Gerald and Betty Ford's Vail
Near Vail, Colorado
For a stretch of the nineteen seventies, this small ski town was a second seat of American power. Gerald Ford first came to Vail years before his presidency, fell in love with the valley and the skiing, and bought a home here. When he became President of the United States in nineteen seventy four, he kept coming back, especially over the holidays.
He skied so openly and so often that the White House press corps started calling Vail the Western White House. Cameras filmed the President tumbling in the snow, and the images made Vail famous around the world. His wife, Betty Ford, became just as beloved, admired for her honesty about her own struggles and her later work on addiction and women's health.
After leaving the White House, the Fords remained deeply tied to the valley, later building a home in nearby Beaver Creek and spending months here every year. He died on the twenty sixth of December, two thousand six, at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, in the very Christmas season he had always loved to spend in these mountains.
