Spring Skiing - Cookout with the Neighbors

I slept much better Saturday night. I started waking sometime after 6a but didn’t get out of bed until 730a or after. I fumbled around in the dark getting into my running clothes. I felt better than I did Saturday, but still not 100%. Must’ve contacted some sorta bug. I was giddy when I peeked out the curtain toward the lift and sky. Nothing but blue skies over head. Gorgeous! Yahoo! A bluebird ski day @ HV. Out the door, it was chilly. Felt like the upper 20s. I did the same run that I did Saturday, up HV road to Yodeler Lodge then back. The hill ate my lunch, but I persevered. I was stoked with the blue skies and sunshine, although the temperature was expected to reach into the mid 40s by mid afternoon. Wasn’t sure what havoc that might wreak on the slopes. We’d be heading home no later than 2p anyway. Mindy was already up and starting to pack by the time I returned to the room with two cups of coffee. I was surprised. I shared that they had eggs and sausage at the breakfast buffet. We planned to pack before heading to breakfast. Plus, I needed/wanted a shower too. It was 9a by the time we were packed, showered, and ready for breakfast. It didn’t take too long. Breakfast was good. I was careful not to over eat so not to bog myself down. We headed back to the room to load the Honda, check out, then head out to ski. Loading up was a snap, as was check-out. We were in the lift line by 10a exactly. We skied several runs in a short amount of time, including Independence, Mistletoe, Morning Star, Eagle and Falcon. The weather meanwhile was gorgeous, but warming fast. The snow around the bottom of lifts was getting mushy in a hurry. We skied Morning Star and Mardi Gras around 11am. Both face east and both were taking the full brunt of the brilliant springtime sunshine. In kind, both were too mushy for my liking. We headed to the gift shop where I intended to buy my first HV t-shirt. While there, I tried on a couple ski jackets and Mindy some new ski pants. Everything was 40% off. Mindy hated the jacket that I liked. Said I looked like clown. Cool, just the look I was going for. I didn’t think much differently of the pants she tried on. In the end, we bought just the one t-shirt for me. We rode up Cindy’s and skied down Sunrise in an effort to get back to the Inn and ultimately to our car. Sunrise was awesome and fast. I skied it faster than ever. What a rush! It was so much fun that we briefly discussed one more run. We opted not, though. Time to head for home. I took a picture of the lift sign with the clock showing just past noon. Barring an unusual twist of fate, our 2011 ski season was now officially over. We were out of our ski gear and ready to roll by 1215p. At my prompting, we drove into downtown Ellicottville to gas up in lieu of stopping in Salamanca. I felt better about gassing up in town. We also planned a stop at Burger king right across the road from the Inn on our way out of town. While fueling up, I noticed the Holimont ski park just to the west, and probably not even a mile away. Holy crap. I had no idea it was that close. We dropped off the ski keep key back at the Inn after realizing that I still had it in my pocket. Next, we stopped at Burger King and got two double cheeseburgers. Despite being the lone drive-thru customers, the wait was still long. It was just after 1230p as we hit the road for home. It was a gorgeous day for a drive home, sunny and in the mid 40s. Mindy fell asleep soon after crossing Lake Chautauqua. She didn’t wake until we were well into PA. She fell asleep again and didn’t wake until we were well into Ohio, about 10 miles from I-271. Earlier, I had proposed that she drive some of the way home, and we agreed on I-271 and 71. That didn’t happen. I got my second wind and kept going. We were making fabulous time. We never stopped. Neighbor Chrissy called around 5p to see if we still wanted to join them for a cookout. Mindy accepted the invite but shared that we wouldn’t be able to provide any food. Kenny was grilling steaks. Wow, heck yeah! She called Jimaken to let him know that we’d be home much earlier than originally planned. He still wanted to keep the kids until the OSU NCAA tournament game was over. Predicted bringing them home at 730p. We’d have plenty of time to get our stuff put away and organized that way. We arrived home just before 530p. We made it in something just short of 5 hours, a new world record. Over the next hour we unloaded all of our gear, prepped the skis for summer storage (waxed the edges and strapped up the ski keeps), stowed the cooler, started laundry, downloaded pictures, and showered. We walked down to the neighbors at 630p. Kenny was just firing up the grill. The OSU game was already underway and well into the 2nd half. It was another blowout. We were up by 30 points. For a time, we just couldn’t miss. We ended up winning by 29, I think. The steaks were grilled to perfection. Mindy had a filet. I had a t-bone. They had salad, potato salad, and a cheese & meat tray available too. All of it good. I drank just one beer, a Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA. I offered to wash all of the dinner dishes by hand. Mindy ended up drying, and Chrissy put them away. I felt it the least we could do. Jimaken called around 730p to let Mindy know that he was at our place with the kids. Mindy went to retrieve them. We headed home around 845p to ready for a return to work. The forecast for Monday looked decent – 69 and partly cloudy. Cool! Spring is definitely here. However, in true CMH fashion, it’s supposed to get cold again towards the end of the week and remain that way well into the following week. Expect it then you won’t be disappointed. At home we all got into our PJs and then settled onto the sofa where we watched some Science Channel. Mindy let the kids stay up since they were on spring break. We all headed to bed around 10p. Welcome home spring!