Canyons Impress & Sketti Fulfills

 

Up near 6am to a partly cloudy morning. Felt like a champ. Like each day prior, enjoyed David’s company along with coffee and a banana before a stretch and then heading off on a run. We were both looking forward to a return to the slopes.

I employed pretty much the same running strategy as the three days prior, running downhill to the north but mixing it up a little at the far north end of the trail. Once again, the uphill return left me huffing and puffing for oxygen. Stopped briefly to catch my wind but then continued on to the finish. There’s no quit in me! No sir!

Off to the shower once back at the house. The temp was expected to be much cooler than the prior ski days. The high in town was expected to top out near 32, which meant the slopes would be even colder – and probably the teens at the top. We dressed accordingly.

Anita drove us to the Canyons, which was maybe 3 or 4 miles to the north of our place and real close to the Smith’s grocery. The Canyons is said to be the largest ski resort in North America. One heck of a ski village, too. All the major hotel operators have a presence. Looks very ritzy.

We arrived around 915am. The lift ticket line was long and somewhat inefficient. We wondered if there might’ve been a better way of getting our lift tickets. Oh well. We endured the wait. Took at least 30 minutes to get our lift tickets and then get on the Gondola, which was another first for Mindy and I.

Met some interesting folks on the ride up. Shared that we would see some gorgeous homes scattered through the park most of which range from $10-15 million. The Gondola ride provided stunning vistas of a deep gorge below. Nice! Once off the gondola, we waited another 10 minutes or so for the others (Tommy, David, and Glenn). By 950am we were on yet another lift headed higher up the mountain.

Great skiing. And while most of the runs were groomed, the snow was amazing. Lots of untouched powder off to the sides. Best guess about 4”, so it was fun to ski in without fear of losing ones skis. We skied for 3+ hours nonstop. And during the first hour, the skies unexpectedly cleared giving us our third bluebird day that week. That made a great ski day even better.

Part of the Canyons ski park winds through a mountain subdivision with several stunning homes nestles in amongst the ski runs. Wow! We took a break in a lodge a shortly after 1pm high atop one of the mountain peaks. There I bought some food and drink. Holy smoke. A cheese burger and fries was $20! Bottomline, I spent $55 on two sandwiches with fries and two Gatorades.

We enjoyed our food from an outdoor table. Glenn was on the lone objector to the outdoor table. He was cold, especially his toes. Needed to warm up. Tommy & Mindy professed being cold, too. David and I were eager to get back out on the mountain. Nearing 2pm, we opted to ski on. David and I headed out skiing really hard doing some moguled double blues and then taking a couple of run shoots through fresh powder. Those made my heart bounce, but that’s what I’d been dreaming of all season long. What a thrill!

We skied hard for the next 2 hours until day’s end. We never did hook-up with Tommy, Mindy & Glenn, though we went back by that lodge around 3pm to find them already gone. We had a blast. Of the three parks, Canyons was my fave. David gave his vote to Deer Valley. Either way, love them both.

Met the others at the parks center at 4pm. All were present save for Glenn. Mindy shared that she and he found some really cool, long runs along the upper ridge that Glenn went to do once more on his own. That’s Glenn! While waiting for Glenn, I popped in the first gift shop I could find. Nothing that suited my fancy. In and out in a hurry. Didn’t want to miss Glenn walking by. Found him.

Mindy and I asked the others how they felt about spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. All agreed that sounded good. She and I wanted to run into town together and get the stuff once we were out of our ski gear back at the house. Must’ve been near 5pm when we headed back to the north to the Smith’s to get the spaghetti ingredients. As for any other grocs, we didn’t need anything else. In fact, it was looking like we’d be leaving lots of food behind come Saturday. While there, we picked up some fresh sushi for David. He loves the stuff.

Mindy and I agreed that once back at the house, we were going to get in the hot tub before starting the spaghetti. I poured 1.5 beers into a tumbler before getting in. That would pretty much serve as my beer consumption for the day’s entirety. Mindy wasn’t in long. Maybe 10 minutes. The rest of us were in at least 30 minutes. Once again, Glenn was king. He was in the hot tub for at least an hour – maybe longer.

I could tell that Mindy wasn’t feeling well when I headed back inside. She looked flushed. Even still, she finished making the spaghetti & meatballs and garlic bread. A little mix up with David. Earlier that week, he bought a 2lb roll of sausage. Half was for more breakfast casserole. Offered the rest for spaghetti and meatballs. He and I both like sausage in our sketti. All the while making the spaghetti, Mindy was prepping spaghetti, she was also working o Friday’s casserole. She used the pound of sausage David fried up for the casserole. So come time for David to add sausage to his spaghetti and meatballs, there wasn’t any cooked sausage left. Awkward!

Not to be defeated, David fried up the remaining pound. I waited and had some sausage on mine, too.
Dinner left my tummy heavy and full, just as we planned. After clean-up, most of us settled around the TV to catch American Idol’s top 13 night. During the episode, I dosed off a time or two. David and Anita were off to bed really early. I’m guessing that it was somewhere close to 8pm. Mindy and I headed to bed near 9-930pm again. Tommy was in bed early again, too.