Ski Trip! ...and an awkward disaster

Matt and I got to spend the last 4 days in Park City, Utah, skiing at Deer Valley with his parents. We took a similar trip five years ago, right after we got married. It was so fun to go back again and make new memories at some of the same places. We had SUCH a good time! ...until I encountered a minor catastrophe on the slopes (more to come on that). But overall, the trip was a blast. I'm so thankful to his parents for wanting to take us along! Each day we would wake up, have breakfast, head to the slopes, ski for a couple hours, head to the lodge for lunch, head back out to slopes, ski for a few more hours, then his mom and I would ski down to the lodge for some hot chocolate while the boys did their final runs of day (we could never hang as long as they could!), then we'd all debrief about the day in the lodge before heading back to the condo for some chill time in the hot tub, dinner, and a round of Hearts (cards). That was our routine for three straight days. And as I sit here on Sunday night, thinking about going back to teach tomorrow, I wish we could start the whole thing over! I guess I'll just have to appreciate the memories and look forward to next time. :)

M and D (Matt's parents) ...we pretty much name everyone by an initial- it's probably strange, but it's what we do

Matt

Me- awkwardly standing so I don't bust mid-pose

One of my favorite parts of the day- LUNCH!

After lunch, we would head back out to the slopes for some afternoon runs. The views from the top of the mountain were beautiful!

Mullet sighting- oh my

Can't believe Matt tackled these!

Matt and D

One of my faves from the top

Matt's mom- about to lead the way down!

Day 3- pre-helmets :)

Planning out the day...

Off we go!

First run of the morning

pretend like Matt's facing the other direction and this is a really cool pic :)

Another one of my faves!

Matt and his parents on the lift in front of me... I got a little caught up observing a really cute ski outfit on another skier and thinking about how I might like a similar look myself and totally missed the lift- DANGIT!

Me riding solo

Matt giving the mid-run map-check so I didn't end up on something that I'd rather slide down on my rear... I'd do it too. :)

Matt and his dad tackling the moguls while M and I watched!

Matt

Matt's dad

This is what we had to ski down to get a good view. I'll go ahead and say it was a double blue-oh yeah! Yep, I managed to get down three of these runs before totally deer-on-roller-skates, face-plant busting on a green. On a GREEN. Yeah- not my best moment. So after two guys near me managed to stop and say, "Ooooh... man, are you okay?" and "Stay there, I'll get your poles and skis", Matt caught up to me to save the day/console my mortified ego- he always skied behind me in case I had one of these incredibly embarrassing explosions of over-confidence meets reality.

So then I ended up here.

And here.

But not before ski patrol was called to get me down the mountain. Oh yes. And I thought the fall was the worst part.

Waiting on ski patrol...

And that's where Max and his snow mobile come into play.

 I will say this was a much better alternative to the snow-stretcher/sled I was picturing in my head. 

Ole Max even offered to get a family picture around the snow mobile- the one that we never managed to get at the top of the mountain.

One last goodbye before I'm whisked to the bottom...

Max and I bonded on that 15-minute ride around the mountain, much more than I have ever bonded, or ever care to bond again, with a complete stranger. There's only so much space you can create when the speed of the engine plus the steepness of the mountain is smashing you all but cheek-to-cheek with the driver. I kept thinking, "do other people end up this close to him or am I missing something about how I'm supposed to hold on?"and "if only Matt could see me now- he would just die laughing"  and "how do I get myself in these situations?!" 

I considered asking Max for a picture after our adventure, but, being the he was around my age, and being that I had just spent the last 15 minutes awkwardly close to him, I decided I didn't want him to get the wrong idea. Oh how I have matured.

I spent the rest of the afternoon in our condo- icing, wobbling around for a change of scenery, and icing some more. Matt's mom came in with me and kept me company- such a sweetie she is! We lounged and read and drank some hot chocolate while we waited on the guys to finish their runs. Then we all hit the hot tub together, our nightly routine. I wasn't really supposed to get in the hot tub because they didn't want my knee to swell, but I figured I could un-swell it with ice if that happened. The hot tub is one of my favorite parts of skiing- I wasn't about to miss the last night! ;)

Getting ready to leave for home...

Matt's view from his side of the car

Our city from the sky!

...I'll go in to the doc this week to figure out what exactly I did. I'm just thankful it happened on the third day and not the first! Hopefully it will be a quick recovery!

...for pictures from last year's ski trip with my family, click here!