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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Happy-ish Trails


Greg recently treated me to a Ski trip to the Snowbird Resort in Salt Lake City, Utah. The leadership programs that he puts on in the summer are also held at Snowbird, and he's often said he wished that I could see it...and last weekend I got to! The mountains were breathtaking & covered in more snow than you can even imagine. The resort was also amazing, especially our room with it's nearly panoramic view of the ski slopes.

The first day we spent in Downtown Salt Lake City where we toured Temple Square, the Headquarters for the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints which was simply enormous. The buildings, many of which were built in the mid 1800s were huge and nothing short of ornate. I'll post photos later...in the meantime you can visit the website.

The next day we got up "early" (it was vacation. let's be serious.) and set out to go skiing. We were all gussied up in our ski clothes & ready to hit the slopes. I rented skis and Greg rented a snow board. The combination of faulty suspenders & poor quality ski pants resulted in Greg trading the snowboard in for skis too. For the record I was very impressed with his snowboarding skills. Early that day Greg & I discussed whether or not I should take ski lessons and we decided against it since I'd skiid before (10 years ago). Although I remembered the basics, what I couldn't have predicted was that in the last decade I would have become such a major fraidy cat...and I am. As soon as I got my skis on and Greg let go I cried. Right inside my goggles. Embarrassing. I didn't give though! We skied a family slope for a while & I managed to get comfortable again. We decided it was time to move on to another family (easy) slope. Big mistake.

That slope wasn't QUIIIIIIIITE as easy as I'd hoped and the long & short of it is that after skiing what I considered to be too fast on too steep of a slope for WAY too long & falling down 1 too many times, I wanted to stop. And I cried again. Poor Greg. I was sitting on the side of a mountain telling him I wasn't having fun anymore & I wanted off this mountain NOW! What was he going to do? He gave me 3 options...either ski down (my least favorite), walk down (this also seemed dangerous) or scoot down the mountain on my bum. The OBVIOUS choice was to take off my skis, put them in my lap & scoot down the side of the mountain while poor, well meaning Greg stood watch to make sure I wasn't run over by ACTUAL skiers. When we reached a more level point a less than amused snowboard instructor pointed us in the direction of a foot path where we could walk back to the lodge where I promptly returned my skis, boots & poles, & went back about some more authentic Megan activities - drinking a bud light & listening to the live band.
Despite the fact that I freaked out & pitched a total fit we had a GREAT time! Later that same day we got in the hot tub and watched some other people ski. That's more my speed - although I promised to go skiing again next year. Greg has always done a good job making me feel special on my birthday (& most days actually), but this was the birthday trip of a lifetime! I know I brag on him a lot but that Mister of mine is GOOD!

2 comments:

  1. Oh Megan! That sucks that that happened, but you make it sound pretty funny, and I can totally relate!! Last time we went it took me one fall until I was DUN done also! It hurts extra to fall when it's cold too. Sounds like you still had an awesome trip!

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  2. First time I "tried" to ski I got as far as being dopped off at the end of the ski lift...at which point I made an immediate left into the retaining wall shoot that is suppose to funnel everyone down the hill. The ski lift operator had to stop the lift to keep the other skiers from falling on top of me. Once he and I got my skis and legs all pointed in the same direction, he said "You're on your own." At which time I made an immediate right turn into the opposite retaining wall. About an hour later I finally made it down the 100 yard slope and into the ski lodge where I spent the rest of the weekend tending the fire. I haven't attempted to ski since.

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