a double day
It’s only 8:36 p.m. Colorado time and I feel like I’ve been awake for 19 hours. Oh wait… I have.
This morning we woke up at 3:30 Virginia time to catch our 6am flight to Denver. College spring break started yesterday, and my dad, brothers, and I are taking a short ski trip to Keystone in Colorado. My brothers have loved skiing forever; me, not so much. It’s exhilarating and it’s terrifying and it’s different than anything else in the whole world, but it’s also very cold and very tiring and very cold.
The last few years, the ski trips have always been boys’ outings while my mom and I stayed home and sewed. I’ve always declined my invitation. But this year, since Ben and I have the same spring break and early March promised to be warmer than mid-January, I surprised everyone by deciding to join the boys on their trip.
Today was an extremely long day. We landed in Denver at 8:30, then took a relaxed grocery shopping trip. Our suite has a full kitchen, so we’re opting to save our vacation money and live off Costco food for the next few days (like i could ever mind). After stopping at Costco, then Safeway, and Sports Authority for helmets, we wound our way through the Rockies to our resort.
After settling in and making lunch we headed out. My dad and I picked up our rental skis while Andy and Ben were fitted for snowboards. They’ve never done it before, but they’ve decided to brave the kind of skiing that involves strapping your feet together.
We took the gondola up the big mountain (they just don’t come that big on the east coast) and proceeded to shimmy our way down. I haven’t been skiing for a few years – it’s definitely been awhile – and my uncertainty almost matched that of my brothers, who were trying something entirely new. We all started slowly, and gradually picked up speed. There were some big hills that caused me to pause and gulp (keep in mind this was a green circle route) but when I braced myself and went for it, it was quite fun. It wasn’t cold today, somewhere in the mid 30’s, so it was one of my better skiing experiences.
We made it down the mountain once, a bit more than an hour’s worth of skiing, and a perfect practice run. Now I’m ready to face tomorrow without nearly as much fear, and I’m sure to get a good sleep because I am exhausted both mentally and physically. 9:04… bedtime.
