Snowshoe 2010

It's the moment you've all been waiting for--the report on our ski trip in February...
I am happy to report that we had no car troubles, no injuries, no pneumonia, and we made it safely through the blizzard on our drive home.
In addition to that, we had a great time!


Winter landscapes are so beautiful.

We skied for five days, and each day was a different skiing experience. Rainy and cool, Foggy and cool, clear and cold, and freezing cold blizzards. (Those are two cold noses on the right!)

Our best day of skiing was on Wednesday. At the beginning of the week I was still "warming up" and gaining confidence. It was foggy and sprinkling rain, and the snow wasn't the best. On Wednesday the conditions were really good. I was able to go back and conquer the black diamond that had gotten the best of me the day before (meaning I fell without injury--but still, I hate falls of any kind. I find it humiliating.)
[It may not look it, but this was a relatively steep black diamond I was so proud of skiing successfully.]

Although Brett pushed me to try some of the more difficult slopes, I still loved skiing some of the slower green slopes. Snowshoe has two trails that start at opposite ends of the mountain top and cross half-way down the mountain, ending at opposite ends at the bottom, essentially making an "x" as you look at the trail map. They are a little more narrow, and are often not too crowded. I find it so peaceful going down those trails when there are few skiers around.

Brett finds them boring, so we would often split up and meet at the bottom to go up one of the chair lifts together.

It worked out quite well that way. Sometimes we would ski a slope together, sometimes we would split up, but it was always nice being able to chat together on the lifts, enjoying each other's company.

We were on the slopes when they opened at 9:00 AM and were there when they closed at 4:30 PM, though we always came home for a lunch break. We also went night skiing a few times. We didn't make it the first night, because it was raining and after just one day of skiing we were already exhausted. (Advil was my friend that week!)

Like I said above, our best skiing was on Wednesday. On Thursday a storm started coming in, and the snow was a little more difficult to ski in. I was glad that we were able to get a few hours of skiing in on Friday before we left. It had snowed all night, and was still coming down in the morning. My calves felt bruised from all the skiing we had done. But Friday ended up being so much fun. The snow was so thick that you didn't pick up any speed. You couldn't see your skis as you went down, and often the snow was up to your knees.

It was the only time when falling wasn't humiliating. Instead, it was outright funny. We would be plowing through, come to a deep patch of snow, stop, and just fall over. [Funny for us, because we didn't attempt to ski the blue or black slopes that day. There were some who did sustain injuries from falls that day, which is never funny.] It was a perfect, easy day to end on.

There had been some snow on our balcony when we arrived, but by Friday morning it was covered.

Although we had a great day skiing on Friday morning, the conditions made us a little nervous on the ride home. A tractor trailer had jack-knifed on the road we were trying to get down on. It caused some delay, but were were able to make it down okay. There were a few times when we slid a bit, and I prayed hard more than once that we would be okay. When we finally made it through the worst of the weather and were safely in North Carolina I was able to offer a sincere prayer of gratitude for our safety. Skiing in the blizzard was fun for us--driving in the snow was not.

We spent many hours driving there and back. As usual, Brett and I were good travel buddies. We both agree that listening to NPR's Car Talk is a great way to pass the time. Click and Clack crack me up. I love their humor. I never thought I would enjoy listening to a public radio program about cars, but it's true. I love it.

I had hoped to spend a little time browsing the shops in the mountaintop village, but when we weren't skiing we were resting and warming up in the condo. So, instead of bringing home souvenirs for the boys (or anyone else), we filled our cooler up with snow and had a snowball fight with the boys in the driveway at home. So fun!

So, we made it safe and sound.

Thank you to all those who made this trip possible. I feel blessed that I am able to leave my children (and dog) at home under the loving care of my sister, sister-in-law, and for the most part with my in-laws. I never worried a moment about them, knowing that they were having a great time with their other family members having a vacation of their own.