Our first day on the slopes at Winter Park
was brilliant!
Before I get to that, though, I’ll start by
mentioning that I’m not a big fan of hotel continental breakfasts. Yes, I’ve been spoiled by gourmet breakfasts
at Michael’s house, but I seriously doubt that very many hotel guests are going
to claim that the make-your-own food is the best they’ve ever had. We might still have other breakfasts at the
hotel during the rest of our stay; but I think we’ll go out once or twice too –
and that’s partly because most of us were hungry again long before we stopped
for our lunch break on the slopes.
Okay, let’s get to the snowboarding
report. We went up to the resort
early-enough so that we could get our snowboards and the rest of our equipment
rented for the week and set up by the time the lifts began running. After that, Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were
on our own for the day; and only needed to check in with the Palmers at
lunchtime – and then meet up with everyone when the resort closed at four o’clock. That, by the way, seems so early, but after
our first day on the slopes; the extreme snowboarding had us tired out by then –
and was way better than any snowboarding we’ve done back at home.
We were able to get lift tickets that
allowed us on all runs except for the expert level, and while we could handle
those runs too; there wasn’t any way for us to do that without having any way
to explain that to the non-Magi in our group.
The runs we could go on were challenging-enough, though; and we won’t be
bored while we’re here because it’ll take us days just to try every run even
once – and we’ve already had several runs that we’ve needed to go on again
while trying to master them.
There were some strong winds to deal with
today, but the weather was otherwise fairly amazing – and a few degrees above freezing
at the resort base. I’m not sure what to
think about the changing forecast around here, since it’s good that we’re supposed
to have colder weather move in; but we’re also supposed to get a lot of snow
now too. If that comes every night; that
could be great; but maybe not so hot if we get four or five inches while we’re
on the slopes. I’ll keep you posted on
that; but it’s funny to just think about the possibility that we’ll see more snowfall
here in a few days than we’ve had all winter at home.
Moving along, we had a blast snowboarding
all morning; had lunch at eleven-thirty; and then played all afternoon with
just one break for drinks and a snack. We
caught a final ride up the slopes shortly before the lifts shut down for the
day; so we were also one of the last groups to meet up with our chaperones when
it was time to head back to the hotel.
We dealt with our gear first; and then we had time to grab showers and
get ready to go out for dinner once we were back at the hotel. This time, we had to take a little drive to
the local steakhouse; and the guys in our group were particularly happy to have
‘real’ food options, though I have no idea why they’d say that; since I did see
quite a few of the different pizzas that were ordered last night and some of
them likely had a full steak or two worth of meat on them.
I didn’t go with a steak, but did have a
big meal compared to my usual standards.
Since Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I could all measure the exercise weight
loss for today in pounds, though; that shouldn’t be surprising. The food was pretty good, and we had desserts
too; but I’ll admit that those desserts didn’t come close to anything out of
the Olde Bakery. We didn’t quite close
the restaurant, but we were among the last customers when we left and came back
to the hotel. By then, the kids in our
group were pretty much all falling asleep; so they were taken up to bed. There was some talk about going out and doing
something like catching a movie or going bowling; but none of us decided that
we had enough energy for that; so we stayed at the hotel. Once group decided to give the hot tub a try,
but I didn’t want to do that either; so Rowen and I brought Michael and Tim
back to our room again for the rest of the evening. We watched a movie; and then we just decided
to do a roommate swap. That’s why
Michael’s currently in his room grabbing a change of clothes and his bathroom
kit bag; and Rowen’s doing the same here while I’m doing this update and my
usual computer and email checks.
I don’t have anything to report from those
checks; though that’s partly because Dad has spent most of the weekend getting
ready for his trip to Crystal Springs.
Ethan and Ehlana spent time playing with Naomi and Aiden; but also had
some time at the lab this weekend too while Dad was busy anyway. That’s really boring compared to a day of extreme
snowboarding; but they do have some fun planned for this week while I’m away
too. I’ll keep you posted on that as it
happens; though their journals will have more details if you want to try
reading them alongside mine whenever you’re doing this in our future.
Since I have a roommate swap and sleepover
with Michael to get to now, though, I don’t really have time to write about
things like that, and don’t have anything else to add for tonight either; so,
until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
