(walk)ing in the winter wonderland
I’m not a big fan of cold weather so when went to Big Sky, Montana for our first ski vacation last January, I was skeptical about how cold-proofed I was. With layers of clothing consisting of long underwear, turtleneck sweater, ski jacket and pants, I still found myself (more than) occassionally shivering. I had morning sessions of ski lessons and the afternoons were spent skiing down the slopes with my husband who turned out to be a really good instructor. By the end of vacation, I was bruised from constantly falling on my ass and I was still not a big fan of cold weather, however, I found that I enjoy skiing a lot.
We headed to Heavenly, South Lake Tahoe for another ski adventure. Our daughter, Janine, who is fast approaching the “terrible two” stage has shown signs of uh-advancement and drove us nuts with her incessant crying. The drive to Tahoe included a quick stop at Helm of the Sun Valley where I rented my ski equipment. They couldn’t find the skis I rented a week earlier and it took 30 minutes for them to provide me a replacement which turned out to be really crappy and old. I went out and gave the equipment to my husband for loading and went back inside to complain about the delay. Then, my husband stormed in the shop to complain when he saw that they rented me a crappy and old pair of skis. We asked for refund and left the store in dismay.
With that drama behind us, typhoon Janine unleashed her bawling prowess and cried for the next hour. Usually, my stepdaughter Yanice takes care of turning on the movie, giving Janine toys or food but with her in Germany for the spring break, I had to struggle with the remote control, food bag and toy box myself. Eventually, I put Eon in-charge of food and toys. As we drove across the Sierra mountains, I watched the temperature gradually dropped to 3 degrees Fahrenheit!!
Heavenly was a huge ski area compared to Big Sky. Big Sky was the perfect place and time for me to learn skiing. It wasn’t crowded and the slopes (and lifts) weren’t very intimidating. At Heavenly, the lifts are fast-moving (except the Galaxy) and there are numerous blue runs. I had a shaky start as experienced skiers and snowboarders sped past me but as I grew accustommed to my skis, the “crowd” and the slopes, I was glad to be on snow again.
