Our family just came back from a ski trip with a group of our friends to Mount Snow, VT for 4 days for this Christmas season (and yes, I missed Caitey from head to toe during those days). It was our very 1st skiing experience, but it was quite an eye opener for me.
It sure felt "different" shivering in the snow in the sub 30F temperature just days after vacationing in the 80F plus tropical zone, and my brain had a little trouble making a rapid and dramatic adjustment for my body to respond properly.
If last week I felt the Atlantis was yet another Atlantic City built in the tropical area, this trip to the north presented me with a vastly different picture, something very appealingly primitive to me.
After the Sunny Albany we headed east for Mount Snow. It was chilled to the bone and it was pitch dark. After driving for an hour in no man's land, suddenly there were lights in a palm-sized town. My 10-year old Claire cheered in her usual sarcastic way "Oh great, finally a sign of civilization!". If you are tired of the uncharacteristically common malls and supermarkets, your might find the garage-looking shops and kitchen-sized restaurants very interesting. One day we passed an antique store -- for a moment, I thought the "store" itself was the antique.
I was excited and exhausted at the same time for the whole trip. I remember I woke up the next morning after the 1st day of skiing feeling like having gotten beaten up the previous night because the muscles all over my body were so sore. I actually still have trouble moving my neck around now so I will have to turn my whole upper body just to check the blind spot before I change lanes. I did however, came back with my original two legs -- I am glad that I did not leave one leg in VT or add a wooden one for support.
The biggest shock was to see how well my wimpy girls did on the trails. I registered them in the starter's camp fully expecting them to cry to mommy about their falls and quit before the end of the morning, but I never imagined in my wildest dream that my older one Claire was sent from Red to Yellow in just an hour, and from Yellow to Green in the afternoon. After only 6 hours of training, the next day she was already doing parallels in the Blue trail with her instructor -- she seriously thinks that she can probably manage Black if we could just stay a day or two longer. I was dumbfounded (and scared to death too) to hear her rapid progress because I assumed she was not a very sporty person (but then again, I don't even allow her to do front rolls at school in fear of injury), and her instructor also had a hard time believing that she just started the day before. Even my whiny younger one Caitlin could manage her turns on "Yellow Plus" as well.
Compared with my girls, their mommy was a lot slower and clumsier. The 1st time I got on to Yellow, I went straight down thinking going S would be too boring. Of course I had a major fall flat on my nose after losing control while heading down hill too fast ... but it was sure exhilarating acting weird and crazy once in a while.
Any way, many people in this same group are heading to Blue Mountain PA for the New Year and we are planning on tagging along as well... actually I would have been murdered if I said no to the kids so I have no other choice.
What I did learn is this, maybe I should start loosening up the strings on the wings of the girls and let them fly once in a while, well with loose strings still attached of course.
