To Ski...

So today was the big day.  

Skiing.  

 Skiing is something I haven't done in who knows

how long, something I used to enjoy with my limited

skill, something that a bad experience with a ski lift

has had me avoiding for a very, very long time.

But I come from a ski family (somehow I missed that

gene) and my mom is determined to get Ava up there.

She is four, this is the year.

It's something we have been talking about doing for 

awhile.  This was the trip because we were able to 

get Auntie Linda to come too and she can watch

Norah while we hit the slopes.

Never mind that the snow conditions here are being 

described as EPIC.  Never mind that the back deck 

looks like this:

That's after Linda shoveled out a path

Never mind that it hasn't stopped snowing for a single

second since we got here.  

Never mind that when I woke up this morning it looked 

like this outside:

Check out how that snow is completely covering the second story window!

This the Expedition, buried.

After Mom shoveled out a path.

It was no joke!

 And most of all never mind that every part of my intuition

 was saying "Stay home in this warm cozy house!"

But I felt like I would be letting my mom down if I 

staged a protest.  We had a babysitter!!  We had 

a plan!!  All we needed was some follow through...

So we decided to go.  We went up to the ski shop 

at the top of the driveway, rented gear for me and Ava

and headed towards the slopes.  

 Me, pretending to be a skier.

At that point I was feeling pretty good about our decision.

It would of been so easy to stay home, but no, we forged 

on, we will go skiing today!  We will have fun!!  

Now Mount Hood Meadows is really only about 10 miles 

from the house, a pretty short drive.  

But not today.  As we got closer all of a sudden all the
traffic stopped.  We couldn't figure out what was
 going on.  Some guy wearing a florescent vest
 approached the car and let us know that there
 had been a series of avalanches on the road 

and it would be about a half and hour before they
 could clearthem out, we would just have to wait.  

Wait?  What?  Avalanches you say??  

These are not the skiing conditions I was planning on Ava 

learning under.  I had pictured a warm sunny day with perfectly

groomed snow, not non-stop snow and AVALANCHES!!  

We sat and waited and waited and waited.  Each of our  

pre-ski meals were wearing off, our patience was wearing 

thin and all we could do was watch cars come DOWN the hill.

We were only the third car back in this line,
 why they made us wait well over an hour just seemed
 ridiculous.  I got out at some point and harassed
 the guy not letting us through.  He really couldn't explain
 it outside of the fact that there was some sort of series of

accidents or cars lodged into the edge of the road and
 they weren't letting any one up until they cleared them all out.  

6 years later we finally got to go.  HALLELUJAH! 

When we arrived in the parking lot of the ski resort I looked
 back at Ava and noticed she was having some sort of
 allergic reaction to God knows what, her eyes were
 all red and puffy, she had red swollen lips and red
 splotchy cheeks.  Great.  

I decided to ignore that minor detail and forged on, layering 

her with gear.  

We walked through the snowy parking lot and went to see

 if we needed to actually purchase lift tickets since we were

 not intended on ever leaving the bunny hill for Ava's first day

skiing (and in all honesty I had zero desire to advance past

the magic carpet either since I have a fear of chair lifts). 

Well that didn't go so well, first off they said they now 

charge everyone for lift tickets, even if there will be no "lift".

Ok, whatever, that's fine.  We headed up the stairs to the 

learning hill and noticed right away that there were NO skiers

using it today.  There was an employee standing there and he 

informed us that the bunny slope had not been groomed at all

so it was basically crazy deep powder.  Not at all ideal for 

little Ava to learn on.  He told us he didn't advise it at all and 

that we should go over to Buttercup, a LIFT somewhat nearby

that would be better.

OK, now remember I have a fear of chairlifts???
  I was planning on sticking with Ava until she mastered
 the bunny slope and THEN working on conquering my fear.
  Not just being thrown to the wolves on the first day.  
Not to mention I don't think that is how Ava should

start either.  She was all excited about the "magic carpet"
 that is like an escalator that takes you up, I could tell
 she was even nervous about that.  

Well we decided to forge on, yet again.   We had to ski/
walk in skis up a hill and across a ways to get there 
which ended up being so much harder then it sounds.  
Just getting the freakin skis on was a task.  

But walking up hill with Ava who has zero experience
 on skis and in super deep powder it felt like it took years.  

We finally made it most of the way over when we ran into a ski 

instructor who was teaching a girl Ava's age to ski that day.

He was going off about how he couldn't believe he was
 suppose to teach her today, of all days and how he
 didn't think it was a good idea at all.  Then he told us that
 they hadn't groomed Buttercup either and it was nearly 
as deep as the bunny slope!!  

We just felt like we couldn't win.  

Avalanches, 6 years in the car, allergic reaction, bunny hill closed,

super deep powder, it seemed like the only thing to do was call 

it a day. 

We told Ava she earned her hot chocolate, which she did, she was 

such a little trouper, rolling with the punches and keeping a great 

attitude the whole time. 

We headed for the lodge, got Ava her hot chocolate and me my 

martini and vowed to appreciate the RIGHT day when it comes. 

Today was not the day but I think The Day will be coming soon...