Hopson turned 40 in December. I remember when my parents turned 40...I thought they were older than dirt. Well, now Hopson is as old as dirt & I'm not far behind. Well, my accountant husband did not want a party. He was actually hunting the entire week of his birthday so he could make it as difficult as possible. Instead of a party he and I decided to take a trip. We decided to go snow skiing.
I learned to ski 6 years ago, and needless to say I'm not a super skier by any stretch of the imagination, but I can hold my own, or so I thought. We usually ski in the spring. There are a few things I am used to when I ski: average temperature is usually around 35-40 degrees, all the green and blue slopes (except 3 or 4) are groomed as well as a few black runs, and we are lucky if we get a few inches of fresh powder to ski on.
What I learned about myself is I'm a spoiled rotten skier. I learned this very hard lesson in Colorado this past weekend. While skiing in Vail we had 10-12 inches of fresh powder over one night. Um, yeah, I don't like that much powder, or I should say my knees didn't like that much powder. I thought they were going to explode. At one point I fell, and just wanted to lay in the snow. I wasn't cold, but actually really comfortable. LOL! Poor Hopson. He showed extreme patients with me, and really took care of me. Towards the end of each day on my last runs I had to stop a ton, and he never complained or left me, but followed me down the slopes in case I hurt myself & needed the ski patrol. Yes, I was in that much pain.
There was no one to carry my skies for me, no one was excited that I had come to ski on their slopes, and there wasn't a HUGE buffet for me to make a gigantic salad to eat for lunch. Like I said, spoiled rotten skier. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, Colorado is beautiful! I don't know how the early settlers handled the savage beauty of this state. Early February is COLD, and very snowy. It is so beautiful it looks fake. As you drive on your way to the Vail/Beaver Creek area each town has trees lit with Christmas lights, and it looks like the town is in a perpetual state of Christmas. It is breath-taking.
Hopson and I had planned to go out to dinner at least once, but after all the hard work we did on the slopes each day we decided it was more relaxing to eat in just the 2 of us. We ate fried chicken salad. I'm going to include the recipe below because it's so easy.
We are going skiing again over spring break with the children. I desperately hope we don't have as much snow as we had a week ago. I'm being a little selfish, but if I'm going to last all day I am going to need a little help from the Ultimate Weatherman. I'm keeping a close eye on the snowfall totals, but no matter what, I know I'll have tons of fun spending time with my family.
Y'all stay warm & be blessed beyond measure,
~ashley
Fried Chicken Salad for 2:
1/2 pound friend chicken fingers
1 bag baby greens or spring mix lettuce
Feta cheese
1 can Mandarin orange segments
1 small bottle Wish Bone Italian dressing
Cut chicken into bite size pieces. Toss in with all other ingredients and serve immediately
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| Breckenridge. Co |
So jealous! Jason and I lived in Denver in the early 90s. In fact, Miranda missed being born there by just a couple weeks.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I skied (ski-ed?? how do you spell it. none of it looks right!) was in '93. I was making my way down a pretty easy slope I'd skiied (?) several times before. ESPN had an exhibit run going next to where I was skiing (ah, got that one right!) and Olympian Alberto Tombo was making a run the same time I was. I was so wrapped up in watching him, I busted. Big time! Head over heals over head over heals. I had to limp down the rest of the slope (picking up skis as I went). Next 4 months was spent in rehab.
Ohhh, the good memories! You're right. Colorado is so beautiful it almost looks fake. Except it's not. I loved it. Love it. Miss it. May go back there when the kids are all grown and out.
Have a great time on the spring break trip! Heading to CO again?