Skiing! Today I did something I haven’t done in almost twenty years! I went skiing!

(I talked to dead, GES, SDL and DCM, so sorry guys that you’ve heard all this already!)

My sister and I grew up skiing and I continued until I moved to Georgia. I even took a skiing class my last semester of college! It was great, we went to a mountain, had a twenty minute lecture/lesson and then we skied for an hour, how do you beat that? Thanks mom and dad!

My sister continued to ski after she moved to Boston, actually met my brother-in-law at a ski house they both had time in, that’s serious! And now, my nieces, 6.5 and 3.5 are both taking lessons, awesome! I was even on a ski slope the day I found out I got into college!

I used to love it and then when I moved to Georgia, I just didn’t go, said I would, but didn’t, there’s not a lot of skiing in Georgia, you can go to South Carolina, Virginia, places like that, just didn’t, so when I knew I was moving, I was stoked! And you remember the post about me buying skis, boots and poles? Well, now I need to use them.

For my birthday I got the Epic Local Pass, http://www.snow.com/epic-pass.aspx, how cool is that! My dad and my sister made it possible for me to go skiing today! I got up headed out to get pants, goggles and gloves and then I was off. It was about an hour and fifteen minute drive to Keystone and the drive is beautiful! I’ve made it a few times, going to Grorgetown, Breckenridge and a few other places to go sightseeing.

When I left Broomfield, it was 59 degrees, as you get deeper into the mountains, the temperature drops really quickly! By the time I got to Keystone it was 35! But the nice thing, no humidity, so it never gets too cold. Don’t get me wrong, cold is cold, just some cold is worse.

I found a place to park, free…wahoo! Geared up and headed towards the lift. Since it’s been a few years, ha ha, since I skiid, I asked what they recommended. I boarded the gondola and headed up to the top of the mountain, that’s where ski school was, along with green dot for beginner, blue square for intermediate and black diamond expert.

I was a little nervous and all I kept thinking on the way up in the gondola was “please let me like it again! please let me like it again and come back to me” I was afraid of not remembering what to do and not enjoying it and wasting all that money. I got off the gondola, put the skis on the ground, stepped into them, locked them in place and pushed off….

It was…awesome! Like muscle memory, I remembered how to push off, turn, speed up, snow plow, ball of it! It was an awesome feeling! I headed for a green dot and stayed with that the entire run. I took my time going down the mountain, slaloming and swooshing back and forth, going fast, going slow, taking some breaks in between, talking to the people who worked there who keeping an eye on the mountain and skiers. I laughed because during one break, there was a stereotypical group of snow boarders behind me, talking about shrooms and smoking the sweet stuff, that made me laugh!

It felt great! And all I kept thinking was, “let me get better, I want to be a black diamond again!”. GES is hoping that when she gets back on skis, she has just as easy of a time, I know she will, she’s skied longer and better than me!

I will tell you, one of the things I didn’t like was not eating before I went up the mountain, it had been about four hours since I’d eaten anything and halfway down, I didn’t feel so not, luckily, I got something to eat after I finished the run, which helped a little, I then decided it was time to go, I would be back! It’s always easier to leave someplace you enjoy when you know you’re coming back soon. I’ll also have to come up with a solution, I have a beaded ankle bracelet that I made when I was fifteen, this thing is not coming off the skis rubbed so hard I have blisters! Live and learn!

Bottom line, I have to tell you, it was soooo much fun! Especially when it all came flooding back to me again! One of the reasons I was so excited to move to Colorado..skiing! I am excited to go again!

Who’s coming with me?

Thanks again daddy and GES!