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After a long night of booze and the likes (late-night smores and Wii), we woke up with about 5 inches of powdery perfection on the ground. I thought it looked magical softly floating in the dark sky on the way home after the bars, but in fact when there's a snowfall like that in Vail, the most magical part about it is salivating at the thought of plowing through it the next morning. A very crowded bar scene so thinned out and looked like a ghost town. About half the people in the house were up and at'em by the time I got off the couch, all decked out in their best skiing apparel and awaiting for breakfast. I've rarely seen such commitment but I guess when you work a seasonal job in Vail and have some free time, you're going to live on that mountain.
Got off to a bit of a late start but arrived at the ski shop at about 10:30am. We met up with some of Taylor's ski friends who were working at one of the rental shacks. We all went out the night before and was given the hookup with skis and boots! Hooray for friendship! My first words of advice came from my Kiwi friend at the shop, in the form of a quote from South Park..."If you french fry when you should pizza, you're gonna have a bad time!"
So I was all set to make my first honest effort with skiing. I had always wanted to go but never really had the opportunity. Growing up, I would hear stories of my Omama skiing the Alps and was hoping that perhaps skiing ran in the family. I felt I had good balance and rhythm but it was the speed part that really did me in. There was no amount of pizza in which could halt my downward tumble when I was really out of control! Later on in the day, after hitting two of the slopes, we arrived at the highest point of the mountain (roughly 11,000 ft) and managed to make it down most of the mountain without taking a major spill. There were several times in which I got caught up at a steep drop but it was an incredible experience and hope to go again real soon with my own equipment. Special shout out to Taylor for being awesome and showing me the slopes!
After skiing, I packed up the car (which had gotten stuck on the icy driveway and wouldn't catch for a while) and booked it back east to meet up with Michelle and her parents for dinner at Radda Trattoria in Boulder. This was the first time meeting the parents formally (other than a brief encounter when picking up Michelle to take her to a Sublime show at Red Rocks earlier in the summer, so badass). It was a fun night and great end to an amazing trip back out to the mountains.
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