Ski Bums

It's had been two years since Noa and I had hit the slopes (though the boys went last winter), and with the school year waning and Owen's departure for college looming,  I was adamant that we needed to get some sort of family trip in this year. This was challenging because Allen started a new job with more travel, the kids have completely different school schedules and I've been in the throes of finalizing regs to beat the Congressional Review Act. Allen finally identified a long weekend he though would work, right after he got back from a trip to Richland (assuming he made it back), Noa was still on Spring Break, and Owen's various instrumental performances were cancelled. So while the stars were briefly aligned, Allen booked a four day (two of which involved skiing) trip to Deer Valley, UT. Over the Easter weekend.

We were all a little anxious given Allen's last work trip to Richland, but amazingly (after he rebooked his flight out through Salt Lake City instead of Minneapolis due to a snow storm) he made it home on Wednesday in time to pack for an early Thursday departure. Everyone got up at the proper hour, we made it to the airport early enough to window shop for socks and get breakfast before we boarded the plane. We did not check in early enough, however, so that we could all sit together, which meant that we all took various middle seats throughout the plane and Noa got to sit next to someone that ate hardboiled eggs the entire flight.

When we arrived in Salt Lake, we retrieved our luggage, took a shuttle to the rental car place, and then found a lovely brewery in downtown Park City for a late lunch. Afterwards we stopped by a grocery store for supplies before heading to Deer Valley as some incredibly fat snowflakes started falling.

We dropped stuff at the house and then walked down to the main lodge before we swung by the rental place to pick up skis (we'd decided to not bring skis since Noa's don't fit and the rental cost versus the hassle of checking them was a bit of a wash) and then headed back to the house for a pseudo dinner and some quality hot tub time (and strangely a snow angel from Allen).

The next morning there were several inches of fresh powder and kind of ideal conditions for skiing – cloudy but good visibility, temperatures in the low thirties and not too many people (oddly, not a lot of people go skiing on Good Friday). The morning was good. We'd promised Noa we would get them a pair of socks from the sock store at BWI if they found some form of currency in the snow, so when Noa saw a run called "Legal Tender" they renegotiated so that as long as they made it down the trail, socks would be theirs.

Noa had a few falls in the morning (one of which was pretty bad) so after a hot chocolate break, Allen took them back to the house while Owen and I got in a few nice blues, then we met Allen for lunch before I headed back to the house so that the boys could go do some crazy stuff (but not too crazy given Owen has a senior recital coming up next month and Ms. Purdie was not excited about this trip). After the boys got home, we cleaned up and headed out to a lovely dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant and then gathered for another night in the hot tub (Noa demurred) as it began snowing even more. Then we all crashed.

Noa and I didn't sleep that well, and so the boys headed off in the morning to explore the fresh powder while the two of us slept in. We met up with them at the base where they gave us the skinny: foggy with terrible viability up top and melty, icy snow lower down. After a equipment related fall at the top of the lift, Noa informed us they had three falls for the day and then were done. Despite the fact that they didn't fall again, they still wanted to cut it short and so after a late start and early lunch (it was still pretty crappy conditions), so Noa and I turned in our skis and went home. The boys lasted a little longer but came home an hour or so later. We had one more dip in the hot tub, ate leftovers, did laundry, packed, had then crashed.

We woke up the next morning to some serious snow fall, which was bit bittersweet for Allen. It also made the drive back to Salt Lake City pretty painful. But once we returned the rental car, checked in, made it through security and had breakfast we all relaxed. And while it was a short trip, hopefully we'll still manage to get some more ski outings in after Owen leaves for school.

(To see all the ski pics, click here.)