happy friday, skeezers.
sorry for the delay - i'm WAY behind at work.
here we go:
thursday, 3/10 - got up at 4:30, loaded up in the suburban & left clay & jen's at 6:00. only took us 12 1/2 hours to get there. somewhere in new mexico (don't ask me where) clay decided to take historic route 66 instead of the main highway. this would have been cool, had there been any eating establishments on route 66. instead, there were a bunch of really old motels (scary ones too). jen got pissed, clay was laughing (along with keith) and i was just freaking hungry. so on the other side of whatever this town was, we saw a dairy queen. jen had just finished saying "don't ever eat at a dairy queen in new mexico", when clay pulled into this place. it was in a gas station. i don't mean one of those nice, new ones. i mean an old ass station and they just installed a counter and a couple griddles on the right side of it.
jen is holding casey & says "casey, they don't have grilled cheese here" when a large man with a killer grill jumped across the counter & said "m'am, grill cheese be fine" to which casey replied "mommy, that guy has big teeth". i lost it!! jen is so sweet, she just smiles & says "ok, thanks."
so anyway, that is the most memorable portion of the drive up.
oh, also, the weather was BEAUTIFUL - see picture above.
we got to the cabin & rusty & tricia were already there. went to the bear creek saloon for dinner & drinks. casey puked on jen, then on the floor. i almost puked my nachos, but turned the other way so as not to see the puke. she & clay took casey home. when we got home, the guys built a fire outside, almost burned the yard, jeff arrived around 10:30 or so. i went to bed shortly after, because clay informed us that he gets to the mountain at 8:15 every morning - very much UNLIKE keith & i when we go on vacation. we get up at 7 or 8, go to breakfast, THEN go to the mountain like around NOON. this was a shock to us.
friday, 3/11 - COURTNEY woke up and beat everyone to the shower so as not to run out of hot water. the reason i woke up before everyone is because i did not set my watch back to colorado time. i was up at 5:30 and ready by 6:15. everyone else got up at 6:30. lovely start to my vacation.
headed up to the slopes around 8:00 - the guys drank beer on the way (yea, sad, huh?). i refrained. jen had to stay at home with casey so i was with the guys for the day. anyway, we got to park like RIGHT by the slopes, so that was one plus to arriving at the crack of dawn. however, it took me most of the morning to get my f-ing boots on. yes, we left our boots in the car overnight - not a good idea. i thought i was going to break my ankle trying to cram my foot in that boot.
as if that weren't painful enough, there was a really steep hill to get to where i needed to put on my skis. fell down that a couple times as my darling keith watched & laughed. i finally made it up.
so all the hard stuff is over, right? i have been snow skiing since i was 5 years old. not to brag, but i don't suck at it. well, i was quite the opposite of what a seasoned skier should look like as i skied down to the lift line in my 165s and straddled the pole. you got it, they gave me 165s and i'm 5ft 3. same size skis they gave keith. so..i could not control the skis at all. i busted right in front of the lift line. it was beautiful. i think MY nickname needs to be grace now, not you amber.
after that drama, i made it on the lift and to the top of the mountain. skied down with the group and did OK. ok, i sucked it up. i was so confused at how bad i sucked at skiing - i mean, i just went in november and did fine. it was like i had just learned to ski again. well, after several more runs, i got used to the huge skis and got back in the groove. then i took a beer break.
3 beers and a bowl of chili later, i decided that i wanted to get in a couple more runs before the day was over. not a good idea. i rode up with clay, got off the lift, went around a corner, and busted. those damn skis got tangled up again and i went down. this time destroying my poor knee - the bindings were so tight that the skis didn't come off. so after a little pouting, i got up and attempted to ski down a little. the left leg would not work at all. so i had to ski all the way down the mountain straight, then right, straight, then right. it was brutal. clay & jeff left me, so here i am skiing down on one side, crying, and cussing the whole way.
i made it to the bottom and there is keith, mad as hell. he says that i will never ski again, but i disagree.
so i decided to have another beer to ease my pain - yea, a little hair of the dog.
anyway, we headed back to the house that afternoon and drank a few more, tricia made gumbo (i didn't eat it) we played trivial pursuit & went to bed.
saturday, 3/12 - jen wanted to take casey up to the mountain & put her on skis. i could hardly walk up the stairs, so keith & i took the day off. well...keith took the day off - i had no choice.
we drove around pagosa springs, found a coffee shop (far cry from starbucks), i decided that i needed a smoke to ease my pain. right - i use that excuse for every vice. anyway, we just hung out that morning, got some groceries & went back to the cabin.
keith is a work-a-holic, so he did all kinds of stuff around the cabin while i sat on the porch and watched. clay came back early with casey and we fired up the grill, drank a few, and started cooking dinner. after checking out the beer status, we realized that colorado used to not sell beer at ALL on sundays, and had to send jeff for an emergency run to the store. anyway, this night was much better on the food front - ribs, chicken, potato salad and beans. normal food, not gumbo. as everyone was eating dinner, keith passed out on the couch and began snoring. i had to drag his big ass downstairs (i'm crippled, keep in mind) and put him to bed.
sunday, 3/13 - jen, casey & i stayed home this day. all the guys went skiing withouth us. we went to the store (again - we forgot some stuff) and tried to do some shopping, but HELLO - nothing was open on sunday morning besides the grocery store and church.
we put casey down for a nap that afternoon & sat on the porch with some cocktails. it was a beautiful day again - however there was a rumor that a storm was coming in on monday or tuesday.
we had steaks, grilled veggies, salad and twice-baked potatoes for dinner - then played pictionary (keith went to bed again). i learned that my drawing skills are at a 5 year-old level. i'm not kidding. i am no claude monet, that is for sure. good thing that jeff wasn't the best artist either, because we ended up drawing against each other in most of the all-plays. of course the girls kicked the guys asses, then went to bed.
monday, 3/14 - nobody skied. rusty & tricia left to get back to lafayette. it started snowing a little, but nothing bad. tricia called & said it was snowing like crazy in albuquerque (sp?). we went to the bear creek saloon again and had appetizers/drinks. came home & jen, jeff & i decided to go down to the springs and soak. it was awesome. except they busted us for bringing beer in. turns out you can't drink while soaking in their hot tubs - who knew? anyway, they had all different pools with varying temps. we got in 102 and 104. 104 was as hot as i could go. i had to sit on the side a couple times. these springs have lots of different minerals and apparently they tarnish silver. my necklace and bracelet turned out looking like copper. i hope i can polish them.
we got back to the cabin and clay & keith had decided that we needed to pack up and leave that night to avoid bad weather. i vetoed that idea, since ALL of us had been drinking since lunchtime. we ordered pizza, packed and went to bed.
tuesday, 3/15 - woke up at 4:15 to 3 inches of snow. packed the car, and took off. many highways were reported closed - i was freaking out. i wanted to just stay until the weather got better, but clay insisted that he had to be at work the next day. got 5 miles into the mountains, jeff spun out behind us, hit the guardrails, but fortunately did not fall off the side. we tried to call onstar for a weather station, first time we got a lady who was not very helpful. tried to call 2 more times, wouldn't go through. we had no cell phone reception either. finally we got into onstar and a different lady gave us a weather station.
this drive was BRUTAL. see pictures above. apparently, new mexico can't afford, or doesn't like to use snow plows. we almost died several times. it took us 11 hours to get to the texas state line. 5 more hours after that to get home. we got home around midnight.
anyway, it was a fun trip, just a few disappointments for me. i will definitely go back - hopefully this summer - and will result in NO INJURIES.
i'm supposed to find out my MRI results this afternoon (keep your fingers crossed). i guess i should look on the bright side - if i DO have surgery again, at least i'll get my hands on some good meds.
"i like all the memorabilia on the walls"-CT at the gas station/dairy queen in NM
its friday & i love beer
~court
10 weeks until river trip #1
