L-O-V-E

i’m taking this week back to work nice and slow in a cozy graphic tee and my favorite cardigan-jacket. Mike, my parents, and i returned from Park City, UT late Sunday evening after a full week of skiing and relaxation. it was Mike’s first time skiing out West and he picked it up so quickly that we were doing some blue runs by the afternoon of the first day. by our last day, my parents were both pretty tired from skiing, so Mike and i had the afternoon to ski by ourselves. we found the longest blue runs we could spot on the map and decided to venture over to the far side of the peak that we hadn’t been to yet. as soon as we skied off the chairlift and down the run we’d chosen, we quickly realized that we were going to be the just about the only people skiing that side, with the occasional passerby. it was so incredibly quiet and peaceful, i found myself just taking in deep breaths of that mountain air and relishing the silence with him. 

there were very few signs on our trail, so we tried our best to stay on the skied area so that we didn’t get lost. well, adventure got the best of us and we started taking some side paths, assuming they’d lead us back to the main trail. a few side paths later, we were about a foot deep in powder with only a couple ski tracks in front of us and a very steep cliff to what looked like the path below us. mmmm yeah, not risking it. i talked Mike into taking his skis off and walking back to the path with me, which he was less than thrilled about. ski boots + at least 12 inches of powder + trekking at 9k feet high = the shortest and most effective workout ever. about halfway through my 30 yard ski boot hike, i just plopped down in the snow, trying to catch my breath and remain calm, convincing myself that we weren’t lost on the mountain, no matter how convinced i was that there was going to be a Lifetime movie made about us. we finally made it back to the trail, Mike rolling his eyes, me barely breathing, and one of my skis wouldn’t click in properly. 

“GREAT. now i’m going to have to go down the ENTIRE mountain on ONE SKI.” 

i nearly gave up and called the mountain safety patrol to give me a lift to the bottom when my boot finally clicked into the ski and we were ready to ski again…or so i thought. Mike had taken his skis off to help me and then experienced the same trouble clicking his boot in. WHY? WHY ARE WE GOING TO BE ABANDONED ON A MOUNTAIN WHEN IT’S DARK? naturally, the worst possible scenarios flash through my brain, without even considering that he will be able to get it to work just like i had seconds before. sure enough, about 7 minutes of trying later, we were all geared up and ready to follow the trail to some sort of civilization. i’ve never been happier to see an empty chairlift with two mountain workers than when we came across the first one. i think something along the lines of, ‘we made it! it’s a miracle!’ crossed through my mind (dramatic, much? sheesh). 

lesson learned: i’m not so good on the empty mountainside with no signs and barely any signs of life. i will automatically assume that ‘my time’ has come and will miss the peace and beauty of the surroundings for a bit. 

aside from that blood-pumping sequence, we had a wonderful trip and enjoyed our time in the Park City/Deer Valley area. you could say that we L-O-V-E’d it 😉