Colorado Carringtons in Indiana: December 2008

So, as you saw on the last blog, the snowy season in Colorado has begun, and if anyone is going to visit us here, you may as well get the full experience. The snow capped mountains are easily seen from almost anywhere... and why just look, when you can touch? My dad and Birt flew in Saturday afternoon, thinking they were going to relax on vacation... HA! Good luck with that!

SKIING IN COLORADO:

Saturday evening we headed out to Winter Park, CO to stay in a ski lodge and perhaps go skiing on Sunday. Matt had a daycare set up for Sunday, just in case the Grandparents wanted to ski... that didn't happen, so Grandpa & Grandma got to enjoy a day of chasing, carrying, feeding, cleaning- I'm sure they enjoyed that one, and napping while Matt, Liz, and I headed to the slopes... the first time for me... Matt and Liz had both gone in the Midwest, although, I don't know how that compares to the Rocky Mountains. Sunday's skiing began with a quick lesson from Matt- while we headed to the lift. I didn't quite get it fully, but I thought, "eh, let's just wing it and see how it goes" planning fully on a day of crashing and bruising, and a week of soreness to follow. We head up the lift, and at the top, we were trying to figure out which slope was the 'easy' one... an instructor pointed us in that direction, although I didn't quite see where he was pointing... and I started drifting downward... unsure of which direction he said to go, I just went (not knowing how to stop)... as I start flying down the hill, I was thinking, wow... this is GREAT! I was going fast.... ummmm a little too fast. I see an opening between trees on my left and I thought that was the way to sort of loop around slowly on the way to the bottom... I was wrong... thump bump thump bump... it was a bit bumpier than I had thought it should be, so I crashed myself. Ooops, probably not the best decision being that I did not know how to get back up once I was down... watching behind (as I'm just sitting relaxing in the snow) to see Matt and Liz go by... hmmm, where are they? A few minutes go by, and no sister or husband... I guess I'm on my own here... they must not have seen me go through this opening. Somehow I figure out how to get up, (heart rate is skyrocketing as I attempt to get up) and whoooops... down again. Hmmm... how does this work... As I'm crashed on the side of the course, I realize that the opening I went through was mainly for snowboarders, so I think better of it, and since one ski popped off on my second crash, I figured I'd just take the other off and walk back up and go the other way down. Somehow, I get to the top of the opening and look out at the hill I'm about to 'conquer'... hmmm... I'm pretty sure that this is not the 'easy' hill that we were supposed to go down. Still watching for a husband or sister, I watch some head down the hill... a couple of five year olds go by, so I think, 'well, it can't be that bad'... HA! About a half an hour later, (and maybe three more crashes) I hear my phone ring.... "Christy, where are you? Are you okay? Matt and I are down here looking for you..." "ummm, I'm not down there... I'm still on a hill... I'm fine, but how about you guys go ahead and go up the lift and back down, and I'll meet you at the bottom" Keep in mind that after each crash, I sat and watched others go down, trying to take notes- they didn't work so well for me! So, now I'm lost... I'm sitting (after crashing b/c I would go too fast) trying fruitlessly to get myself back up on the skis- that was the most difficult part- getting back up. Not realizing, that I could just take a ski off, and get myself up (even though I had already done that...right) Finally, a snowboarder helps me up, and sort of gives me some tips. Okay, I can do this... Down I go.... Whoooop... back on my butt. Wow, if this is skiing, I'm pretty sure, this is my last time I'm ever going to try this! I sit for a couple of minutes... try to get up a couple of times... and finally whoop... I'm up.. WOW! How'd I get up... Okay, catch your breath... take a few deep breathes... then we'll go... RING RING... lol... phone again... "I'm okay, just go back up and I'll eventually meet you at the bottom... I just fell a few times and getting up is just not happening, but I'm up now, and focused- just you two go again" "Are you sure?" "LOL... yes, I'm sure, you guys don't need to wait around... go have fun" (as my sister is snickering at me)... So the part that I've left out, is the hill that I'm attempting to *cough* conquer has a lift right there that would take me back up... Up.... do I really want to go up AGAIN... I would have to go right back down, and being that it's been about an hour on this hill.... I'm not so sure I want to do that... I think that once I go to the next clearing, it's probably not going to slow down, so I figure, what the heck, if anything else, I can just ride the lift back to the bottom. Somehow, I make it to the bottom of the lift without crashing, call Birt and tell her to tell Matt & Liz that I will meet them at the top. I get on the lift, hoping that I made the right decision.... and wait at the top for my sister and husband...

(Now that they've gone down about three times- before I made the one- they are pros...)

We all meet at the top and laugh a little, and Matt tries to give me pointers and tells me which way I was supposed to go... They saw me go and tried to yell at me to crash and stop, but I didn't hear them because I was enjoying the speed and the wind in my face- how exhillerating. So, anyway, they teach me how to ski and slow down- before I take off this time... I crashed myself a few times when I would be going too fast, and Matt is a great teacher- staying behind me and stopping each time I crash to help me up and give me some pointers. We ended up going down quite a few times, the last few resulted in no crashes for any of us... I'm pretty sure Matt and Liz crashed themselves once/twice on their first hill, but that was all... including Matt doing a 360 and skiing backwords without crashing- I wish I could have seen that. Yeah, he's a pro! lol... I found that skiing fast was better for me than trying to go slow... I felt like I had much more control... Before we went in to check out of our room... Liz and Matt headed down the hill I started with- I stuck to the 'easy' hill this time- They were able to find some 'flat' landings to purposely stop and gather themselves- but they were able to do it! I did get to see Liz wipe out a couple of times on the part that I chose to not do, but they successfully made it down with no broken bones... can't say no bruises.

So, after skiing, we headed to town for some warm pizza, then back to Westminster we went. Monday was a nice relaxing day of unwinding, except we found that the rental car had a flat tire... at least it didn't happen on our drive out of the mountains... and late in the afternoon/early evening we headed to see Aunt Donna (dad's sister) up in Galeton, CO- an hour away. We had a very nice dinner and an enjoyable time visiting with her and those who live with her on the ranch. We stayed probably an hour too late, as snow hit us pretty hard on the way home, and our one hour drive turned into two... Dad and Birt sure got a taste of Colorado weather (it had been in the upper 40's when we returned from Winter Park at 7:30 in the evening). Tuesday, we were able to relax a bit and enjoy lunch together before heading to the airport.

Needless to say, Dad and Birt didn't quite get the 'relaxing' vacation they were probably expecting, but we all enjoyed each others' company, and most importantly, the Grandparents were able to spend most of their time with Tatum- who had a GREAT time with them!

Here are a few pictures from our weekend- Enjoy!