Winter Olympics, Moose Hunting, and Skiing

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As I've been busy I'm going to have to combine two days into one blog; I'm sure you can all suffer through it! The end of my trip is nearing, and tomorrow at 10 a.m. I will be heading to a hill for one last winter sport of inter-tubing before heading off to the airport to head for home--and daily life and stresses. Its been a very interesting vacation being a nanny--but not quite a nanny--on this trip, plagued with questions of 'how do I act' 'am I doing this right' and other such thoughts. But mainly I had fun, and enjoyed the snow much more than a sane person probably should. I'm going to be sad to see it go, and despite my mangled knees, I really REALLY enjoy skiing and hope I can do it again someday only perhaps with, you know, lessons.

So, yesterday after waking up at nine thirty I wolfed down food and coffee (if you can call it that. I miss tea SO SO much) and then we all huddled out to go see where the Winter Olympics were held, but not before taking a picture of the piles of snow moved to let our car pass. The ski runs were terrifying to behold in both height and length and made me wonder at the muscles and nerves of iron those skiiers must have to go down them. The day was very bright and clear and at 18 degrees, it felt more like 60 thanks to the sun and large rather steep hill we had to climb to follow the toboggan course. There was only one person practicing that day, and a camera/film man informed us that the tobogganer only did four runs a day. We only saw a flash of head and a roar of skates on ice before he was gone. The covers were up and so we could only make him out for a brief moment before he disappeared.

We waited for a few moments and then decided to wait to see if he would run again. While doing so Terry began an impromptu snow fight, of which we girls won by ganging up on him and throwing for all we were worth! We saw the tobogganer go down one more run (or more like HEARD him to do one more run), and then headed down for lunch. One of the things I've noticed about Utah is that everything is very new. VERY new. The restaurant we went into was really nice, and the food was amazing. But honestly, I miss cooking and think I'm going to be good with not eating out for a while. We've eaten out almost every single day. I miss having fresh ingredients to work with, and cooking with oils and butter and lemons and recipe books.

But the most amazing thing that happened that day was seeing moose. That's right MOOSE. We were leaving the winter Olympics grounds when we saw them eating trees. We pulled the van over and armed with cameras, adrenaline and screams, we went hunting. Isabella got stuck in waist high snow and after pulling her out we swung the car around to follow them as they left. We went around a corner and then jumped out, I with my incredible zoom and with the sounds of Terry making clicky noises, managed to get ones attention for a photo perfect picture. The rest of that was spent hanging out at the house.

This morning I woke up at 7:30 and got dressed and made in time to have an honest to god breakfast for the first time on this trip. I had sausage, a bagel, coffee, and bananas! I was so happy to have something other than pancakes for once! My knees didn't hurt one little bit and my legs weren't sore, so I was VERY excited to go skiing. We got out boots and our skiis and then hit the trail! Audrey chose to be my partner again, and we went down the bunny hill for practice then went strait away to the Green Runs. I did really well and enjoyed skiing as it began to snow, but by the end of the run my knee was hurting. I refused to care however, and went down it again, this time with the snow very heavy, the winds blowing, and the temperature dropping. After the second round (and it WAS fun despite the pain), Audrey and I went to the Ski Lodge to find a table for lunch.

Utah Ski Lodge's KNOW how to cook. If your thinking of going Skiing here, definitely have lunch! I had a loaded baked potato roughly the size of my head, a salad, and carrot cake, mainly because I haven't had carrot cake in FOREVER. After lunch I hit the Green Runs one last time by myself, but my knees weren't having it, and I had to go slow, even when I didn't want to. I took a lift back down the bunny hills and then waited while the snow drifted around me in huge chunks. I'm now awaiting pizza and I think we're going to be watching a movie soon!

This trip has been a lot of fun, if sometimes stressful, and in all honesty, has made me realize how much I like traveling alone. Utah is a beautiful place in the winter time (if you like snow/skiing), and I hope to someday come back and try the mountains again and laugh in their faces when my knees don't give out! This trip has also made me aware of how out of shape I am, muscle speaking. I have good endurance/cardio, but I used muscles I didn't know I hadn't been using. I'm thinking Capawari Dancing and Pilates when I get home. The vacation has been a good break--and one I needed--but I'm also a little relieved to get back home. So in conclusion, this vacation has been immensely fun, a little trying, and something I want to do again! But perhaps next time, with friends instead.

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