Tuesday, January 12, 2010

A Winter Wonderland!




Justin, me, and 9 other of our friends went to Breckenridge, Colorado for 6 days. We have been wanting to go on a ski trip for a while now so we were very excited we finally had a trip booked.

We left January 5th out of Atlanta to Denver. Then we drove an hour and a half to Breckenridge. The scenary was unreal the whole way.

We finally arrived to our house we were staying at called "Pine Woods". The house was amazing with lots of perks. We had a hot tub, heated floors, fire place, movie room, and a game room.

We were worn out from traveling so we just hung around our house on Tuesday night. Then we had to be up early on Wednesday because some of us were taking ski lessons that morning at 9 am. Justin and I were 2 of us who had never skied before and would be taking lessons. We were both very concerned about me learning because we all know I am not the most athletic person ever. We ended up with a great instructor name Gene who had been skiing for 40 years. So he was a great teacher. Luckily we all picked it up right away, which we were all shocked. Gene told us we were the best first timers he had ever taught. No of us even fell the first time we went down the little bunny slopes that are used for practicing. So after lunchtime Gene thought we were all ready to try out some easy greens and take the ski lift. We all did great besides a few little bumps. Luckily Justin nor I fell! By this time in the day it was snowing for heavily you could not even see 200 feet in front of you. We were all like little children again because none of us have been in any weather like this. It was so cool and we were all covered in snow. We looked like walking snowmen.

After such a successful skiing day we all went back to the house and again enjoyed a night of relaxing at home. Luckily our house had a hot tub which we took full advantage of every morning and night.

Thursday morning we went back to try out our new skills. We were all feeling very confident which then was shot to never never land! It all started with us getting off the ski lift. I was sitting in between 2 of our friends and when we were supposed to get off they both went flying out leaving me no room to get off either. Well when around ski lifts they do not care if you can not get off because they still keep going. So I was then a few seconds later getting off then everyone else which caused me to be hit in the side of my right hip by the huge metal seat! Which then of course knocked me over in front of lots of people. Luckily it is very easy for me to get up on my own. So with a minor bump we all took off down some greens, which are supposed to be the easiest ones. Well myself and another one of our friends, Cassie, decided to lead the group down the particular slope names "Red Rover". Everything was going smoothly so far and everyone was a little behind Cassie and me because we were going really fast. As we continue to follow the signs pointing you to "Red Rover" I look over to Cassie because I notice that a part of "Red Rover", which we were coming up on at a pretty fast speed, appears to just drop off. I can not even see then end of it. Since it was only my 2nd day I of course began to panick. So I ask Cassie who is a more experienced skier what should I do? She reassures me it will be fine and just to "snowplow", a ski term which means to turn your knees inward which makes your ski's go into a backwards pizza slice. So as this steep hill approaches I am still going pretty fast and take her advice and just keep going. I then pass Cassie and go straight towards "Red Rover". As I am going down the scariest thing I have ever seen of course I begin to freak out because I am "snowplowing" and not slowing down one bit. Not to mention all the other people I am having to dodge going down also. Then I have to dodge an orange sign which is almost at the end of "Red Rover". I'm still flying down when I finally reach the bottom which then I have lost all control of myself and everything else. This is when I face-plant right into the snow! As I begin to lift my head up I see a lady and a boy come rushing over to me. Which at this point all embarassment is hitting me. For you all who know me I usually begin to laugh after I have hurt myself. So this is when the hysterical laughter begins and the 2 people are just staring at me like I am nuts. I quickly pull it together and they ask me if I am ok. I tell them I am fine and the guy says, "I do not think I ahve ever seen someone hit so hard and then start laughing." The lady then proceeds to tell me that one ski is behind me and my poles are in front of me. The she looks at me and says "Hunny you have to be careful." I just look at her like are you serious? Do you think I wanted to come flying down this hill and try and kill myself? But I just thank them and proceed to stand to find the rest of the group flying down and falling as well except for the ones who knew what they were doing. Needless to say we all got a great laugh out of "Red Rover". We never made it down that particular one without ever falling. "Red Rover" wore us all out that we only skied one other green before calling it a day.

So the next day we planned to go snowmobliling. It was a blast but a bit scary at times. Those things are very easy to turn over. Luckily none of us did that. We saw some great things and they had the huskies that they use for dogsledding there as well. They were so cute. Snowmobiling does not seem like it would wear you out but it does. It is a lot of work actually. So we were all exhausted went home and laid around.

As our week starting getting shorter and shorter we skied one last day which was the warmest day since we had been there. Justin and me were both tired and not feeling very confident skiing that day so we didn't ski for very long. Our last night there we ate at a great resteraunt called "Relish". It was great! I had elk for the first time and really enjoyed it.

So overall we had a wonderful trip and Justin and me are official skiers! We are hoping to go to a different ski town every year with our friends! So hopefully we will continue to improve. I am attaching more pictures from our trip! Enjoy!

Till next time..........