We Ski - Part 2

It was very dark in the room and the lone clock was aimed more towards the Imber’s bed. I had no idea what time it was. I woke a few times during the night to the sound of snoring. Even though I snore myself, I found it difficult to sleep, but eventually did. I worried too that I might have a big ol’ headache but that proved unwarranted. I felt fine when I finally drug myself from bed. It was 8:15am. Damn! I really hoped to be up by 7am. Oh well. Mary Ann was already up and getting dressed. I quickly gathered my running clothes and headed out for a run. I was a little frustrated with myself for not neatly laying all of my gear out. I had to make do without a few of my preferred cold weather pieces. I ran west along Holiday Valley Rd. It was sunny but brutally cold. There was a light breeze blowing too. The run west was uphill, but not ridiculous. Plus, the scenery was incredible. I ran to the Yoedler lodge, all part of the Holiday Valley resort. I couldn’t believe how far away it seemed by foot. I ran for about 30 minutes. I guesstimated my run to be no more than three miles. It felt good. Now I was ready to shower, eat , and SKI! The Inn served up a nice complimentary continental breakfast complete with cereal, muffins, bagels, and French toast. But Bob, Mindy & I wanted something more substantial. We walked over to Burger King, right across the street. After woofing down our breakfast we headed back to the room to garb up and hit the slopes. We hit the Sunrise lift at 10am sharp. It was very cold our first ride up. And all of us needed to knock the dust off. Bob showed us ‘The Wall’ – the original run and a steep double black diamond. We didn’t ski it. Too icy and steep for our liking, especially so early in the day. We took a challenging blue run instead. After getting our skis under us we made our way west to the other end of the park. We took a snack and pee break just before noon. We had a beer or two as well. After that break I found my groove and was ready to tackle some black diamonds. We skied darn near every major trail in the park save for the black diamond with a big mogul field. What was really surprising was how courageous Mindy was. She did some pretty steep black diamonds along with Bob & I. Of course sipping the Goldschlager didn’t hurt. As you might guess, she was very proud of herself. We took a late afternoon break back in our room. Mindy & I even did the hot tub and sauna. That felt terrific after skiing all day. I think that it’s safe to say, we all were feeling no pain. We headed back out for late evening/night skiing afterwards. We really tore up it up then. I had an absolute ball, and so did everyone else. During our earlier break, Mary Ann finally bought a ski helmet at Bob’s prompting. She got new goggles too. That gave her the extra confidence to ski a little more daringly. We could’ve skied until 10:30pm, but the girls were getting tired, and all of us wanted some hot tub time before dinner. Bob & I did a couple balls-to-the-wall runs on Sunrise skiing until 9:30pm. By then I had chronic thigh burn. We hit the hot tub a few minutes later. And yes, we had cold beer in the Minnesota Viking cups I brought. Even Bob, a diehard Browns fan. Bob brought his waterproof camera to the tub and took a few pictures from underwater to the amusement of other patrons. They must’ve thought he was crazy. In fact, a little later another guest asked what kind of camera it was that could go underwater like that. He said he was simply amused that someone was foolish enough to bring it to the hot tub, not to mention putting it directly into the water. We got a chuckle out of that. Somewhere through all of that we temporarily lost the girls. They eventually materialized back in the room. We all quickly dressed for dinner out at the Depot, which was across the street but probably equal to two blocks of walking. The Depot specializes in wings and that’s what I wanted. The girls ordered soup. I think that Mindy ordered grilled cheese, too. Bob & I shared a pitcher of Yeungling. We didn’t stay out too late. The walk back to our room was brutal. For some reason the icy cold wind was cutting right through me. I was shivering out of control. I ran back just to get warm. I think that all of us were in bed less than fifteen minutes later, me actually sooner.