Spring Break was the other week and that means only one thing, Big Sky!! We did things a little differently this year. 1) The trip was Sat-Monday because of reason 2) I flew out of State College! When looking at flights back in August, it was less that $100 to fly directly from State College instead of BWI. That saves me an extra days travel and gas money. In the end, it didn't quite save me as much as I'd hoped. United at State College charged me extra for my boot bag because I used ski clothes to pad my boots in the bag. According to their policies, a boot bag only counts as a boot bag if it contains ONLY 1 pair of boots (and bindings). Being as I didn't want my boots destroyed, I padded them with clothes as I always do. The agent in State College then charged me an extra $35 for a second bag!
Other than the bags, the flight out was uneventful. State College to Dulles, then on to Denver, finally up to Bozeman. I had a delicious wrap in the Denver airport that wasn't too expensive! I got in kinda late to Bozeman, but still had an hour or so before Caitlin & Rogue arrived. Dad picked us all up and we headed up to the mountain, getting in just before midnight.
The skiing was incredible! First couple of days had some flat light and crazy wind, but still great. The logs of my skiing escapades can be found here. Some pictures (taken by professionals) can be found here. They are all proofs, and you have to pay an arm and a leg to get them, but they're fun to look at! You can see my beautifully painted poles (which are due for repainting in this off season so LOOK out for brighter poles next year) and my dad's REALLY bright green jacket.
On Wednesday, we did a change over of personel. Caitlin & Rogue left mid-day, and Farmer John arrived that night. The skiing on Wednesday was some of the best. We received several inches of powder overnight and had great skiing in the morning. The afternoon had some flat light and we saw 3 people being attended to by Ski Patrol in a very short time, so we called it early that day.
At some point in the later half of the week, I tweaked my knee... yeah, same one as last year. Not nearly as badly as last year as I didn't fall on it or have harsh impact. Well, I did fall, but that wasn't the cause of injury, falling was just fun! This year, I twisted it slightly while skiing backwards as I was checking on those behind me. It wasn't too terrible, I was able to continue skiing on it all week, but I certainly felt that I tweaked it a little bit. Hopefully, some rest is all it needs to heal.
I did ski every day, both the morning and the afternoon. Yes, 8 days in a row. I was good until the last afternoon. Had we been there any longer, I would have had to take a day off to rest, my legs were really tired that last afternoon.
Food wise, it was great. Gary did his traditional cooking most nights, and I lessened the load on him by cooking my chili one night. Next year, I'll see about cooking 2 dishes so that Gary isn't on the hook as much. In addition, we ate out 2 nights. Wednesday, we went to the Montana Ale Works (down in Bozeman). I had an elk burger, which was delicious and the beer there is always good (mostly local micro-brews). The other time we ate out at the Lone Peak Brewery. Lone Peak is located down in the Big Sky Meadow Village (about a 20 minute drive from the mountain) and brews their own beer on site. The pub food was quite good, and the beer great, as well. We started going to the Ale Works last year and I think that we might add both the Ale Works and the Lone Peak Brewery to the list of yearly nights out.
There's much more to tell (if you want all the details), but I don't feel like writing everything about every day. Those are the general concepts. As usual, I had a blast and am trying to figure out how I can move out to Montana and support myself. Gary and I brainstormed again this year, and we may have come up with some feasible ideas... time will tell.
Other than the bags, the flight out was uneventful. State College to Dulles, then on to Denver, finally up to Bozeman. I had a delicious wrap in the Denver airport that wasn't too expensive! I got in kinda late to Bozeman, but still had an hour or so before Caitlin & Rogue arrived. Dad picked us all up and we headed up to the mountain, getting in just before midnight.
The skiing was incredible! First couple of days had some flat light and crazy wind, but still great. The logs of my skiing escapades can be found here. Some pictures (taken by professionals) can be found here. They are all proofs, and you have to pay an arm and a leg to get them, but they're fun to look at! You can see my beautifully painted poles (which are due for repainting in this off season so LOOK out for brighter poles next year) and my dad's REALLY bright green jacket.On Wednesday, we did a change over of personel. Caitlin & Rogue left mid-day, and Farmer John arrived that night. The skiing on Wednesday was some of the best. We received several inches of powder overnight and had great skiing in the morning. The afternoon had some flat light and we saw 3 people being attended to by Ski Patrol in a very short time, so we called it early that day.
At some point in the later half of the week, I tweaked my knee... yeah, same one as last year. Not nearly as badly as last year as I didn't fall on it or have harsh impact. Well, I did fall, but that wasn't the cause of injury, falling was just fun! This year, I twisted it slightly while skiing backwards as I was checking on those behind me. It wasn't too terrible, I was able to continue skiing on it all week, but I certainly felt that I tweaked it a little bit. Hopefully, some rest is all it needs to heal.
I did ski every day, both the morning and the afternoon. Yes, 8 days in a row. I was good until the last afternoon. Had we been there any longer, I would have had to take a day off to rest, my legs were really tired that last afternoon.
Food wise, it was great. Gary did his traditional cooking most nights, and I lessened the load on him by cooking my chili one night. Next year, I'll see about cooking 2 dishes so that Gary isn't on the hook as much. In addition, we ate out 2 nights. Wednesday, we went to the Montana Ale Works (down in Bozeman). I had an elk burger, which was delicious and the beer there is always good (mostly local micro-brews). The other time we ate out at the Lone Peak Brewery. Lone Peak is located down in the Big Sky Meadow Village (about a 20 minute drive from the mountain) and brews their own beer on site. The pub food was quite good, and the beer great, as well. We started going to the Ale Works last year and I think that we might add both the Ale Works and the Lone Peak Brewery to the list of yearly nights out.
There's much more to tell (if you want all the details), but I don't feel like writing everything about every day. Those are the general concepts. As usual, I had a blast and am trying to figure out how I can move out to Montana and support myself. Gary and I brainstormed again this year, and we may have come up with some feasible ideas... time will tell.
