Tree lighting and a bad memory card

We went up to the Montage Hotel to watch their Christmas tree lighting and eat their snacks.  But before we get to those photos, a side issue:

I took a number of photos with my Nikon D800 and had no issues at all.  I put the camera in my car and when I got home to pull the pictures off the Compact Flash card, it was corrupt and reported that it needed to be formatted.  I've never had a single problem with my memory cards before.  While this wasn't some big important photo shoot, I didn't want to lose my pictures.

What to do:

1. Do a "Quick Format" of the memory card so that the systems can see it again.  A low level Format will wipe everything out.
2. Download Recuva, a free disk recovery tool, from http://www.piriform.com/recuva.  It's made by the same company that makes Ccleaner, which most of my family uses.
3. Run it, letting it scan the card.  In my lucky case, it found every single photo, including ones from the last two or three shoots, all of which had been "deleted".

The lesson:  When you have a disk or memory card problem and you think you have lost files, they are probably still there for the taking.  Don't panic.  Don't keep trying to use the disk. Stop and Recuva the files!

Now on to the Montage....

The event starts out by one of the Montage's fire pits.  There were two cowboys leading the group in songs.  Our neighbor Hannah is the one in the black on the far right.

I think the main reason we go is the s'mores and the hot chocolate.  For those who have led a completely sheltered life and don't know what a s'more is, I was happy to find that they have their own Wikipedia page.  A hotel as high end as a Montage at a place as high end as Deer Valley isn't going to have normal s'mores and hot chocolate.  They have delicious flavored marshmallows, homemade whipped cream, and every form of candy and sprinkle you can imagine.

Clearly it made the right impression on Julie and Cathy.  We went to Cabo with Cathy and Chad a few weeks ago.  Unfortunately, Chad was on his way home from work and missed the sugar-based festivities.

You can really get the sense that this party is wide open and close to out of control!  I think next year they should have a bar open for mixing with the beverages.

Finally, the lights came on. Feeling the spirit of Christmas, we headed to Blind Dog for a drink and then the Silver Star Cafe for an INCREDIBLE dinner.

The Montage does this up really well and we know that it's mostly for the children.  Just the same, I am not sure I would bring kids there.  After s'mores, frosted sugar cookies (large), and hot cocoa filled with candy, the kids were running around at full speed and bouncing off  the walls.  I am sure they calmed down by midnight or so.