B.S.T.E.

B.S.T.E=Best Ski Trip Ever...at least that's what we called it, knowing there will be many more to come. But honestly, this was the best ski trip any of us had every been on (which is saying a lot when you go with former ski racers!). The company, the weather, the conditions, accommodations, food, drink...you name it, it was great!!

Views from the plane never get old for me

Matt and I flew out to Utah on a Thursday afternoon and almost didn't make it out there! We boarded our flight in Minneapolis only to be deboarded because the airport in Salt Lake was shut down due to an ice storm (which apparently only happens like once every decade!) A flight had actually skidded off the runway due to the ice, so they shut the airport down for some time. But thankfully, we finally took off after about an hour and a half of waiting and by the time we were arriving in SLC, the airport had reopened. Suffice it to say that by the time we got our car and got some groceries in Park City, Matt and I were famished. A good beer and excellent sushi were just what we needed.

Matt and I skied the Canyons in Park City (where we stayed) the first day and loved it. I actually hadn't been skiing out west in 5 years, so I was thankful to have a day to get my footings before our friends arrived. 

Isn't it beautiful? Where else can you ski in fresh snow just alongside a running creek? It looked just like pillows on top of the rocks

Matt and I stopped into the yurt at the bottom of the gondola for some Après-ski nachos and beer and in walked the Canyons mascot...I had to get my picture taken with him to show the kids!

Matt and I headed into Park City to grab some dinner and check out the Sundance Film Festival. Matt almost died laughing when some lady, clearly there for Sundance, said, "What's Deer Valley?" (And for those who are wondering the same thing, it's one of the ski resorts in Park City that hosted several of the Olympic competitions during the 2002 Olympics.) Thought about seeing the film, "The History of the Eagles" while we were out there but Steph didn't think watching a film about our country's bird would be that entertaining, did you Steph? 

Cool sign in downtown Park City with all the previous Winter Olympic cities

After dinner, we headed back to our condo to meet Steph and Bill, who were to be arriving anytime. Since Matt and I had rented a car already for the week, Bill arranged for them to have a private car drive them up to our condo. Little did he realize that he booked a HUGE 16-passenger van that could have fit an entire ski team. Oh yes, Steph and Bill had this entire thing to themselves!!

After staying up much too late, we got up early and drove over to Snowbird to do some more extreme skiing, led by the locals (aka Steph's brother Tommy and cousin Jake, both from Green Bay but who now live in Salt Lake/Park City). Anytime a local wants to take you skiing, you may want to think about what you are getting yourself in to.  

Let's start with a few beautiful pics....

(off to the left is Jake, Matt, Steph and I)

We skied about 3 groomed runs to start off, in which it was clear that everyone was in a race...except me. Of course I wanted to be racing down the mountain at ridiculous speeds with the rest of them and I attempted to keep up, but there was no hope. Apparently, though, that was enough of that 'little kid' stuff and we (meaning everyone else) decided we needed to do some real skiing and headed to the back bowls. I attempted to find a sign somewhere that would indicate the difficulty of these runs but it was no use....I am quite sure the runs are barely marked at all at Snowbird and no one really cares because they could all get down any run they would come across. So off we went.....

Without getting in to too much detail, of which I am sure no one really cares to hear about, let's just say that I had a minor breakdown after one of the runs and Steph quickly picked up on my frustration and had the guys go off and ski on their own until lunch, when we would meet up with them. I was mostly frustrated that I just couldn't keep up with the 5 of them, which is ridiculous that I would even get upset about it because they are all crazy crazy good! (Both Bill and Steph were on the downhill ski team at Wisconsin and Bill raced with Lindsay Vonn as a kid--hello!) I should have just been proud of myself for successfully getting down the runs but being the competitive person that I am, I was only frustrated that I wasn't as good as they were. Guess that means I just need to go skiing more!!

Enjoying the scenery...let me just add that none of these pictures do the mountains justice...they are more beautiful (and much steeper) in person!

It was a great day for skiing, though--40 degrees!!

Lunch was what I would call a 'refueling' for the guys, who were all seriously depleted of energy and an 'educational experience' as Tommy let us all in on the true skier lingo--I can now tell you how to 'huck it, skin it, send it'. Listening to him talk about various ski adventures was like listening to someone speaking a different language--thankfully I wasn't the only one who needed some interpretation! We also learned what a 'beermosa' is and Tommy demonstrated for the guys how to properly open a beer can on your ski pole while on a chairlift so that you don't have to unglove. Tommy opened up a whole new world of skiing for us! 

After lunch, we all skied together for a bit---until they all decided to take off their skis and hike up a peak (with the intent of skiing down it, of course). That's when I said, 'See ya later' and went off on my own for a bit. And I ran into this lovely woman....

I wish I could have gotten a picture of her severely spray-tanned face, complete with costume-style makeup, but I think it would have been too obvious! 

And Steph, remember the "Hey red coat, cool pants! Number 35!"?? I found the pics!!!

These are pretty cool because the Snowbird photographer ended up getting all four of us in these shots!

By about 3:30 after everyone had just killed it all day, we were exhausted. We headed back to our condo and I had to laugh as we were getting our skis out of the car--poor Steph was so beat that she had her bibs all twisted and couldn't get her coat out.

So thankful for some relaxing time in the hot tub before headed out to the Blind Dog Cafe for another round of great sushi (we went back to the same place we had gone the night before because it was just THAT good!)

(I think Matt attempted to take a good picture of us about 5 times before Bill took over and got a decent one, hence the laughter!)

When we sat down to order, the waiter warned us that they were backed up at the sushi bar on their orders but apparently we didn't take him too seriously. Shortly before our food arrived, we all noticed that our conversation had mostly ceased as our eyes followed every single plate of food that passed by us--we were so HANGRY! (My friend's term for being so hungry that you become angry) 

Let's just say that by the time our sushi came, it was literally gone in less than 2 minutes---no lie. I am quite sure our eating wasn't appropriate for truly savoring the tastes (OR for being polite in a nice restaurant) but we clearly didn't care. This was the remains of round 1. (You better believe we immediately put in an order for round 2 and 3 at the same time!)

And what meal would be complete without an amazing dessert like this one with some coffee?!

To say that we all slept well that night would be an understatement. 

On the agenda for the next day was skiing at the Canyons, where we were literally ski-in, ski-out. 

A typical morning....

(you gotta love staying in a great place, sweet location and the lights in the bathroom don't work over the mirror!) And how could we forget that wonderful key to our condo? Thanks Bill for mastering the lock--now if only we could have mastered the car alarm!

Gondola ride

I had to take this picture for Wyatt---he absolutely loves waffles and they had this little hut at the top of the gondola. They would pull the waffles right off the waffle iron, butter them and fold them in half and hand it right to you to eat. We didn't have any as we told Wyatt we are waiting until he can come with us to enjoy our first!

Tree skiing--the Canyons resort has these amazingly beautiful trees called 'aspens'. I had never seen any like them before--they basically look similar to birch trees but have different coloring and can grow right alongside the evergreens. They provided some amazing tree skiing runs!

Bill and Steph

Our favorite stop for lunch....let's look at that sign a bit closer....

(My little camera was all fogged up from being out in the cold all morning, but you get the idea.)

Possibly the best hot chocolate ever!

One of my favorite parts of ski trips--eating absolutely anything and everything after burning calories all day! Food tastes so much better when you work that hard.

On Sunday after lunch, it started snowing and boy did we get excited--fresh powder!! It was the craziest snow, though....as you can see, it was coming down pretty good but when it landed it looked like 'dippin' dots'. 

(on the chairlift)

We were all smiles the rest of the day---it just kept snowing and snowing and snowing!!

This is what you hope for every time you go skiing, but doesn't always happen--just another reason this was the best ski trip ever!

Bill took this picture--'in my happy place'

(please excuse the awkward pose on my part---not sure what I was doing!)

We skied until the gondola closed and then headed back to our place to enjoy some wine and a dip in the hot tub---except for the fact that our place didn't have a wine opener. Thankfully we had two resourceful surgeons in the house (with two amused wives!) 

And if you use Steph's method of estimating, this probably took at least 2 hours!

And a little shout out to my parents for watching the kids so we could go on this trip. They had so much fun with the kids and sent a few pics to keep us updated---

Nani and Sadie on a girls trip to Starbucks/Target

Sledding--Blake started the face-forward trend and my Dad and Sadie followed suite. I think they went sledding 3 times while we were gone, for a minimum of an hour each time---what a blessing knowing our kids were having MORE fun with my parents than when we are home!! (My mom is quick to remind me that it's because my parents have no other responsibilities other than to have fun with kids--and my parents are like big kids themselves!)

Back in Park City---it continued to snow all night and you can bet we were in line for the gondola before it opened to hit some 'freshies' (aka make new 'fresh' tracks in touched snow)

Getting to the top usually takes a few lifts/gondola rides and on our last chairlift, I ended up next to this ski patrol woman with her rescue dog. It was fascinating talking to her about how they train the dogs. They are such good dogs and she warned us just as the lift was about to crest over the mountain that the dog might start getting excited and bark a bit. Obviously it didn't bother us but she told us they aren't supposed to try and quiet the dogs because the excitement and adrenaline they feel as they anticipate running down the mountain is necessary for rescue situations when they need them to be really amped up until they find lost skiers. Apparently the top US ski dogs are trained in Park City and the Canyons is the only resort that has had their dogs qualify for competitions in Canada (where they have the best dogs in the world). SO fascinating to me! And such a beautiful sight sitting next to this dog as we headed up the mountain.

That's some fresh pow! 

(It was knee deep at some points but if I had stopped to take a picture I am sure I would have gotten stuck!)

Breathtaking views

Bill heading down some mogul runs

Fresh pow in the aspens

It's hard to see in this picture, but just in front of Matt is a small jump that, with all the fresh powder, looked small than it really was. Matt headed down at a pretty good speed and 'sent it'! (aka lost his skis and did a somersault in the snow)

But check out all those freshies!! It was such a beautiful day--I could have taken pictures all day!

It was cold, though--check out the icicle on the left of Matt's goggles

Our last night in Park City and we enjoyed an amazing meal at Talisker on Main

(Keepin' it real!)

Had to include this picture just for you Steph--'cool balls--decorative and dangly'!

Our last day was Tuesday--our flights left Salt Lake at 5pm and I had already skied for four full days so Steph and I decided to take the morning to relax at a local coffee shop in Park City, do some shopping and grab lunch.The guys were undecided as to what they would do the night before, but when we woke up and saw it was snowing again, they couldn't pass up another few hours skiing. So Steph and I dropped them off up at Deer Valley and headed into town.  I definitely needed this before heading home where I knew real life would hit quickly. 

How cool is this? The chairlifts come all the way into downtown!

The guys had another great morning skiing and ended up getting to watch the Freestyle World Cup trial runs that started that morning. (The competitions were held over the next few days there at Deer Valley, which is where the Olympic freestyle competitions were held). Steph and I caught a glimpse of some of it when we picked the guys up...

It was cool to see all the countries represented and their different outfits---and ALL the media as well!

Some of the trial runs they got to see...

Matt took some cool video of some of the runs that I am hoping to upload soon. 

We had an AmAzInG trip and as Steph wrote on her blog, part of what made it so great is that we know it's just the first of many more to come. 

Side Note: Spending time with Steph is like comic relief--she may have the best quotes and I started writing them down because they made us all laugh throughout the trip. Unfortunately they don't hold much meaning for anyone else, but I had to write them down here to ensure many more years of laughter!

'This wind is windy!'

'No fries, no friends'

'I've never been into music--except that I did play violin for 13 years'

'We have bread AND toast'

'Firm with a cushy tip'

And Bill, thanks to you, Matt and I regularly get, "Shalom, Shalom, Shalom is a good boy" stuck in our heads!