Utah Trip: Heading Home

Saturday came again...meaning it was now time for us to head home.  School was starting again on Monday.  We decided to be smart and split our drive into two days instead of driving overnight, as originally planned.  We said an early-ish goodbye to my parents, and then headed to Ben's parents' to see the cousins one last time and return all the snow gear we had been borrowing.

Grandma was worried that this might be the last time to see Scott before his mission, but we assured her we'd need her help to get him to the MTC.

We were so glad to spend time with everyone, especially after Grandpa's heart health scare a few weeks earlier.

And then...the drive.  Guess what?  The car worked perfectly!  Hooray!  We decided to go over to see Four Corners, since only Ben had been there (a long time ago).  The GPS told us that we'd arrive at about 4:00, and they were closing at 4:30.  It took us onto this little road that we could see right away was covered in ice.  Having our previous slipping-off-the-road-on-ice experience fresh in our minds, we stopped and carefully made a 20 point turn. ☺ A local lady stopped and said the ice was only for about a mile, but we just didn't want to chance it.  We went on to an alternate route, and the GPS now said our arrival time was 4:20.  Was it worth it??  We took a vote, and everyone said yes, they wanted to try, so we pressed onward.  The GPS was right on.  We arrived at 4:20, and the lady at the gate said we would have to be out in ten minutes, and then proceeded to charge us full price ($5 per person).  No worries.  We drove up to the monument, slid to a stop, grabbed shoes, piled out of the car, realized it was SUPER cold, and ran over to the spot to take our pictures.

(In case Tessa asks in the future why she doesn't have an individual picture, it was because she grabbed flip flops instead of tennis shoes and her feet were "too cold" to stay around any longer.)

We got back in the car and drove out as the guy was standing there, ready to close the gate.  It was quick, but in the end we were all glad we had done it.

On the road again...  Hello, Shiprock!  (The kids were not convinced it looked like a ship.)

We stopped in Albuquerque for the night.  It took a couple tries to find a hotel that had rooms, but we got into a Marriott--and it was really nice!  We were on the 10th floor, and the rooms (which were connecting--thank you, Marriott!) had been recently renovated.  I think we were the first ones to use the rooms, since there was still some blue painters tape in places.  Of course, I didn't take any pictures of the rooms with the awesome modern bathrooms or the robes (which Scott loved) or all the delicious food Ben went to get for us at a restaurant across the street, or the night view from the windows.  No, I only got a picture of the view the next morning, because I thought I saw a small temple in the distance: 

FYI: It is not a small temple.  It's not an LDS church building.  But we did find another church building, which we headed over to after breakfast.  This happened to be the last Sunday the local members would meet at the building, as it was recently condemned, and they spent the fast and testimony meeting reminiscing about all their memories there.  It was also the first Sunday of the two hour church schedule (instead of 3), but we declined the invitation to stay for Sunday School and got back on the road instead.

The road from Albuquerque to Amarillo was nicely clear, though windy.  (We saw Cadillac Ranch, but didn't stop!)  

We took a pit stop and dinner break at Dairy Queen, and then we had one more long leg onto Dallas.  (Long, though nothing like travelling with a cranky baby or toddler who wants to get out of their seat NOW.  Just cranky kids and adults who can handle it a little bit better than that.  We will count our blessings.)  We were grateful to get out an sleep in our own beds again, almost ready to get back to school and work the next day.

Utah Ski Trip--Ski Day #2!

Once upon a time there was a man who wanted to take his family on a ski trip.  The man's car, however, was giving him grief.  It broke on the way to Utah, and broke again after they arrived.  But he got all of the car's issues resolved, and drove up the mountain and had a great day on the slopes with his kids.  The second day to ski arrived, and the man and his family loaded up the ski equipment and food, and then...the keys to the car were gone.  Everyone looked in the car, around the car, in the house, around the house, in the trailer, around the trailer, in the garbage cans next to the car, and in every pocket of every coat and pair of ski pants around, but the keys could not be found.  There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.  (Not really--but they all sure felt like doing that!)  The man's wife (that's me) pulled out her set of keys that she had kept in her pocket all week long, feeling as if she needed to keep them close on hand for some reason, and then after a prayer that they could somehow recover the lost keys at some point, they once again drove up the mountain for a day of skiing.

The man's wife (that's me) and his youngest daughter had never been skiing, so the man spent much time helping them get boots on and skis, poles, goggles, and helmets ready to go, and then sat down to put on his own boots.  After lifting up his ski pants, he found...….

…..the lost keys!!!!  It seems that the man had meant to put them in his pocket, but missed the pocket and they slid down his leg between his ski pants and regular pants, and were just hiding there, waiting to be found.  We were so grateful to find them in the parking lot instead of losing them on the ski slopes.  The man's wife (that's me) took this picture to remember the tender mercy that made a frustrating morning a miracle instead.

So, yes--this was my first time going skiing.  I had snowboarded before once in college, and it was an exhausting experience, during which I spent a good deal of on my backside, scooting down the mountain.  (Ski Patrol came by and asked if I needed help.  I declined.)  I had higher hopes for this day.

We started out (of course) on the bunny slope.  Sundance's bunny slope is at the top of a bit of a hill, so we had to climb up and then put on the skis.  Tessa was also learning, and Emma and Ben came along with us.  (Gracie and Scott went on to the bigger slopes with the other families we were with.)  We spent about 45 minutes going up and down, and...it wasn't too bad!  We decided to go ahead and try the next size up.  (Emma stayed on the bunny hill with some friends.  She had done the bigger hill the day before, and was content to not do it again!)

Do you like riding ski lifts?  I don't.  Also getting off of ski lifts is tricky.

Ben, Tessa, and I went down the hill without too much trouble.  Tessa and I each fell a couple times, but Ben was very patient and got us back up.  I felt, though, that I was just barely in control and was just a slip away from disaster!  (I maybe needed an attitude adjustment--or maybe needed to learn to let go of my fear?)  

(Tessa is in red pants; I'm in black pants.)

We made it down, and went up again, and then down.  On the third run I fell and hit my head after getting off the lift--ouch!  By this time Tessa was really getting faster than I was, so I had Ben stay with her while I slowly wended my way down.  Then later Tessa fell, and I passed them, and unknowingly took a bit of a wrong turn down the "harder" part.  I came to a steep small hill, and fell, hitting my head REALLY hard (I thought I had cracked the helmet) and my skis fell off.  After sitting for a bit praying that no one would run over me, I climbed up to get one ski, and down to get the other, and tried to put them on, but I just couldn't while still on the steep bit, so I followed the example of the young kid ahead of me who also fell, and scooted down on my backside until the ground was less steep.  I kept waiting for Tessa and Ben to pass me, but they never did, and I was getting really worried that Tessa had gotten hurt in her fall.  I decided that I was close enough to the end of the run and skipped putting my skis back on and just walked.  The last hill of the trail is the worst, and I didn't want to fall again.  When I came to that one, I saw Ben and Tessa waiting at the bottom, since they had gone the correct way down and got there first.  Ben saw me walking and climbed up the hill to take my skis and help me the rest of the way down--my hero!

And then...I was done.  Emma was too, so we found an outdoor firepit to relax by while the others went up and down a couple more times.

Everyone gathered for lunch, and we got reports from Scott and Gracie, who were having an amazing time on the harder slopes.  Those that wanted to went off for more skiing, but Ben, Tessa, Emma, Gracie, and I went exploring around the shops at Sundance.  We found a little art museum, with some really cool textured paintings of local areas, like this one of Bridal Veil Falls:

Then Ben, Tessa, and Gracie went skiing some more, and Emma and I waited by the fire again, and then the evening arrived and our exhausted crew headed back to my parents' home, where we were greeted with lots of warm corn chowder.  (Caytie and Benson, who opted not to ski, had spent the day with Grandma R.)  It was a pretty good day.  Now I can say I have been skiing!  Gracie and Scott would like to go back as soon as possible.  We all slept very well that night.