Skiing, Skywatching & Computer Drooling

I had a very busy weekend. So busy in fact, that I had a hard time waking up this morning with the realization that I did it all in only 4 days.

Let's begin with the most recent and work out way back in time.

Skiing at Bear Valley.

I thought I was in good shape. I cringed at the idea of not getting in a good workout over the weekend. But oh man did Sunday's ski day kicked my hiney! I woke up yesterday very sore. Today is the same way. It hurts to walk. On the bright side...the day was perfect for skiing. A fresh new blanket of white powder covered the slopes and the sun shined on the flakes, making them look like glitter.
It was a beautiful day. Megan took right to it again, just as she did last year, a natural born skier. Katie & Sarah (Kate's friend that we brought with us) decided they wanted to try snowboarding. I warned them that it's a bit tougher, but it was no use...they had their minds set. So after I paid the package deals for snowboards, skies, lift tickets and lessons, we all headed over to our respective rental rooms to try on boots.

*Note for next year- Bring 2 way radios!!

After riding the chair lift a couple times, we couldn't find the girls and I had to scour the place to make sure Kate & Sarah didn't miss their snowboard lesson.
Megan didn't want a lesson. She's fearless.
Well, the girls made their lesson, but Katie ditched them half way through because she was to scared to try and snowboard from the top of the mountain (which is what the class was doing next). After I got mad at her, I calmed down. She ended up not using her lift ticket AT ALL. She stayed in the baby section all day and I felt sorry for her. She really let her fear stop her from having a good time. She wasn't willing to fall.

Of course nobody likes to fall, especially me (I carried my new camera in my back pocket and nano clipped to the front). However, I did do one nice face snow plant. MB talked me into taking the triple chair lift, which is the one that goes all the way to the very top of the mountain. Even though the run was considered "intermediate" it sure seemed steep to me! I fell not long after I snapped the picture you see at the top of this page. When I got to the bottom, I was just happy to get the shot and a bit proud of myself that I didn't let fear stop me from getting it. The views up there were breath taking.
BTW- see the puffs of white that look like fog hanging in the sky? It's not fog. That is smoke from dynomite. All day we kept hearing exposives being detonated for avalanche control. I don't know why, but everyone would yell and cheer whenever the explosions rung out. Also there was a competion being held very close to the lodge. There was an announcer giving out prizes and some very good skiers who did tricks on the slide bars.

Skywatching.

The drive up to the cabin on Saturday afternoon said it all. Rainclouds and snowflakes were going to obstruck my view. However, being the eternal optimist that I am (haha) I held out a small trace of hope.
I woke up at midnight. I woke up at 1am. I woke up again at 1:45 and quickly jumped out of bed. 11 minutes! I pulled on my boots and threw on MB's big flannel jacket. Outside, the sky was a bright white. Standing in the middle of the street provided the widest view from the trees. I had no trouble seeing the sky, except for the big sloppy snowflakes landing like miniature bombs between my eyelashes.
After what seemed like forever, I hung down my head and assumed I must have missed it. But when I got back in the house, the bright red digital numbers on the bedroom alarm clock said "1:50" No Way! It's only been 5 minutes since I got up? As unreal as this seemed to me...I tried to go even slower the second time, going through the entire process again. Boots and coat, but this time I added one more thing...my ipod.
I set it to play the theme song to Star Wars and tucked it deep inside my coat. With a renewed sense of hope, I stared up once again, waiting with anticipation for Stardust to dazzle me with it's tail of burning fire. I waited there, all alone in the cold slushy snow. I felt like Linus waiting for the great pumpkin on Halloween.
I wanted to look at my ipod for the time, but was to afraid of missing it. After a while, I gave up and looked down. The numbers starring back at me read 1:58am. Either the trees were in the way, or the weather blocked it completely.
I went back to bed, waking up every hour until morning.

Computer Drooling.

Ah heck, I'll write about Macworld some other time. This post is long enough!