I never intended to write a week’s worth of posts about our vacation to Utah but when it’s just that good, I want to relive every last minute of it.
Plus, my memory sucks and that’s the reason why I have a blog so I can remember it all.
Our first day at Park City Mountain Resort was icy and, if we’re being honest here, pretty miserable. But the latter part of the week, the snow softened and though it was heavy and wet, it was so much more fun. Couple that with balmy temperatures (50+ degrees, really?) and I fell in love with spring skiing.
With the exception that we were too lazy to discard some of our clothing layers so were dripping in sweat by the end of the day.
Sorry for that visual.
On our final day, Jamie and I had the best time together. Neither of us are experts at moguls but we found a bumps run, Powder Keg, that was fun to navigate because of the heavier, slower snow.
We raced down at the end of the day to ski with both kids. Bode had an amazing transformation (see yesterday’s post) and we also ran into Haddie’s Signature 5 class.
And I became that psycho mom who was snapping pictures each time she turned.
I mean, don’t you just want to pinch those cheeks that are buried somewhere underneath that helmet, those goggles and hair?
Jamie skied with Bode and Hadley and was dying to take me to Powder Monkey, one of Park City Mountain Resort’s ultra-cool Adventure Alley “Snowbugs”–trails designed just for kids. The problem was it was it was at the very top of the mountain and would have taken us a few chairlifts to get there. The resort closed in 45 minutes and there was a very real possibility we’d get stranded somewhere.
This is me we’re talking about.
So, we instead rode to the top of Bonanza lift and did another Snowbug trail. We were having a great time together and were hurriedly making our way down the mountain…and then I took a wrong turn. Instead of staying on Homerun (a nice, easy green), I led us to the point of no return. This intersection had three trails: Silver Queen (a double blue advanced intermediate), Crescent and Silver Skis (both black diamond, expert terrain).
Haddie is a solid intermediate skier but as I looked down at Silver Queen’s steep, bumpy terrain a feeling of dread came over me. I didn’t let her in on my trepidation and explained our predicament.
“OK, let’s do it!” she fearlessly said.
“Really?”
I don’t know why I was surprised since we didn’t have any other options, other than being carried down on ski patrol’s stretcher.
And so she gunned it down that mountain, never complaining and even squealing with glee.
This was her last run of the 2011/12 ski season.
And makes me think she’s going to blow 2012/13 out of the water.
Or rather, snow.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 