73 degrees in the afternoon, @ HV that night

I woke around 510a feeling about as rested as I could possibly be. Not wanting to risk oversleeping, I went ahead and got up and out of bed. After brushing my teeth I headed downstairs to start my exercise regimen. I glanced out back at the partly cloudy skies. I completed sit-ups and eventually push-ups just ahead of pouring some coffee. I checked the temperature. It was a whopping 61 degrees. Warm! Frankie and I headed out back. She finally took care of business after about ten minutes, but only pooped. I was more patient than normal since I was up so early. It was so warm outside, I wouldn’t need but one layer for my run. Meanwhile, I was a little worried that I still hadn’t received a confirmation email from HV. However, I wisely called them back last night and got the confirmation number just in case and sent it to my smart phone. After meditation and a stretch, I delivered coffee and the pug a little earlier than usual. It was only 615a. Mindy was just out of bed. With my favorite running attire clean and packed, I dressed in back-up stuff. The fact that it was so warm made it easier. The 4.1 mile run went well. Mindy and the kids were up and at the breakfast table. No need to warm the Honda. Like spring out there. It was only 705a. Before sitting down for breakfast, I took care of organizing my personal electronics for our trip. Mindy gave the kids some extra hugs and lovin’ before she left for school. It dawned on me then that she wouldn’t see them again until Sunday evening. They were upbeat. This was their last day of school before spring break. Wow! Hard to believe. After a shower, I threw together my lunch: cheese, tuna, and a banana. The kids and I headed out for the bus at 758a. It was still quite warm. After the kids boarded the bus, Chrissy invited me to bring Frankie down. But knowing that she hadn’t yet peed, I balked until I had another chance to walk her front. She went pee and poop this time. Good girl! I took her down to Chrissy’s where she was very eager to head inside and play with Woody. I thanked Chrissy in advance for keeping our pug. Off to work. The day started somewhat slow. I talked with my boss around 930a. He agreed that I should/could leave at 230p. Fantastic! Knowing that I’d be leaving early, I didn’t plan on taking a lunch break. I remained busy through the morning and early afternoon. The day, of course, went fast. It was time to wind things down in a hurry. I set my out-of-office and left for home at 225p. It was a lovely afternoon – sunny and 73. Much warmer than expected. Seemed a little strange that we were leaving for a ski weekend on such a gorgeous afternoon. Mindy called a few minutes into my drive home. Said she stopped to fill-up the Honda. I asked that she get a small bag of ice and some windshield juice. She agreed. Figured to be home in 20-30 minutes. I arrived home and quickly started loading our cooler and dry storage tub. Had everything ready and waiting her arrival. Before powering down my PC, I checked the ski trip packing list I used for the Oregon trip to see if there was anything I might be forgetting. Nope. I was golden. Mindy was home by 305p. I had her check the contents of the cooler and dry tub. She was satisfied. I remembered the little things too, like a sharp knife, spoon, wine bottle opener, cinnamon and sweetner. We loaded everything in the Honda and were ready to go by about 325p. Dad pulled up just before we were ready to pull out the drive. He was there to greet the kids off the bus and to stay until Jimaken arrived around 5p. We chatted briefly, dad wishing us well, then headed off. It was 332p when we backed out the driveway destined for HV. I was very excited. During our drive around 270 to I-71, we had a good conversation about the Governor’s plan to short circuit or thwart public employees’ (teachers included) abilities to collectively bargain. Obviously, this is a touchy subject in our household. Mindy didn’t want to talk about it at first, but eventually did. I only asked that she hear me out on one point, the ability to bargain classroom size. This, to me, is a very key point, and one that I feel is very powerful. After all, more students in a class room equates to less need for additional classrooms and ultimately fewer levies and less of an expense to the state. And while the number is currently something like 23-25, I argued that there might be ways to increase that number without sacrificing quality, and quite possibly producing even better results. My point being that one can always become more efficient/effective by making little tweaks here and there. Our conversation lasted until Polaris. Mindy began grading papers as we drove north. It wasn’t long before we hit a monster traffic jam. Cars were backed up for miles where I-71 reduces from 3 lanes to 2. How depressing! We were at a stand still a lot of the time and when we moved it was only at a snails pace. That went on for 45 minutes. Ugh! It started to break loose after about five miles. About that same time, it started to rain. The forecast was calling for clear skies through Sunday up in these parts. Not sure where that came from. As we neared I-271 and Cleveland area the sky once again brightened and the sun came out. It was still well into the 60’s. We stopped for one potty brief potty break but otherwise kept going averaging about 70 mph. It was an easy drive with the sun setting to the west and the lovely moon rising in the east. The moon was just shy of being full – the super moon! The traffic jam we hit earlier cost us a good 30-40 minutes. Getting pretty used to the HV drive these days. This was our third trip this season and sixth overall. The temperature cooled as we neared our destination, but still warm relative to skiing. It was 44 degrees in Ellicottville. No sign of any icicles, but there were a few piles of dirty snow lying here and there. We pulled into the Inn @ HV at 910p or after 5 hours and 40 minutes of travel. Check-in was a snap. No surprises. Our room was #228 overlooking the base of Sunrise lift. Awesome! Not a lot of skiers out, but some.. We didn’t plan to ski that evening given that it was after 930p. And by the time we got all of our gear into our room and settled, it was almost 10p. We quickly freshened up and headed to EBC in the heart of downtown Ellicottville. Felt good to be home! Parked right out front. Unusually light crowd. We were seated right away and next to a table of four or five couples who were quite loud. I didn’t mind, but at one joked with them that they needed to keep it down. They took it well. In fact, later on they bought us a round. Mindy ordered a steak sandwich, and I ordered spinach artichoke dip. Mindy had one stout In total, I had 2.5 Pantius Dropius IIPAs. I couldn’t finish my last. Mindy was ready to go. It had to be near midnight when we finally left for home (room #228 at the Inn). I took a couple photos with my new camera. Takes absolutely awesome low light/no flash pictures. Mindy drove us back to the Inn. Both thoroughly exhausted, we immediately readied for bed. We watched some TV as a sleep aid. It worked. I was out in less than five minutes.