year that, you know, depending on where you are as parent, child, spouse, friends, you're hauling yourself to some other part of the country to do something, or you're having people over for dinner you don't really want to see, or you have to go over to dinner to people you don't want to see. All this
other good stuff. But there's one thing that makes Christmas all worthwhile, and it's kids who still get visited by Santa Claus. Now, I've known people who who never had Santa Claus. I don't know why anyone would deny a child Santa Claus, because Santa Claus is the coolest thing. I mean, here's a guy who who commits a crime, breaking and entering, steals some baked goods, but leaves more stuff than he goes in with. So is it really a theft. No, but it's still breaking an entering, it's
still trespassed. And we love it. We just love it. And when you have kids that still have Santa Claus, you live vicariously from them. You remember what it was like when you were a little one, and Santa Claus was as real as the sunshine, and it was so wonderfully magical. It's a shame that that adults tend to lose that magic. And so you know what it's like that first year your kid no longer gets visited by
Santa Claus. That heartbreak you feel because that period, that period of Santa Claus magic really doesn't last all that long. You know, in the first few years of life they don't quite get it, and then they get it, and then they lose it. Sooner and sooner, it seems and for you parents who are in that situation, all I can say is, suckers. If only you planned a little better, you could have a child like mine, who, at the
age of twenty, still has Santa Claus. You've heard me talk many times about my son Chance, who has Down syndrome, and there are lots of challenges, there's lots of complications, there's lots of expenses, but there are these occasional wonderful aspects when your child has Down syndrome. My son at twenty has Santa Claus just like any six year old, and it is friggin' awesome, absolutely spectacularly awesome. And the traditions, the traditions just keep keep going. So we have this
really weird tradition. I have no idea how it has happened, but it's what it does. So I have to go over to my ex wife's house. Good thing, we're still very very close friends, and my son and I have to do all the stuff for Santa to get ready, you know, So we've got to we gotta put out cookies, we've got to put out the milk, we gotta find something for the reindeer to eat, which sometimes you know,
has to be a Scotch. I mean, there's just there's If there's no vegetables around, you know, things get tough. And then and this is really cool, Santa gives my son a phone call yep, gives him a phone call and lets him know if if he's made it to the naughty or nice list, you know, And sadly this year was the naughty list, so he got nothing. No, I'm just joking. He wasn't on the nice list. He was on the great list, he said. And then we
have to go up to the gate. That's Trew and he and I have to sleep in the same bed waiting for Santa Claus.
And the excitement is is palpable. All I want to do is sleep, And all this twenty year old man wants to do is ask me about every twenty minutes where Santa?
Where Santa? Where Santa? So every time I'm drifted off elbow, Santa Where Santa. I mean, he's so excited, it's wonderful. So I think it was last year out this year. Last year. I'm I'm there laying in bed with my adult son, two grown men in their underwear sharing a bed.
I'm laying there going why am I doing this, and I see him rustle, and I I keep my eyes mostly close, but just enough so I could see, and he quietly sneaks out of his side of the bed, and then on all fours he quietly, very quietly crawls along the floor so that I can't see it, and then out of nowhere, his hand pops up as he slowly quietly turns the door knob to open the door,
and he sneaks out of the room. Why because he needed to see if Santa came, sneaks downstairs, does a does a quick survey, and then climbs back into the room, quietly closing the door on all fours, climbs around the other side of the bed, rolls into bed so as not to wake me and get caught. And then he's
there with a big smile on his face. Now I know that you might have an adult child, maybe twenty years old as well, eighteen twenty, Yeah, and they're out crashing your car and using your credit cards and making bad decisions on who to date mine. What's his naughtiness sneaking out of the bedroom to go see if Santa Claus came. And that's how you do Christmas Now, don't blame me that you don't have this experience. You made the bad decision not to have a kid with Down syndrome.
Don't hold me responsible for your bad life choices. There you have it. So Santa Claus rocks. Santa Claus just rocks. Were you raised without Santa? Were you raised in one of those as you just couldn't have Santa. I've known some people have done that, partly because they just couldn't. I want to be careful depending on the age group listening in. Some who just couldn't make a falsehood about Santa.
And then there's some who believe that. Wait a second, if my house has Santa, when when the kids outgrow it, they'll say, look, I believed in this thing, this great force that knew all saw all saw you when you were sleeping. He knows when I'm awake, and he judges me. Hmm. That awfully sounds like you know God. So so if he has Santa Claus and then later loses Santa Claus, then will he not be able to have faith in Lord Almighty? Because you know there's a there's a thing there. Now.
The opposite argument is, I think better, which is this Santa Claus teaches kids how to believe in things they don't see. It is the practice for faith. It it's a magic that kids have that there are things out there you just can't see, you just can't prove, but they're real. Maybe Love is one of them, maybe God is one of them. But it's training wheels for that. All right, throw that out? Where were you on this? Three or three seven, one, three eight five eight five
seven one three eighty five eighty five? And your kids have any of those you know, school age friends who spread lies about Sannah? Yeah, Timmy says Sannah doesn't exist. How do you deal with those falsehoods? Those those those lies that other kids tell long before you're ready to have a good discussion about Santa. And finally, just how manipulative are your kids? So, my wonderfully manipulative daughter, let's
see how to put it. Let me believe she had Santa a lot longer than she had Santa because she wanted the stuff. How can you not appreciate that My numbers three oh three, seven one, three eighty five eighty five seven one three eight five eighty five. I hope Santa was good for you and good for your kids. I just love I just love I love Santa, I love kids. Everything else at Christmas, eh, I could I
could do without. I could do without. Oh, and are you Christmas presents on New Year or on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Morning? I've gotta tell you there's a right answer to this, and the right answer is presence on Christmas morning. That's that's non negotiable. Santa Clomb comes Christmas Eve when you are asleep, and only when you're asleep. He sees you when you're sleeping, which is a little creepy, but he sees when you're sleeping, and therefore you've got
to prolong the agony of waiting till the morning. Maybe you have forgotten just how angst ridden that evening is. When you're trying to go to sleep. You're so excited, you can't get to sleep. You want to hear noise. Is you just you go nuts and until you pass out. You don't want to give up that experience. Are any of you truly presents on Christmas evers? There is? There are a few things that will happen when when I become King and ruler. One the designating designated hitter rule
will be no longer. Two, I'm not going to outlaw oatmeal raisin cookies. I'm very tolerant, but I will require that they have some sort of Hunter safety orange food dye put in them so that when you see them from across the room, you don't get all excited thinking that you're going to go grab a chocolate chip cookie until you put it in your mouth and you find out it's some disgusting oatmeal raisin thing. And Three, of course I will ban Christmas presence on Christmas Eve. They
have to be Christmas Morning, absolutely have to be. Oh. Also, I'm going to ban Christmas music until two days before Christmas. Can I get an amen on that? One? Three or three? Seven, one, three, eight, five, eight five seven, one, three, eighty five eighty five. Saw a piece in the Denver Gazette today. Let's see if I can pull this one up. Where did you go? Where did you go? And it has to do with with one of the great recreations of Colorado skiing. Do
you remember skiing? I remember skiing. I don't. I don't ski anymore because it's too much of a hassle. It's almost the same reason I don't like to go to Bronco games anymore. It's just too much cost, too much hassle, and it's just it's just not worth it. Well, I found this this little article here. Lift tickets at three ski resorts break. This is incredible to me. Three hundred dollars,
three hundred bucks. The holiday weekend between Christmas and New Year's Eve upcoming, three resorts in Colorado have single day lift tickets breaking the three hundred dollars level tickets at Veil Mountain three hundred and twenty nine dollars when bought same day, really, Beaver Creek, same thing, Steamboat Ski Resort three hundred and twenty nine dollars. Oh, but don't don't worry. That's only the weekend single day left ticket. If if you'd buy it in advance, it's only three hundred and
nine dollars. Are you kidding me? How much are you willing to pay to go skiing? That's that's insane. Breckinridge is now two hundred and ninety nine dollars, Aspend two hundred and sixty four dollars, Keystone two hundred ninety two dollars, Winter Park two hundred and fifty nine, Copper Mountain two hundred and sixty four.
This is.
This is ridiculous, and this one is the one that drives me nuts. El Dora one hundred and seventy nine dollars. Now, for those of you who've never skied El Dora, how to put it? It's a beginner's ski resort. It's in the beautiful town in Nederland, and you you go there because it's a new backyard, save the time. What was there? What was their motto? For a while? Think globally, ski locally? Great idea. Not to give my age, but I remember when you could go up there and ski for twenty bucks.
How does anybody afford this anymore? Does anybody out there ski anymore? Is it just a rich man sport? Is it going to be like Polo?
Oh?
Yes, yes, we jetted into Veil for our ski vacation. Jeoffrey and I just such a wonderful time with the kids at our second home. Give me a call. Three oh three, seven to one, three eight five eight five. I'm John Caldera in for Mandy. Keep it right here. You're on KOA one of the few songs pop songs that has a seven to eight beat, not a four to four beat. Just just so you know. On two three four, five, six seven one two three four. There
you go. I'm John Caldera. Give me a call three oh three seven to one, three eight five eight five. Do you plan on going skiing soon? Well, if you are, I'd like you to be my friend because you're wealthy. Three different ski resorts in Colorado are now charging over three hundred dollars for a lift ticket. I mean, for those of us who grew up in Colorado. And I know I'm sounding like a grumpy old guy. I remember when a candy bar wers are penny and a good
hooker worth five dollars. Yeah, I remember that, But still three hundred and twenty nine dollars to go skiing. I would rather have the three hundred and twenty nine dollars and not deal with the traffic, not deal with the crowds, not deal with the cold, not deal with any of it, cause I'm a grumpy old man. Now do you feel the same way? How much are you willing to pay to go skiing? I mean, Colorado has arguably the best
skiing on the planet. People come from around the world to our backyard to drop their money, which is wonderful. And fine and spectacular, But why in the world, how could any normal person enjoy this? It's the same thing with professional sports. Going to a Broncos game is so expensive. It's like we're going to have this bifurcated system of recreation for people with money and then something else. The other people just go sledding. How much are you willing
to pay to go skiing? Three or three? Seven? One, three, eight, two five five? So vail Beaver Creek Steamboat now over three hundred dollars for a single day lift ticket Breckenridge to ninety nine. Oh, but I love this. It's two hundred and eighty four in advance, so you can save yourself a whopping thirteen bucks by by doing it the day before. Has your income grown at the same rate of ski passes? So it looks like according to the work that Dedver Gazette did, Wolf Creek at one hundred
and three dollars is the best one. That's it the best one. Oh, here we go, Here we go the state. The state's cheapest ski area open this weekend is Chapman Hill Ski Area in Durango. It has two count them one two toe ropes and five hundred vertical feet of groomed terrain day tickets going for sixteen bucks. That's where you go. Let's go to the phone owns seven, one, three eighty five. Tom, Welcome here with John Caldera.
Yeah, hey, John, I think that's cheaper than I was gonna say. Katara mount To State Park which used to be a guitar ski resort down in Katara by Libeda's forty dollars and they run, they run, they run a showcat with a coach trailer. If it's actually a non profit hill.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, where is this I've never.
Heard of it. Katara, Yeah, Guitara Mountain.
Yeah.
Oh seriously, do you know I don't mean this sarcastically? Do you know? Libida?
Yeah? Uh so.
So on the way to Ala, the way to Ala Mosa, there's a turn off to a town called Lobta and thirteen to fifteen miles south west is uh a little town at Katara which used to be a ski resort, and it's called a Guitar Mountain Park, a nonprofit. The idea behind it is not only make affordable skiing, but to bring back an economy to the UH, to the westerno area, which is really uh uh, which we're pouring poor economy down there, and.
It's a poor now that so many Californians are moving into Warf Andoak County, it's getting harder and harder to live there. Wharf and No, by the way, is just one of the most beautiful places in the state, in a state that has nothing but beautiful places.
So yeah, let me see.
I'm let me see if I'm following you here, Tom So. I go to this ski resort and basically I get towed up the hill behind.
A truck, behind a SnowCat on a on a trailer with bus seats.
Trail hotalist bus seats. So I actually a snow cat is basically a truck that has no tires.
But okay, sair enough.
Yeah, but so that's that's what brings me up there.
Yeah.
Is that sad or is it cool?
It's it's actually cool because we're talking to old school, right, you know, back in the I think just, uh, this makes a t boar look sad. You know, you don't have to hold on to anything. All you gotta do is sit down and enjoy the ride.
How wild. I had no idea that sounds like such a kick and so how much does this cost?
Was thirty five, but they weren't have five dollars to forty.
So is it is it a decent ski resort? I mean El Dora is a pretty decent beginner ski resort.
I would say, I would say, you gotta go for an enjoyment. It's not that said. There's a lot of terrain there.
So so in other words, if you were trying to convince me to go on a blind date with this girl, you would say she's got a great personality. Is that what I'm hearing?
Yeah, yeah, it's yeah, she has a great personality. There's a lot of backcountry access down there, which which opens up the terrain. But for for somebody just looking to have some fun and affordable rate, it's a lot of fun. You can. I think what's fun about it is it's it's only like three hundred feet a vertical, but you can, you can, you can. You can add it up really quick by you beat the you beat the the sled down. So you know, a couple of hit some runs whatever.
Run there's the run, no run, now there's not I want to sie.
Uh four four.
Trails and you hit the trails and and then you jump back up, jump back on the sled and go back up.
And how long how long does it take for the truck to haul you back up?
It takes about ten minutes. I say, it's about ten minutes up and it takes another ten minutes to get down. So you're already down there waiting to go back up.
And do they have just one one SnowCat.
One show cat for tugging or pulling out?
Oh?
How fun? How fun? All right? In the name of it again?
Good Chara? So c h u R.
I forgot how something down in war Fine County.
Yeah, catrona mountain park if they look it up on the web or if you have you know when you're when you're a little slower. Were Honestly, it's a lot of fun. It's a lot.
Hey, thanks for sharing that. Tom. All right three three seven one three eighty five eighty five. Ron, welcome, Ron. You're with John Caldero.
Thanks.
Jen Uh. I'm old too. I don't know how old you are.
But physically i'm sixty years old. Mentally I'm I'm well into my late nineties.
Yeah, well I'm old and you are, but I could have got a lifetime not a one day a lifetime they key passed for three hundred and fifty dollars.
Nah. Yeah, that's that's like I could have bought applestock at a buck fifty.
When was this sixties, middle sixties. That's right after they opened. Right after they opened, My uh uncle bought a condo there right on the slopes per fifty thousand dollars. He sold it for over a million.
All right, So let me let's see if I can pull up the old computer.
Is slow, of course, I don't know when vail started, but it was either the second or third year, I think, but it was I think it was. It was expensive, just either I think it was five bucks.
Oh, you think about you think about the guys who who came up with vail and decided it was it was the thing to do. All right, So let's say that was nineteen what sixty five? Yeah, nineteen sixty two?
Yeah, and how much was probably three?
All right, sixty three? How how much was the ticket the.
Lifetime I think of the lifetime three hundred and fifty bucks, three hundred.
And fifty bucks, all right. According to according to the inflation calculator, that same three hundred and fifty dollars. Cost would be about thirty six hundred dollars. So the question is, would you now today buy a lifetime bail pass for three thousand, six hundred.
Of course I was a teenager then, so I didn't have the money, right of course, But I wouldn't do it now any because I'm not a big skier.
What would you recommend it?
Three hundred and.
Some dollars a day? That's only what, h oh, thirty six thousand?
You said, thirty six one hundred thirty six hundred. So if you buy, that's only ten days, yeah, ten or twelve days skiing?
Yeah?
Yeah, yeah, So obviously that would be it wouldn't sell it.
They wouldn't sell it to you.
Do you think if you bought it it would still be good?
It's you know, it was a lifetime pass. I mean, I'm sure it was non transferable.
Wow, i'd have.
To I mean, I'm almost eighty years old. I'd have to be just skiing myself.
But oh, we used to.
Go to winter park.
That sounds great.
Winter park for two bucks?
All right, now I'm getting angry. I got to run to a break. Thanks so much, all right? Three or three seven one three eighty five eighty five. I'm John Caldera. Keep it here during k away, we got nine minutes to the top. I'm John Caldera. A lifetime pass to Veil. Our last caller said he had an opportunity in the sixties to buy a lifetime ski pass to Veil for three hundred and fifty bucks. Of course, when you're young, you how to put it, ain't got no money, and
so three hundred and fifty bucks was untouchable. Put that into the inflation adjusted way, you're talking about thirty six hundred dollars, three thousand, six hundred dollars. Would you a lifetime fail pass for thirty six hundred bucks? And the answer is duh yeah. I mean you'd only have to go twelve times for it to pay for itself. Even if you got a yearly passed, it would take a couple of years and then you'd have it, depending upon
your age. Of course, why do they do these things, Well, bail apparently just started back then, and they need the money up front. This is what's so fascinating about that. But then then once they get the money upfront, do things get changed? Case in point, I remember the million years ago I got a TiVo. Do you remember TiVo? Stevo? The Tvo it was kind of the first popular digital recorder for television. You could program in what shows you wanted to see and it would record it. You could
freeze live television and go back and watch something. It's really pretty crazy. I think it had like a twenty megabyte hard drive in it didn't hold that much. But you could either pay you know, ten dollars a month or whatever, five dollars a month, or buy the lifetime membership for three hundred and whatever dollars. Of course, I bought the lifetime membership because I can do math, except what a ripoff it was because they changed the technology.
So while you could you could still get your Tvo, supposedly, you couldn't watch anything on it because the technology changed, so you had to buy something else. It's kind of like the old gym memberships. We'll let you buy a lifetime gym membership. Now you need to understand that's the lifetime of the gym, not of your lifetime, because a lot of those gyms no longer exist, but they need the money up front. I'm sure TiVo at that time was expanding and expanding and needed lots of lots of money.
What's a great way to get cash. It's kind of like an ipo. You just sell lifetime memberships, all right? How much would you be willing to pay for a lifetime membership to any resort? It's kind of like time shares. At some point, your brain chemistry gets a hit at dopamine and it says, this is gonna save me money. I'm gonna do this, and I'm gonna love it. Of course, four years later, the depression hits and you're like, how
do I get rid of this time share? What was your biggest regret not purchasing if if you had to, if you had to go back in time, if you had the ability to go back in time. What is the thing you could have bought that you didn't. Was it that house you could have gotten for cheap? Was it the stock you could have gotten for cheap? Was it the collectible you had in your hand and went, nah, I don't think I really need it? And now you're like, why didn't I three h three seven one three eight
five eighty five John Caldera, keep it right here. You're on ko