Ski Day #4 - Eagle has landed

Wake, Run, Eat, Ski ...

 

 

Sunday – last ski day

Woke around 7am. Much to my surprise, there was more snow overnight. Looked like 2.5” and it was still coming down.

Coffee at the Inn ahead of my run. The soft snow was easier to run in than the day before. An almost constant stream of traffic kept me from ditching into the road. Figured it busy on the slopes!
After my run and after taking Mindy coffee, I headed out to scrape the Pilot free of snow. By then there was about 4” of fresh snow. Took a while to clear the Pilot and Thule of the powdery snow pack. I wanted the Pilot road ready. After all, we’d be driving home at the end of the ski day. By the way, Jacob found himself stuck in the closet middle of the night. Mindy had to wake and free him. He knocked the door off the track. 

Everyone was up and packing for home in the room. I took a quick shower. Felt great! We had everything ready for loading but then went for breakfast. This time they had scrambled eggs and sausage! Yum-yum. I was careful not to over indulge.

Back to the room to load the Pilot and ready for our last day of skiing. Always a trick to organize the gear so that one can change into comfy clothes at day’s end for the drive and then leave enough room for all the snowy ski boots etc. I made more than my fair share of trips up and down those stairs loading the Pilot. Packed to the hilt. I was sweating good!

Checked out of the room at 1050am. Somewhat lengthy line. A woman ahead of me arguing and getting a credit. Not sure what all that was about.

Finally headed up Cindy’s lift at 1110am. Snow was again very nice, though not as virgin as it was Saturday early. We skied Morning Star then Eagle & Raven, it’s first opening. Had a little scare with Bella at the bottom of Eagle. She fell and had one ski bury deep into the snow pack. Her legs were twisted in such a way that I thought it impossible. Thankfully, she was giggling. Had to release her binding manually and then tug on the ski to free it. Yikes! Ever since Saturday’s powder skiing, she’d been skiing tentatively, and that’s after the private lesson on Friday.

We spent about an hour over there then headed to Tannenbaum, Independence (now officially opened), and then Spruce Lake. Skied for a solid three hours before calling it a day and heading to the Pilot. It was 245pm by the time we had the skis loaded in the Thule, our other gear comfortably stowed, and everybody peed. Good times had by all. All the runs were finally opened.

Even though there wasn’t any snow forecasted, the roads got dangerously slick near Erie in a couple quick hit or miss snow squalls. We stopped in west Erie for lunch, going through a Wendy’s drive-thru. I had a double baconator! After Erie the drive was a piece of cake and the roads clear and mostly dry. Ten miles shy of 271 in Ohio, I pulled in a rest stop so everyone could pee. Mindy drove the rest of the way home. I much appreciated the opportunity to rest my eyes.

David sent a text near 615pm letting me know that the Vikings were leading the Packers 20-7. I promised myself not to listen or check the score so not to get antsy. Still, it was nice to see that they had the lead. Another text came in about 45 minutes later. I refused to look, not wanting to know anymore until the game was over, which I figured that to be near 745pm. The I-71 leg of the drive can be mind- numbing. To help pass the time, we played the alphabet and guess my number game. Arrived home just before 8pm, or after 5 hours and 10 minutes.

Asked Mindy to stop at the base of the drive so I could shovel a path to avoid packing down the snow. Turned out, everybody, including Bella, helped shovel snow. We shoveled the entire drive and walk. We carried everything inside except for our skis which I left in the Thule. Inside, we put almost everything away, too. The house, you may recall, was already a disaster from Xmas.
Things settled down around 930pm. Mindy called her mom to let her know we were home but that we wouldn’t pick up the dog until the following morning. She was OK with that. Glenn and I enjoyed a few Jack & Cokes. Headed to bed around 11pm.