Holiday in the Valley Day 5 - Buebird Ski Day in New York - Thunder Storm in CMH

Because it was our day of departure, I thought I might get up earlier than I had all week. That wasn't the case. I ended up sleeping in until 715am. It was probably the least amount of sleep I had gotten all week. I still felt pretty good though. I quickly donned my running gear, grabbed my door key, and breakfast pass and headed out. The sky consisted of broken cloud cover and the temperature was much warmer than the prior two days. In fact, it was already above freezing. This I could tell by the dripping icicles. The sun was just coming up over the southeastern hillside. A picture would've been nice.

I grabbed a cup of OJ before setting out on my run. Only a handful of early risers having breakfast. It was a fairly easy run uptown and back. Adding a new wrinkle, I headed north of route 242 just past the post office and further into the Ellicottville neighborhood. Again, very quaint. I didn't go too far, though. I turned around after about two or three blocks.

Back at the Inn, I poured two cups of Starbucks from the buffet then headed back to the room. I fancied them up with our homespun fixins. Mindy was happy to have hot coffee from bed. While she and the kids began the waking process, I headed out to clear the Thule of snow and prepare it for loading. I was concerned that there might be a heavy coat of ice under all the snow. The snow was heavy and sticky but swept off rather easily. I then threw out all the trash we amassed on our drive up. I'm guessing that I was out there for 20 minutes.

Back in the room, Mindy was just beginning to pack our gear. Check out is 11am but our goal was to be out closer to 10a. While Mindy dealt with the clothes, I packed the dry storage tub and cooler. The two 12 packs of soda we left out on the deck were weakened from four days in the snow and rain. I asked that we handle them with care. I carried out the big bulky stuff first (cooler, tub, two suitcases). I enlisted Jacob's help for the rest. And yes, he failed to heed my advice on carrying the soda. The Coke carton split at the seams. No biggie. I must've made 12 trips up and down the steps loading the Pilot. We had a lot of stuff, especially the incidentals.

Once 90% of our gear was loaded for departure, I took a shower. Everybody geared up for skiing just before exiting the room for the final time. It's always a bit tricky trying to pack efficiently to leave but also planning to ski. You have to have gear stowage available as well as anything you want to change into before leaving. We managed. I headed to the lobby desk to checkout while the kids and Mindy waited by our ski gear. No surprises.

It was 1025am by the time we were at the lift. By then it was bluebird conditions. Unfortunately, we were all dressed a tad warm. We all took Mindy's advice and unzipped our outer shell about half way. That helped a great deal. At least for the first 45 minutes or so, the morning sun  and warmer temps softened up the icy spots making for favorable ski conditions. We skied a handful of runs, including me doing Champagne. It was fairly easy, though my legs were about spent. Independence was opened for the first time all week. While Mindy & the kids did Northwind, I did it. Awesome! Fresh, ungroomed terrain. Morning Star was opened again, too, so I suggested we all ski it. We did, but because it had a southern exposure, it was the first run to get a bit sticky/slushy. We headed back up the Morning Star lift but stayed on Northwind, Mardi Gras, and eventually Cindy's. But aside from Cindy's all the runs were getting sticky from the warm sunshine. Shaded from the bright sun, Cindy's was still very nice. We skied it a couple times. Jacob's lat run down Cindy's was perhaps his most daring. For the first time all week, he let it rip a bit, though still under control.  Nearing 1230pm we skied once last time down Sunrise to the Pilot. Mindy and Bella headed in the Inn bathrooms to change into street clothes while Jacob and I loaded our skis into the Thule. We were on the road by 1245pm, our first stop the Burger King directly across the street for lunch. It was 1250pm when we hit the road for real, though we still needed to gas up in Salamanca.

We stopped at the last gas station before hitting route 86. The laws must've changed in the last year. New York used to be a non-self serve state. But now they had pay at the pump and self-serve. I like that a lot better. We joked about the crusty kid that fueled us the two times prior. At 105pm, we were finally on the road for home.

The drive home went incredibly fast. We were in Ohio in the blink of an eye. Unless I'm mistaken, it's only 100 miles to HV from the Ohio/Pennsylvania border. This time the drive across route 90 to 271 went faster than ever. For me, that's generally the most monotonous stretch. I was getting drowsy and asked Mindy if she would mind driving once we got to Cleveland. She agreed. But I got my second wind once we hit 271 and 71 south. By the way, it rained on and off once we got out of the HV area. I think we left at the ideal time.

The temperature hovered in the mid 40's for most of the drive home. Once we hit 71 south we got into some spring-like torrential down pours. And as we closed in on CMH, there was even some lightning. It was near 50 degrees and pouring rain as we connected with I-270. We decided to head straight to Gloria's place to pick-up Eiknarf. The kids were very excited to see our dog. We arrived at Gloria's house just after 6pm. Made really good time, a 5.5 hour drive that include a drive-thru stop for food, a stop for gas, and lastly a rest area stop to pee. We visited with Gloria for about 10-15 minutes arriving at our home just before 7pm. Mindy wisely reviewed the unloading plan with the kids even prior to our arrival.

We didn't plan to unload the Thule until the following day. Took us about 5 minutes to carry everything else inside. Bella walked Eiknarf while Mindy & I carried gear to the basement, unloaded the cooler and tub, and sorted laundry. I poured a Hop Wallop to enjoy through all the chaos. While Mindy went for a hot shower I furthered our organizational cause. Soon after Mindy was out of the shower I changed into more comfortable attire ,namely my PJs. Always feels good to strip out of the long johns and ski socks.

Bella spent some time creating signage for her personal business, Peanut's Spa. She hollered over the balcony for Jacob and I to come visit. I had to laugh at the sign and service. For $2, she gave me an incredible foot/toe massage complete with lotion. I joked that all she needed was some soft music. Jacob saw to it that there was noise versus calm. And when Bella offered to do his feet next, he balked. Mindy, however, fresh out of the shower, took advantage of her services too. I think she's found her calling.

Mindy peeled off to bed early, asserting more than once her strong desire to sleep in our own bed. I'm thinking that it was 1030pm when I joined her. Good bye HV and hello pillow.