In Cold, Yet Charming Colorado
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Day 1 - Saturday, February 12th
We got up pretty early, packed the car, and picked Miriam up at her house around 8:30 a.m. We got to the Atlanta, checked our luggage, ate lunch, went through security, and began to wait around for our plane. We played a game of Rook while we waited, which we did quite often on our trip, as you'll notice later. I sat next to Elijah (who was by a window) on the plane, and it was really cool to look out the window while we were taking off and landing! I was kinda disappointed that in Denver there was no snow! I mean, it's Colorado, isn't there supposed to be snow? In fact, it felt like just Alabama weather! I wasn't disappointed for long though.....
Day 2 - Sunday, February 13th
After checking out of our hotel, we started up the mountain in order to meet Lydia for church at 10:30 a.m. It went up and up for a long time! To our excitement we even had a few snow flurries! It was so pretty in those mountains, even though I was reading, I'd often look up and just marvel at the beauty around me!
We got to the church in plenty of time, so we got to talk with Lydia for a while before the service started. It was a good service, but I really missed you guys doing home church right then.
After we went out to eat, we shopped at a thrift store for snow pants and stuff. We also went to the Ski Broker, to figure out the rates for renting skis. Then, we were on our way for our first look at Timberline Lodge.
We got settled in our room, then we decided to try out the tubing hill near our room. It was really fun - once I made myself do it! We decided to fill in the big wholes after a ew trips down, which left us sore for a bit! When we had done that, we had races for speed and length, and we also connected all of our tubes together and went down all at once! The only part that wasn't too fun was when Elijah and I connected our tubes and went down. That time I hit a bump, and flew off. People said it was "such a graceful fall" but it still hurt! There was another family there that was staying for a week also. There name was the Bakers, and they had a boy, Nick, I think around 11 or 12, and a girl, Sachelle, who was almost 10. Jubilee had fun playing with her. We went tubing with them when they came out, and then we had to wait our turn for the tubes because there were only six tubes. It was good to rest though, after lugging those heavy tubes up the hill! Once we were tired of tubing, we went to the huge snow fort the students had built. It was amazing! It even had tunnels! It was so cool (in more than one way! ) to be inside snow!
Day 3 - Monday, February 14th
Valentines Day! We gave each other cards and candy after breakfast, and that candy sure lasted us a long time! We ate it all week! When everyone had geared up in their snow pants, sweatshirt, coat, scarf, mittens, hat, and goggles, we headed off for our first day of skiing! We dropped by the Ski Broker to get fitted for boots and skis, then it was on to the mountain!
We put our ski boots on before the Timberline Lodge van lefts, and boy is it hard to walk in those things! Even worse than pointe shoes! (which by the way, are not easy to walk in either!)
Once we had gotten lift passes, and finally gotten our skis on, we tried to learn to ski by going on the bunny slopes. It's harder than it looks to just stay up! For the longest time, I couldn't stop, so at the bottom of the little hill, I'd either fall over, or crash into something. It was horrid! Miriam and Elijah caught on pretty fast, so they headed to the harder bunny slope while the rest of us stayed behind. Finally I could stop and turn, and dad, mom, and I joined Miriam and Elijah at the other slope, while Lydia stayed behind with Jubilee to help her. The longer hill was steeper, but a lot more fun! We stayed on that for a while, until right before lunch we went on a green (beginner) slope called Turnpike. I didn't even fall once on this slope! I was really enthused about skiing after that, and couldn't wait to try some more!
We ate lunch and rested our aching feet. Snow boots are very uncomfortable things, and my arches hurt like crazy! Since we had done okay on Turnpike, Lydia took Mom, Miriam, Elijah and I to another green slope while dad stayed with Jubilee on the bunny slope. I thought it was going to be easy, I mean hadn't I done just fine on Turnpike? Well, we started on March Hare, went to Cramners Cutoff, and finished on Parkway. March Hare was steep! I hadn't fallen, until I heard mom give a little yell, and go down, so I stopped too, by falling, the only way I could at that time in such a steep place. Some really good skiers stopped to help mom, while Miriam, Lydia, and I waited farther down to see if she was okay. Elijah was long gone. (we learned later he'd gone almost straight down - in other words, really fast!) One of the skiers who stopped by mom called a stretcher to take her down the mountain because she'd hurt her leg. Mom told us to go ahead, so Miriam and I went on while Lydia stayed with mom. On the way down those slopes, I fell at least 30 times - I am not joking! I didn't like going fast at that time, so every time I got going kind of fast, I'd start feeling out of control and fall over. It was not very heartening. Miriam stayed with me, and kept helping me back up (though after a while I was so used to falling all fall over a just pop back up). When we finally made it too the end of Parkway 1 1/2 hours later, I was so exhausted! I didn't really feel like skiing, and my arches were killing me, so I went inside and rested with mom for a little while, then went to the bunny slope to be with dad and Jubi. One more time on Turnpike, and it as time to go home. Miriam, Lydia, and Elijah had after I went inside gone on March Hare, Cramners Cutoff, and Parkway 2 more times, so at that time, I thought them pretty crazy! We ate supper after we got back, and then played games of dutch blitz. We were all really sore, and retired pretty early that night. Like the night before though, I didn't sleep very well, because I had a headache, and there was also someone directly below me who snored. Loudly! Finally I moved to the couch across the room from my beloved daddy, where I slept the rest of the trip.
Day 4 - Tuesday, February 15th
Today was the day that we didn't ski. Lydia gave something called an "impartation", a teaching. She did hers on Romans 1-8, and it was very well done. While we waited for dad to come get us for her impartation (the parents sat in on all the student's teachings) can you guess what we did? That's right.... we played Rook!
After eating our bag lunches (that's what they gave to guests each day) we went to town. We first stopped at a laundromat where mom filled the washing machines, and then we went to the grocery store. We bought some postcards and candy there, and also went to another store to buy more postcards! We went back to the laundromat where mom put the clothes in the dryer, then we went to another thrift store and got goggles for all of us. Then, as we were waiting for the clothes to dry... you can guess what we did!
It snowed all day on Tuesday, and it was so pretty! The song "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" just kept going through my head. It looked just like a winter wonderland! When the Bakers came back from skiing, we went tubing with them down the tubing hill.
I fell off my tube this time too, but it hurt a lot worse, and it probably didn't look too graceful. All 6 of us were racing down the hill at the same time on separate tubes. I had flopped on my tube stomach down, but, as I figured out, wasn't on all the way. I hit a bump, and flew forward, landing square on my head! Jubilee was right behind me, and as she couldn't stop, she tubed right over me! I tried to roll out of the way, but as I rolled to the left, Elijah plowed into me, so I rolled to the right, but Miriam plowed into me! Ouch!!!! Needless to say, I had a pretty bad headache after that!
We got out of all our snow stuff, and went to supper. After supper, one of the staff families had a game night, which all the students and guests went to. I was really fun! We played Taboo with about 30 people or so! Peter and Beth's baby Elizabeth (the family's place we were at) took her first steps that night! She's a little more than 1 year old, and adorable! Quite an eventful day, don't you say?
Day 5 - Wednesday, February 16th
On this day we went skiing again, me with great trepidation. We went on Turnpike first, then on some other green ones. Since it was snowing again (it'd been snowing all night I think) there was loose snow, called powder, and it made us go a little slower, something I was very glad for. Lydia, Jubi, Dad, and I went on Parkway a few times, and since I didn't fall, I decided to do the whole run of March Hare, Cramners Cutoff, and Parkway again. I only fell 1 time! Better yet, it only took 1/2 an hour to get down! I was greatly encouraged that I could actually ski pretty well then! After lunch I skied on more greens with Lydia, while Jubi and Dad stayed together, and Elijah and Miriam stayed together. Elijah and Miriam went on a few blue (intermediate) slopes, as well as some green. By the end of the day, I even went on one blue slope! I was ecstatic!
We did the usual Rook games Wednesday evening. I stopped playing though, and wrote letters to Miriam, Bekoh, and Bekah T and Lizbeth.
Day 6 - Thursday, February 17th
We got up, ate breakfast, and then struggled into our snow stuff, including those horrendous boots! They didn't hurt me too bad, but I still didn't like them!
We got to the slopes, and since mom's leg was feeling better, she went skiing with Lydia while the rest of us went up to the Timberline. It was breathtakingly beautiful up there! Picture blue sky, against totally white snow, with no trees around, and you'll picture what we saw. Wondrous! We went down on a blue trail called Primrose, but it wasn't too hard. Once back among trees and easier trails, dad went on some greens, while the rest of us went on greens and blues until lunch.
After lunch Elijah announced that he was going to try blue/black (advanced) slopes, and we said, "go ahead without us!" Dad and Mom went skiing, while Elijah headed off alone, and Miriam, Jubi, and I went together. (Lydia had to go back to the Lodge for some classes) We went on quite a few blues that afternoon, but we couldn't beat Elijah who went on a couple blue/blacks and even one short black (expert) slope. He was amazing! After supper...... Rook.
Day 7 - Friday, February 18th
This was our last day of skiing, but it was the funnest day for me! Mom went in to town to shop some while the rest of us went up to the timberline again. We even climbed to the highest point on the mountain we were on, and it was well worth the exhaustion!
Once we'd seen a lot, and taken tons of pictures we headed back down the mountain. Dad took Primrose again, but the rest of us went down some harder blues. We took Paintbrush to Forget-Me-Not, then down Edelweiss, and some of Bluebell. Whoever named those slopes certainly liked flowers! It was funny, because whenever I saw the name "Edelweiss" I would start singing that song off Sound of Music In fact, I was in a singing mood all day! Someone saying a word from a song would set me 'a singin'!
We went on mostly blues all afternoon, then for our last slope down Miriam, Jubi, and I took good ol' March Hare, Cramner's Cutoff, and Parkway, while Lydia and Elijah took some blue/blacks and the same short black. They're so daring!
We returned our skis and ski boots after the ski slopes closed, and I was gla-ad to see those boots go! We played dutch blitz after supper, and, (must I say it?) more Rook!!!!
Day 8 - Saturday, February 19th
The last day in Winterpark! These end days were just full of lasts! After breakfast we went to go see sled-dog racing. Let me just say, that that was not the most exciting thing in the world, to put it mildly. Dad thought it was so neat and stayed to watch a lot of it, while the rest of us got so cold and bored we went to the car to.... oh never mind! It had started to snow by the time dad finally came to the car. We went out for pizza (yum!) and then dropped Lydia off at Timberline Lodge. We got one last picture of her standing in the doorway, waving goodbye with snow falling everywhere. Though I had tons of fun in Winterpark, Colorado, I was glad to be going back towards warmer weather. We went to our hotel, ate supper, and watched decorating shows on t.v.
Day 9 - Sunday, February 20th
We came home on this day! Hurray!
We didn't get the best sleep. At 4 a.m. some person called our room asking for "Chris" whoever that was! It woke me up, and I was just falling asleep when this loud alarm sounded at 5:30 a.m.! It scared me so bad! I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, because I thought it was our toilet acting up or something! Next I went to the door and said "Miriam, it's coming from our door!" You must remember I was sleepy, and wasn't thinking straight. She opened the door and we saw that it was the fire alarm! The parents and Elijah soon came through the door connecting our rooms, and we all got shoes and coats on and was about to leave the building when the alarm stopped. Okay.... so we just tried to go back to sleep until 7 a.m. We figured out later that someone was smoking and set off the alarm. It sure scared me though!
After breakfast, we returned the rental car and rode to the airport on the rental car bus. We again checked our bags, went through security, and waited to board the plane. By then though we were absolutely sick of Rook, and read as we waited instead. Once we got to Atlanta, we were greatly relieved that the car started, and we drove home, stopping to eat on the way. We got home around 9:15 p.m., and I am glad to be in sweet home Alabama!