How I Fell in Love with Skiing

If you read this blog with any sort of regularity, you probably know that I work for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. Also if you read this blog with any sort of regularity, you probably know I haven't written a ton about skiing or snowboarding.

Despite living in Colorado for a year and half, my experiences with skiing and snowboarding before moving to Park City were not super numerous. My dad tore his ACL skiing when I was a kid so, as a result, our family trips tended more towards beaches than mountains. 

I learned to ski when I was 22 when I went to Breckenridge with a bunch of fellow USOC interns. Interestingly enough, that is also where my dad tore his ACL. So, I learned to ski at the same place where my dad ended his skiing career.

First time skiing...gotta love the '80s ski pants I found at Goodwill for $12.

My first time skiing consisted of a fellow intern going up the chairlift to the top of the bunny hill with me, telling me there wasn't much she could teach me, then her skiing off to another run. So, I did the bunny hill over and over again, watching other people and just doing what seemed like it was right. By the end of the day, she talked me into going down a blue run with her. I did pretty decently until I fell and couldn't figure out how to put my ski back on. 

Despite ending my ski day on a low note, I was talked into returning to the ski hill by my lovely friends Ruth and Steven Moll, who lived in Denver at the time. We went to Loveland Ski Area a few times and had a very relaxing, fun couple of ski days. 

On one of our trips to Loveland, Ruth and I decided to go up to the top of the mountain to try out a blue run we had seen on the map. Due to terrible visibility and our less-than-expert knowledge of the ski area, we somehow ended up going down a black diamond. That remains to this day the most challenging terrain I have tackled on skis. And it probably looked like I was physically trying to tackle the ski hill the entire tire since I pretty much slid down the entire run on my ass.

My next adventure in skiing occurred when my sister decided to visit me in Colorado for spring break. I had the brilliant idea of taking her skiing. So, we drove through lots of nature for several hours to Monarch Mountain. After getting rental skis and equipment, we headed to the bunny hill. Now, if you know my sister, you know that sometimes she gets worked up very quickly. After falling a few times on the bunny hill, she pretty much decided she was done. I finally yelled at her at one point in time: "Can't is the cancer of happen!" This was a crazy Charlie Sheen phrase that we had been laughing at a few days earlier. Fortunately, it made her laugh and she eventually got the hang of the bunny hill!

Skiing sistradres at Monarch Mountain

After moving to San Diego, I didn't ski for awhile. There were ski resorts a couple of hours away, but when it was 70 degrees and sunny out in January, skiing wasn't in the forefront of my mind.

Fast forward a year. After getting laid off and taking a job at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, I found myself in Park City, Utah. And something magical happened.

After the first snowfall of the year, all I wanted to do was ski. Even though it'd been a year or so since I'd been on the slopes, it felt like yesterday that I had heard the wind as I wound my way down a run. I anxiously awaited the resort opening dates and, a few weeks after opening day, made my way to Park City Mountain Resort with my friends Korey and Ashley.

Back in the saddle again!

Now, it's January and I'm skiing at least twice a week. I bought my own ski boots, then caved and bought my own skis a few days later. My friend Julia and I frequent night skiing at PCMR to sneak in a little bit of ski time after work. I've had two ski days with my coworkers in my department. And every single time, I just love it. My quads may be burning at the end of the day and I may have a knack for falling and injuring my hands, but it's just FUN!!

First day out on my own skis at Deer Valley

Also, I got smart and bought a helmet. PSA for a moment - please wear a helmet when participating in snow sports!!

So, in short, I love skiing. Even as I sit here writing this, I'm thinking about how much I'd love to be out skiing even though my quads hurt from skiing yesterday and I have to rest for my half marathon tomorrow.

I never thought I'd say this...but can winter please not end???

Keeping the Roads Hot

So, I realized the other day that I haven't remained in a single state in nearly a year (and I will be going a full year without staying in one state since I have travel plans through January). I thought it'd be fun to relive my travels a bit and preview those to come!

November 2011

Indiana and California

December 2011

Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and California

January 2012

Florida and California

February 2012 (my only one-state month!)

California

March 2012

North Carolina, Georgia and California

April 2012

Indiana, Michigan and California

May 2012

Indiana, Michigan and California

June 2012

Oregon and California

July 2012

Oregon, California, Georgia, France and United Kingdom

August 2012

California, Indiana, Georgia and United Kingdom

September 2012

California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah

October 2012

Utah and New York

November 2012

Utah and Colorado

December 2012

Utah, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida

January 2013

Florida, Arizona and Utah

The Great(ish) Amtrak Journey: Part 2

I've returned! My trip to Colorado went very well, but before posting about all of that, I figured I'd finish up my Amtrak story.

The rest of my trip to Colorado was pretty uneventful. After the sun set, there weren't many things to look at, so I watched more TV on my iPad Mini and slept off and on. We did go by a herd of elk at one point, though, and that was pretty cool. I attempted to get a picture, but the lack of sunlight made it a little difficult.

On the way back, I was planning on leaving from Glenwood Springs since I'd be coming from Aspen (Glenwood Springs is where the state highway leading to Aspen connects to I-70), but that ended up changing when I was offered the chance to go to a Denver Nuggets game with my friend Margaux! More on that in my post to come about the non-train portions of the trip.

Anyways, I ended up leaving from Denver. Their station is a bit bigger than Salt Lake's, but in need of some updating. There's construction all around the area, so it looks like that may be happening. I managed to snag yet another bulkhead seat (upon reading about train seating, apparently bulkheads aren't as highly valued as I thought, but they do indeed have more legroom and you always have a full window!) and promptly set it up as my home for the next fifteen hours.

Again, I got two seats to myself for the full duration of the trip. This trip made me very grateful for my height, as I was able to perfectly curl up into a ball on the two seats with the leg rests propped out. I wish I had remembered a pillow, though, although having two blankets made that a little better.

The highlight of this train trip was going through the canyons of western Colorado during sunset. The red rocks looked absolutely stunning in light! So, me being me, I snapped about half a million photos.

All of Colorado was very beautiful. There wasn't much snow, which was a bit surprising for this time of year, but it was still great to see. I highly recommend a trip on the California Zephyr if you're interested in the scenic route between Salt Lake and Denver! And now, I leave you with some Instagram photos...

Lone truck in western Colorado

Glenwood Springs

Colorado River in the mountains

The Great(ish) Amtrak Journey: Part 1

Greetings from Grand Junction, Colorado!

So far, the Amtrak journey from Salt Lake City to Denver is going well. It started this morning very early (or last night very late depending on how you look at it). I got to the station at 2:30am, mainly because it said online that you had to check bags more than 45 minutes prior to departure (departure time was listed at 3:30am) and I didn't want to lug my massive suitcase around. But, when I went to check in, they said the train would be arriving in ten minutes! 

The train did indeed arrive about ten minutes later, but it took 15-20 minutes for them to unload all of the passengers who were completing their journey at Salt Lake. The train still stayed at the station until about 3:30am, but I was glad to be there earlier so I could get a good seat. And I definitely did! I am in the bulkhead, so I have a TON of room. If you think bulkheads have a lot of legroom on airplanes, just wait til you see it on a train. I have a good foot and a half of space between my feet and the wall and I'm all sprawled out! I read that some people aren't fans of the bulkhead because the doors between train cars can be noisy, but I just popped in my in-ear headphones and played some Mumford and Sons and barely noticed the noise at all. I also had an eye mask (thanks, Gap Outlet clearance sale), so that blocked out any light.

I managed to sleep until about 8am. I didn't have anyone in the seat next to me, so I put both the leg rests all the way up and turned it into a little bed. Fortunately, since I am vertically challenged, that worked out well for me. I slept wonderfully, much to my surprise.

When I woke up, they were serving breakfast in the dining car, but I opted against that and watched some TV on my new iPad Mini. I think I'll go to the dining car for lunch, but right now, I am nice and cozy in my seat.

The desert scenery has been pretty cool...check out some of my Instagram pics below!

Colorado River

Utah desert

Shantytown in the desert

More desert

So that's part one. We'll call it the desert portion. Next up are the mountains...I'm definitely looking forward to the scenery for that part!!

Not Your Average Thanksgiving

This year, my Thanksgiving is not going to be like it usually is.

Typically, I have a pretty normal Thanksgiving. I brave the ridiculous airport crowds to fly back to Indianapolis, where I have three Thanksgivings (usually) with about 100ish family members (probably an exaggeration, but oh well). I usually talk my sister or mom into going Black Friday shopping with me (although that was slightly delayed last year by a hangover), even though neither of them really want to.

My Thanksgiving this year starts tonight (technically tomorrow) at 2:30am, when I get to the Amtrak station in Salt Lake City. I'll be taking the California Zephyr train through the mountains to Denver, where I'll be spending two days with my former roommate and dear friend Karen. After two days in Denver, we're driving up to the mountains for the Nature Valley Aspen Winternational, a women's alpine skiing World Cup. After two days there, it's back on the train and back to Utah!

It'll be interesting. I'll definitely miss my normal, chaotic holiday that I love despite its craziness. I'll miss my family and our traditions, both old and new.

But stay tuned for an update on my 15-hour train trip and the ensuing Colorado adventure!