Xmas Tree Down, Spring Ski & CBC

I slept late, not waking until 820am after more than 8 hours of sleep. Honestly, I was still a little tired. I’m sure the five beers the night before were the main culprit. Definitely could’ve slept even longer but the fact that I was on-call helped motivate me out of bed.

I started some coffee still not sure whether I'd be hungover or good to go. But by the time I had the coffee going I knew that I was going to be OK. I wisely took three Advil before going to bed. I’m sure that helped. I logged onto my laptop where I was immediately greeted by an email requesting my involvement in an issue abroad. And not ten minutes passed before the customer called me directly.

Long story short, I ended up spending the first two hours of my morning focusing on the work issue. I still enjoyed some coffee and checked the weather. I was disappointed to see that our Saturday forecaste had been adjusted upward. No longer was the high in Bellefontaine only expected to hit 41 degrees. It was now expected to reach 47 degrees under brilliant sunshine. It was supposed be 50 degrees here at home. Thankfully, Mindy got up and walked Eiknarf so I could focus my attention on work. But I’m thinking that wasn’t until about 945am.

Once I had the work issue well on its way to resolution, Eiknarf and I headed out on the deck and then out into the back yard like we often do spring and/or summer mornings. It was quite lovely, and anything but wintry. Even the birds were chirping. In fact, I noticed several trees about the neighborhood with swollen buds, and it’s only the first week of January. Eiknarf was way excited to get to run around the yard. We played fetch with a stick eventually making our way out by the tree house. The grass is still really green as well.

Mindy came out on the deck for a while too. There was still a little morning nip in the air, but it definitely didn’t feel like winter. At the time we didn’t think we’d be going skiing at MRM, and even if we did, it wouldn’t be until much later. It was supposed to get down to 25 over night, so once the sun went down I figured the snow would firm up. According to their web site they had a 30” base and 90% of their terrain open after making snow all week. And the webcams confirmed that most trails were opened.

Mindy decided to spend the late morning taking down our Xmas tree while I worked and then went on a run. I’m thinking it was 1040am before I left for my run. I skipped ear covers and gloves opting instead for just a ball cap. It was really quite nice. I planned to run only three miles, much like most other Saturday’s. I ran into Pat Shultz just after the 2 mile marker. He was out on his daily walk. We stopped and talked for a good 10-15 minutes, catching up further after our phone conversation last Thursday.

As I finished the last mile I wondered if Mindy would think I'd gotten lost. She was still busy with the tree, and hadn’t given any thought to my whereabouts. I prepared a ham, cheese, and spinach omelet, and then made mimosa’s using champagne we opened on Xmas eve. Still bubbly, but we could tell it had lost some of its fizz.

Mindy reported having a buzz after less than half a glass. I helped box the tree once all the ornaments were off. We then took it to the basement. While down there, we talked about the basement finishing project and what still needs to go. Hope to get started on that project soon. But realistically, I’m not planning to have it done until next fall. That way I’m not stressing over it.

Texted Bob I. to see if he was still heading up to MRM. He responded that he had just arrived. I asked that he let us know how the snow was. It was one thing to read about the ski conditions on their website, while still another to get an opinion from a close friend. I expected it to be a little while before he responded and it was. In fact, Kenny called around 1230pm to see if we were heading up. Said they had the vehicle loaded and were ready to go. I asked that he text us letting us know the conditions, and then said we might head up around 3pm. As soon as I hung up, Bob texted back that it wasn’t too bad, but a little slushy.

Work stabilized and we had our tree down. I suggested we go ahead and head up. What the heck. The only thing I should’ve done that I didn’t was take the outside Xmas lights down. We weren’t in any hurry. Again, I was happy with the idea of getting there around 3pm. We got ready to go at a fairly slow pace. Mindy asked that I run the vacuum cleaner, which I did. I also mopped the tile floor. I had it looking good while Mindy showered.

I checked a barrage of texts that came in on Mindy’s phone. They were from Connie, Darwin’s wife, asking about our Oregon ski trip. I had offered that he could join us the night before. He must’ve said something to her about it. She was thinking of buying him an airline ticket for his birthday as a surprise. She wanted to know, one, if it was really OK if he went along, and then,  if it was OK, some more of the details. I figured I’d let Mindy respond. At the time, I wasn’t sure if she knew I had offered him to join us.

I organized our miscellaneous ski gear by the front door and placed our skis by the overhead garage door. I packed a cooler with drinks and light snacks, too. It was almost 130pm when I headed up for a shower, or just about the time Mindy was finishing hers. I shared the text from Connie. Mindy was fine with Darwin joining us, and was hoping that Connie might want to go to. We joked about her being the only woman there with four, now maybe five guys. Mindy really wants Mary Ann to go, someone that she enjoys spending time with that doesn’t suck her energy away.

While I showered, Mindy loaded all of our gear into the Pilot. We did a good job working together, and were ready to go by 145pm. I checked my laptop, then logged off and loaded it for the go as well. We laughed when a couple motorcycles went buzzing by just before we backed out the drive. It was that nice of a day. How sad is that? Of course last March when we left for a last minute HV trip it was 70 degrees and sunny here at home. That was really odd.

We made good time barreling up 270 north and then west on route 33 to Bellefontaine. As expected, the temperature dropped about 4 degrees by the time we arrived at 230pm. You can always count on it being a few degrees cooler up there. I believe it was 42 degrees.

We cruised the lot for a few minutes hoping to find an up-close spot recently vacated. While doing so, we spotted the neighbors just walking up to the slopes. Hmm? We figured they would’ve been on the slopes. We ended up parking out in no man’s land, but it wasn’t too big a deal.

They’ve opened up several new windows so getting lift ticket isn’t a problem at all. We were at the base of Four Star a couple minutes later, and there we circled up with the MRM regulars: Bob & Mary Ann, Scott, Tina & Bob2. Didn’t see the neighbors, but Bob apparently did. Said they headed over to Sundowner.

We headed up Four Star with the peeps. The main runs looked a little sloppy and cut up, but the far east side of the main hill was groomed smooth apparently for some racing that had taken place earlier. We took the roller run initially, the last run I made last year, and the one where I racked my shoulder. I ran into a couple work peeps (sales guys) at the top of the hill. They were both in their bright and colorful ski outfits. And truth be told, they looked like they belonged in Aspen, not at MRM. J We chatted briefly, with me introducing them to Bob I. Not sure where Mindy was at the time.

We probably did three runs before those that had been there already wanted to head in for a break while Mindy and I planned to do a few more runs. Tina skied a couple runs with us while her husband headed in with the others. And while we met Tina last January, we really hadn’t talked that much prior. We got to know her pretty well in a short period of time (our rides up the lift). She’s quite chatty, and very animated.

Mindy and I did three or four more runs before heading in. During that time, they opened that run used for racing earlier. We skied it a few more times. Compared to most of the other runs, it was smooth and fast. I really liked it.

We headed in for a break around 415pm. The Buckeye basketball game was going on and the Bengals playoff game was about to start. Everybody was in, including our neighbors. Mindy went to get she and I some sustenance. While we’d both eaten an omelet earlier, we were super hungry. She returned with ravioli, which was good, but probably not something I would’ve picked. I was even more surprised that she thought to get a thing of hot sauce to pour over it. Nice!

Scott & the Bob’s fetched a couple pitchers of beer, both Yeungling, but one regular lager and the other Black & Tan. The Black & Tan is pretty good. We headed back out to slay more snow around 5pm. Kenny & Chrissy wanted to head back to the Sundowner or Momentum, but their girls wanted to ski the blacks with us. They stayed and skied with us. Lillian in particular, loves skiing with Mindy. 

As often happens, our group got separated soon after the break. Mindy really wanted to ski with Mary Ann. As darkness set in, I went to the Pilot to get our clear goggles and Mindy’s gator. But as luck would have it, I forgot the gator. Yikes! While I did that, Mindy waited by the ski check watching my skis. There, Mindy ran into Darwin’s wife, Connie. She was there with her two young boys while Darwin was inside signing up his older  son for the big air competition. After a few runs, I could tell that Mindy was frustrated that she didn’t get to ski much Mary Ann much. Instead, she was skiing with Makayla and Lillian. :)  And later, when she learned that Bob & Mary Ann were about to leave, she was really bummed. We did one more run together before they left for home. They had been there since 1130am. By then Kenny was back over on the blacks. Chrissy was inside the lodge nursing a sore ankle.

We didn’t plan to stay that late either. Mindy suggested we do a few more runs and then head home which would leave us enough time to have dinner at CBC. I was happy about that. That would’ve been my choice too. We skied a few runs with Kenny and the girls then headed for the car around 645pm. We got out of our ski boots and pants then headed in the lodge to say goodbye to Chrissy and get our cooler. We were on the road for home by 7pm.

We arrived home near 745pm just as Mindy predicted we would. We thought about leaving our skis gear in the Pilot but I didn’t like the sound of that. It wouldn’t take that long. I carried all the stuff to the garage and even dried and stowed our skis on the rack. Mindy carried our boots and bags to the basement. She took Eiknarf on a quick walk then we both changed out of our ski attire into casual stuff. We left for CBC near 815pm. We both felt bad leaving Eiknarf home again, but at least she got out for a break.

Arrived at CBC by 825pm, or five minutes sooner than we thought. They had a pretty good crowd on hand, but we still managed to find an up close parking spot that was just recently vacated. We grabbed two of several open stools along the bar, where Jamie was working. She quickly reviewed the beer options. No more Cousin Eddie, but they did have a new Imperial Stout on tap, a beer that is quite rare at CBC. I opted for one of those.  I was very surprised that Mindy went with a winter warmer in lieu of the stout. Said she didn’t care for it. To my palette, it was quite good, though missing any hint of chocolate, which I know Mindy really likes. She said it had a bourbon barrel flavor, which she absolutely arbhors.

We ordered some food as I finished my stout. Mindy went with the special, which was some sort of fish and was supposed to come with green beans. I ordered the soup of the day, a crayfish and andouille sausage chowder, which sounded awesome. I ordered their quesadillas as well. However, a couple minutes later, they brought me something that looked more like tomato bisque with crumbled blue cheese. I asked if that was the chowder. She said not. And then after some deliberation they determined that she misquoted the soup of the day.  I opted for their French onion soup instead. There was another mis-step too. They didn’t bring green beans with Mindy’s special. Definitely out of character for CBC. What we had was good, however. Admitting their mistake, they quickly brought her some separately. My food was delicious. I enjoyed my quesadilla with a Bodhi IPA.

We finished our dinner and beers then had Jamie bring us a carryout container for the leftovers. Mindy paid the tab. I’m thinking that it was near 1015pm when we left for home. I drove. We weren’t up too long at all. In fact, Mindy was already in bed while I checked in with work. Things were thankfully quiet. Eiknarf was excited to have us home and to be sleeping once again in our bed. Under a lovely clear sky, I bid the moon a good night!