Ode to Skiing

(Better late than never! Written a month ago.)

I just took this picture out of my living room window. It is approximately 2:00 pm on a Friday afternoon. This must mean that either 1. I am sick or 2. there was actually a snow day for the Douglas County School District. Yes my friends, it was #2. At about 11:30 this morning they announced that school was out for the day! I don't think our school had ever been in so much chaos. Kids were jumping and screaming at the top of their lungs. I actually heard a kid scream, "School is out forever!" Well sorry to disappoint you kid it is only a half day. I also heard "FINALLY!" yelled A LOT! There is a rumor circulating the sixth grade that our superintendent is from Alaska and that is why we NEVER get a snow day, not matter how badly needed. Well I guess our Eskimo friend finally caved. Here I am at home.

Now you would think that besides the 5 minutes today that I was scared for my life as I thought that I was going to get flattened by the mad rush of kids for the front door, that my joy level should be sky rocketing! But I find myself a little somber today. It is the end of April and the ski season has run its course for the year. Days like today pump me up for what is awaiting in the mountains, but I knew not to get excited because there would be nothing awaiting me. Aaron and I said goodbye to ski season 2009 two weeks ago up in Vail.

It was a great way to end the season! Another POWDER day! My favorite!







So in order to lighten my mood here is an ode to ski season 2009:

We will miss you and...

... your not so friendly Europeans that think they own the mountain. It is not a mad rush to the front of the lift line. We take turns in America. ONE AT A TIME!

... your PINK EASE bus that ever so nicely dropped us off the at the bottom of the mountain house- thus skipping the long walk through Keystones ski village in SKI BOOTS!

... Keystones infamous Mozart run that is always undoubtedly icy and crowded and luckily a means to an end, because there is no way I would ever attempt this run if it wasn't the only way to get to Keystones wonderful backside.

... your wonderful powder days that make me stop and enjoy my surroundings. They even entice me to actually fall down so I can roll around in the snow like a giddy little kid.



... your overly priced chili cheese fries, because there is nothing better after a long hard day on the slopes (well maybe the hot tub). Their delicious smell gets me every time.

... your acceptance of me no matter how much I complained of your freezing cold weather on some of your seemingly endless lift rides... a big thank you to the inventor of hand and foot warmers!

... your ability to bring out all of the ridiculous hats that exist in the world. Check out this wanna be unicorn.



It truly was another successful year! We can't wait to see what adventures next season will bring!

POWDER!

Until last weekend ski season 2009 had been pretty tame. The snow had been pretty choppy and icy. There definitely had not been any blog worthy days. So when we heard last Friday night that I-70 was closed due to an insane amount of snow fall, we knew we had to find a way up the mountain because we might actually get in a decent day of skiing!

At 10 pm Friday night, after they finally re-opened the roads, we made our way up to Keystone as fast as we could. Oh WOW, did we make the right choice! Saturday turned out to be the best ski day this season, by far! Only one word can explain how wonderful it was... POWDER! Those of you that have been skiing with me know that I am all about the speed, but not on powder days. These days I take my time and soak in every second!

Check out our pictures. They explain it all! Look at the snow covered trees and how you can't even see the sky due to the beautiful clouds dumping their glorious snow!

I LOVE POWDER DAYS!!!

Warren Miller!

Winter has officially arrived here in Denver and although the snow makes for a tough commute to work I can handle it knowing what wonderful things await me in the mountains! Last Saturday was our first ski day up in the mountains and it was wonderful, but I will blog about that later!

Every year, to get pumped up for the ski season, Aaron likes to catch the new Warren Miller film. I enjoy the movies and have happened to go to quite a few of the films over the years but Aaron loves to go every year!

Now before I continue with the rest of the story, I have to make a confession, I lied in the last post. The night we went to Coldplay, we weren't just going to have our regular Friday night, we were supposed to go see this year's Warren Miller film. It was our only free night to go see the movie while it was in town, but because my husband is so sweet he sacrificed to make me happy instead. (Not that he was at all opposed to going to the concert... I think he may even have wanted to go more than me.)

Well I had to make it up to him and I had an idea! Last week I had a day off of work. This gave me time to work out a surprise. The first part of my plan was to transform our house into a winter wonderland. I put snowflakes everywhere! Snowflakes covered the windows, the floors, and the tables. I even hung snowflakes from the ceiling. My next step was to hang up signs giving him a few hints to what would await him in our living room. I hung a sign on the back door saying "Are you ready?" He then would open the back door into our kitchen to find another sign saying, "Get Excited!"... followed by another sign saying,"For Ski Season 2009!!"

This was all leading him to our living room where I set up our own Warren Miller movie night, complete with sponsors, Ski magazines, and even free ski coupons! I also threw in a few treats for us to watch the movie with. It was almost like the real thing (minus the other 300 people watching the movie with us.)

Let the ski season begin!