Skiing #1

Because of the 2 hour time difference, I was up bright & early at 5am.  I took a nice, hot bath (our bathroom had no shower) and then went out to make coffee & breakfast.  Most of the other couples rolled out between 6 & 7 and most said it was too hot and they didn’t sleep very well.

It was our first ski day today, but I had a little trouble getting excited since it was 8 degrees F (wind chill below zero).  Besides being cold & windy, it was also gray & dreary out.  Not a fantastic start to our trip, but we decided to proceed as planned and make the best of it.  We got bundled up and walked across the street to the shuttle bus stop around 8am.

The shuttle bus was almost completely full and we were lucky to get a spot!  It was standing room only for the short ride to the Villiage, where we got off.  Michele & I had a private lesson from 9am – 12noon.  After getting our gear arranged and ski boots on, we went out to meet our instructor, who turned out to be an older gentleman named Roman.

After saying hello, we quickly headed out to the lifts to get started, but Roman slipped and fell just outside the lodge.  He lay on the ground for several minutes before getting up.  He later told us that he had dislocated his kneecap and put it back in place!  He said he felt well enough to continue, so we got on the lifts and headed up the mountain.

Maybe it was because Roman wasn’t feeling 100%, but we didn’t really enjoy the lesson very much.  He started way too basic (pizza) and went very slowly with too many long pauses on the hills.  It was SUPER cold out and there was too much standing around for me.  I was bored and found myself skiing ahead and waiting at the lift.  My fingers & toes were freezing and I found myself shivering uncontrollably on the chair lift rides.  I made a mental note to add another layer of clothing and use hand & toe warmers tomorrow.

After our lesson, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at Spencer’s and then met up with the Quiggle’s for a few more runs.  We skied for another couple hours and had a great time!

Finally, we were getting tired, so we decided to call it a day.  We checked our skiis, put our boots in a locker and caught the shuttle bus back to the house.  After being so cold all day, I couldn’t wait to take a nice warm bath.  I thought of going out to the hot tub, but it was not conveniently located –it would involve a long walk in the snow on the way there & back.  So, I decided to use our bathtub instead.

After getting cleaned up, I took a short nap and then we went out for an early dinner with the Quiggles around 5:30pm.  We ate at an Italian restaurant on Main St. and it was delicious!  It was a good thing we arrived early, because it was full and people were waiting for tables when we left.

Back at the house, we sat around the living room chatting with everyone and trying to keep our eyes open as long as we could.  Kris had arrived during the afternoon and was suffering from the altitude-headache.  Other than being very tired, I felt pretty good.  I turned in around 9pm.