Skiing - Blue Mountain, PA

This weekend we stayed at a friends house, introduced a friend to skiing, and relaxed in the hot tub - Overall an awesome weekend.

We took off as soon as everyone was free and the ice had melted a little bit Thursday afternoon. We took a more circuitous route to get to Allentown, PA due to roads being closed from ice, snow, or accidents. We made it no problem with some good driving skills and 4 wheel drive. All that just made us think how great the skiing conditions were going to be on the mountain.

Friday we woke up early and arrived at the ski lodge just as the doors were opened. We filled out all the paperwork, discussed our options, established time lines, and worked through all the rental equipment lines. Finally, we were read to get started, and the two less experienced folks -me and Gertie- head out to a lesson. She was in the beginner group which started with how to put on the ski's. As I it had been about four years since I last put on a pair ski's I also signed up for a lesson, but needed the more intermediate level.

As my group came down one slope, we passed Gertie who followed us down. After two more short, slow runs, Gertie and I met up with Greg and Tim. They had warmed up on the black diamonds, but then stayed with us for the rest of the day. After a good day of making sure Gertie really was enjoying the sport, we un-cramped our feet from the boots and head back to Tim's parents place for some good home cooked meal and some time in the hot tub.

Saturday dawned to a group of old sounding people, but all wanting to hit the slopes again. It took us a little longer to get ready, but we got to enjoy a nice big breakfast. As the holiday weekend had officially started, we hit long lines as soon as we go the lodge, but with forethought actually navigated well and hit the slopes within an hour.

We stuck to greens, but took some of the longer trails. Greg and I also got some extra runs in on the blues, which is about as difficult as I go right now. As with all ski adventures, I did crash a few times, so the last two runs Greg and Gertie got to do on their own. As the lights came on and the temperature dropped and the slopes became ore ice and compact snow, we decided it was time to say good-bye. So we packed up once more and headed home for a good nights sleep. The next morning we headed out for home with a stop off for the guys at Cabela's. It was fun until we realized we already had a packed car, and as a group had just bought a cart full of stuff.