Our Trip to Ski Sundown

Both Michele and I had our children with us last weekend. We'd been looking forward to it for a long time.

JP Conway, the youth minister at the Manchester Church of Christ, planned a ski trip to the Okemo resort up in Vermont. From what I can gather, Okemo's one of the bigger and better places to ski in New England. And the Bellizzis and the Richardsons were ready for it.

All week long, the local weather forecasts mentioned the possibility of big time snow on Saturday. We thought, "Great! Fresh powder." But by Friday afternoon, we all realized that true blizzard conditions would start up sometime after lunch on Saturday. And there we'd be, two states away from home.

So I was relieved when JP called Friday night to say we'd still be skiing, only closer. The group wound up going to Ski Sundown in New Hartford, Connecticut. It was only about 45 minutes from home and turned out to be a great place. Not too crowed. Family friendly. Well run. It was a great alternative.

And now for the ski report:

A gifted athlete, Rebecca discovered that snow boarding doesn't come easy, even for people like her. But she earned an A for effort and also for braving the bitter cold for long stretches.

Chloe also found that the first-time snow boarding experiences are often less than sublime, especially if you do a lot of hanging out in the lodge. Not even that rainbow-colored hat could turn her into an instant pro.

A true first-timer, Aubrey did great on skis. Sometimes too great. Just about the time that she'd reach 70 mph, the thought would occur: "Okay now, how do I stop?"

Ben is part of a school club that goes to a local resort for a few hours every Friday night this month. He's terrific on his snow board.

A skier, my wonderful wife Michele didn't fall once . . . . for the same reason that a turtle rarely trips. When you're going that slow, it's easy to eliminate mistakes. But then again, you don't go very far very fast.

I had a good day of skiing. But I did fall. Once. And, of course, Michele was there to see the whole thing. As we got to that point where you come off the chair lift and stand on your skis, . . . well, something went terribly wrong. I'm still not exactly sure what happened. Basically, I didn't make it from the sitting to the standing position. Anyway, at that point the only thing I could think of was taking the trip down the mountain sitting on the chair lift, explaining to all the people going up why I was still there. No sooner did that thought flash through my mind than I realized that the ground was moving away from me. So, with terra firma getting farther and farther away, I jumped, . . . landed on my skis, . . . and went straight back. "No time to react to the pain," I thought. "Here comes the next chair, loaded with skiers. You've got to get out of the way!" Thankfully, I did. I don't fall often, but when I do I make sure it's a good one.

As the early afternoon rolled around, snow was starting to fall. Within an hour, you couldn't see the top of the mountain. By that night, true blizzard conditions prevailed. Next morning, we woke up to over a foot of beautiful snow.

Ski Sundown, we'll be back. Thanks, JP, for planning the trip.