CO, Part 1: Skiing

I have a lot of stories to tell about my weekend in CO, but I decided to tell it in pieces, and not necessarily in chronological order. Partially because I don't have the pics I want, and partially because I think I accidentally made Sarah feel bad yesterday, so I feel the need to tell my learning to ski story, so that she knows it wasn't as bad as scuba diving for me. Seriously, I can barely even watch people go underwater anymore, but I'll watch people ski all day long. The comparison was meant to be that not everything I try is for me.

Plus, with 3.5 days left of work, I'm not all that interested in doing much of anything, you know? Might as well blog.

So internet friends, guess what! I learned to ski!

Saturday started early. I haven't told you any other stories yet, so you don't know this, but I didn't get home Friday night until around 2 am. I don't know what time Sarah actually came to wake me up, but I know that I was dressed and downstairs before 7 am. So yeah, I started the day feeling pretty tired.

By the time we got to A-Basin with my rented skis, etc. all of the good parking was gone, and we had quite a ways to go to get to the actual ski hills. (ed. note: It probably was not all that far, it only seemed really far because I immediately strapped on my skis.) I put on my skis, and supposedly started heading towards my ski lesson! But the trail I was on was full of other people who already know how to ski, and right on a street. With cars on it. (Scary to someone who falls down a lot.) One guy saw me fall and we told him that it was my first day on skis, and he couldn't believe it. I'm not sure why he was so thrown by that, but it was weird to me. After a few tries, and a lot of frustration, I took off the skis and walked. (In ski boots, which are just plain mean bully shoes.) We got to another point of the walk in, and I put the skis back on, still trying to get to the bottom of the ski hills. I crashed into my sister a lot. I was not ready to be on any sort of incline at all. This is the point I think where I was most frustrated- I couldn't get to the feeling of being secure while on skis. I started thinking that snowshoeing would have been a better idea, but then I decided to stop being a pussy. (When I got to walk to the bottom of the hill. I won't pretend that I'm that tough.)

Finally, we got to a flat part, and I finally started to get it. I could go back and forth on that pretty flat part! I was learning! So I did that a few times, and Sarah convinced me to try the bunny hill. At this point, we were "late" as we were supposed to head back to the car, where her friends were tailgating in between runs, but since I was finally starting to get it, we just went with it. Gotta strike while the iron is hot, right?

The ski lift was not nearly as scary as I thought it would be, and it actually was my favorite part. I called it my Moment of Zen. (Thanks, Daily Show.) I don't remember exactly how long it took me to fall down, but it's safe to say that I did on that first run. But still getting back up, because I was falling on snow, so it didn't hurt. I'm such a wimp though that I couldn't push myself back up, and kept having to take off my skis to stand up. When I was about halfway down, I fell. (Not for the first time.) But as I was standing back up, Sarah's friend Leigh came charging up the hill towards me, beer in hand. It was hilarious. I hadn't realized that I had an audience until that moment. Even after falling, I felt good for finally getting it, so we did one more run. I said something along the lines of, "Oooooh, so if I turn, I'll slow down. And that's what I want, right?" So Sarah was feeling confident in my abilities. She is a rockstar cheerleader.

This is me falling down.

Then I got to sit down and eat a big burger, a cookie, and have a beer. Not bad. I let Sarah go do a bigger hill, so that she could actually enjoy some skiing with her day on the hill, and I chatted with her friends. Oh, and I went to the nice bathroom to pee instead of peeing outside. Because I hate doing that. And Sarah knows it, so I did it while she was gone. But then when she got back, her friend was like, "Hey, guess what! Rachel peed outside!" Sarah bought it for all of 5 seconds. Thanks anyway, Annie. A for effort.

It's dark, but that's me, chillin' with a beer. And happy to be sitting.

We went back up, and I started feeling a lot more confident. We figured out what I was doing wrong (turn with your BODY, not just your head) and I had one whole run without falling down. After that, I at least knew what I was doing wrong, even if I couldn't always correct it. And I did like 20 whole feet without my sister being directly in front of me telling me what to do.

After awhile, I was just tired. Our ride was almost ready to go, so I stopped and got to lay in the snow, and enjoy that it was a nice day, and I was in the middle of some pretty beautiful mountains.

I'm not sure if I want to do it again- I have bruises all over my body, and my muscles are still sore 2 days later. For the record, I only remember one fall that hurt, so I'm actually kind of surprised at how many bruises I keep finding. (But the one on my ass won't let me forget that it's there. It's not conveniently placed for activities such as sitting down.) I was going to go again on Sunday, but I was so tired and so beat up that the idea of getting back into my ski boots (which also bruised me. I am a delicate flower) was not appealing to me at all. I won't say never, but I'm not sure if I liked it enough to actively seek out doing it again, which may be my answer. But I did not snowboard. And I may be looking for something to replace that from my list.

But I tried it, and now I know what it's about. And I did start to figure it out eventually. Maybe someday, if I'm well rested and in better shape...or maybe not. I just don't know. It was not like scuba diving, though. I was not spending all of my time wishing it was over, just wishing that I could get my body to do what I wanted it to do. *shrug* But again, that's what the list is for, right?

Stories still to come: my 1st mountain bike ride, extreme grocery shopping, mechanical bull riding, and one super bachelorette party.

Song of the day: Fall Down by Toad the Wet Sprocket

Also, just to scare the shit out of anyone else who wants to learn to scuba dive, this video that my brother sent me to explain what he's been up to. (That's not him, but watching it nearly gave me a stroke.) (Ed. note: this is not actually what it's like to learn to scuba. This is me being a big fat baby and scaring innocent people.)