Holiday Valley - Day Two

Learning my EBCs

Holy Smoke! I slept until almost 8am. It was still snowing at a pretty good clip. Mindy stayed in bed while I tip-toed to the kitchen/livingroom to make coffee and exercise. I had the exercise regimen in the bag by 8:15am. I sipped coffee and read from my latest Deepak book while passing time. Mindy got up around 9am. At about the same time I headed out for my run. At the time, I wasn’t sure exactly where I’d run, only that I’d do one. I ended up running as far north as I could on the Snow Pine property (not too far) and then turned around and ran down the mountain to the main road and back. The haul up the hill was somewhat grueling. But lucky for me, I’ve run up hills/mountains before. I have a technique that works quite well. First, as much as possible, I never look too far ahead. That can be detrimental. Instead, I spend a lot of time focusing on the ground directly in front of me. Then, I take very short, choppy strides. I made it back, but completely tuckered and also drenched in sweat. Upon my return, Mindy was busy cooking up some sausage and eggs. While breakfast cooked, I showered. Mindy had already done so. We prepped for a long day of skiing just after 10:00am. We were on the lift by 10:25am. We skied all day long with a handful of food and beer breaks sprinkled in. With few exceptions, we skied darn near every run in the park. The runs we hadn’t yet skied included the four black diamonds off of Eagle, & the much dreaded Wall. All were on our radar screen! We were determined to tackle those on Friday. During one of our breaks, Mindy found the perfect purple ski jacket along with some fancy & flashy black ski pants in one of the many ski shops that were 100% waterproof. Everything was 25% off. Although ridiculously expensive, I talked her into buying them for herself. She doesn’t typically spend those kind of dollars on herself. Because we were at the Creekside lodge and quite far from our condo, she asked the girl at the counter to hold them until morning when she could drive over to get them. They willingly agreed. That gave her the time to sleep on it, too. We skied until almost 8pm. Even though I was tired, we made plans to visit EBC for dinner and beers. And by the way, it was still snowing like crazy! I wanted to nap for 15 minutes but didn’t. Mindy feared I’d fall asleep for the night. After freshening up, we hopped in the Honda and drove off to Ellicottville. Actually, I had to scrape oodles of ice and snow from the Honda before we could depart. It took about five-ten minutes to get it road ready & warm. We found a parking spot directly across the street from the brewery. We were lucky. There’s not a lot of available parking nearby. Inside, a honky-tonk band was playing rather loudly. We were immediately amused. It was a foursome: violin, guitars, and a banjo. I ordered their seasonal IPA offering. I was eager not only to sample their food but to scope out their souvenirs – t-shirts and pint glasses. Their IPA was advertised to be 10.2% abv. It was good, but honestly, it didn’t taste much like an IPA at all. Instead, I’d liken it to Barley’s Jack Frost – winter warmer. Mindy had one of their Black Jack Stouts. I ordered a chicken quesadilla that came loaded with peppers & onions. It was yummy. To help wash it down, I ordered another pint – a house Pale Ale. Mindy ordered some raw-looking tuna entrée. Before leaving, I bought two t-shirts. One for my buddy, Steve Won. We headed back to our condo around 1030-1100pm.