High and Dry

After taking Tuesday off from skiing and snowboarding this week, we were all refreshed and ready to hit the Utah slopes again on Wednesday & Thursday. The great weather continued and we absolutely loved the runs and trails at the resort. Adam and Jacob were zipping down incredibly steep hills and doing it very well. They are now officially spoiled, and will never again be content at the small ski areas near our house.

Adam successfully recovered from his unexpected run-in with the altitude. My sinuses, on the other hand, could never quite get used to the thin, dry air at the resort. My mouth was constantly dry and my throat was always scratchy. I never thought I would miss the humidity of Michigan, but I did!

We arrived home from Salt Lake City this afternoon - one day later than planned. Jim, Jacob, and I voluntarily "bumped" from our Friday flight in return for some free airline tickets and first class seats on today's flight. Adam chose to fly home yesterday using our original itinerary. (He is such a party pooper!) And poor Richie has spent the past two days driving back and forth to the airport to fetch us - first Adam and eight of our bags last night, then Jim, Jacob, and I and the rest of our luggage today.

We did take a lot of pictures during our week in the mountains, and after I look through them all I will post some. We also shot videos, but I cannot make any promises about getting those posted here without some assistance. I wonder if there is any such thing as an easy-to-use, easy-to-edit movie camera out there for old people? If so, I'm buying!

Park City, Utah

We arrived in Salt Lake City on Saturday afternoon, lugging 13 bags, including our ski & boot bags, and Adam’s snowboard. We rented an SUV and drove up the mountains into Park City. Our condo at the Canyons Resort is everything I imagined it would be. Our view is awesome - we overlook the ski hills and the main gondola.

On Saturday night, Adam noticed that the skin on the inside of his arms and on the sides of his torso was somewhat bluish in color. Since we were at an altitude of 6,900 feet, we immediately suspected altitude sickness. He felt ok, but looked up information on the internet nevertheless. Of course, the blue indicated that he had a lack of oxygen, but he didn’t have any other serious symptoms like nausea or dizziness. On Sunday morning, Adam felt fine, and, luckily, his blue was lightening, so we kept him well hydrated and headed out to ski. Unfortunately for him, we learned that if you experience altitude sickness once, you will probably get it the next time you travel to a high altitude. You can normally acclimate in about 48 hours, and Adam's blue skin continues to fade nicely.

When we skied on Sunday, the weather was unusually warm – the high actually reached 50 degrees. We were sweating like crazy, and the boys even put on their spring jackets for skiing in the afternoon. On Monday, the temperatures were predicted to be a bit cooler, but still above normal. At the top of the mountain (10,000 feet) there was a winter weather advisory for 4-8 inches of snow. Mid-mountain (8,500 feet) they were supposed to get 2-4 inches, and at the base (7,000 feet) the weather service forecasted rain mixed with snow. We skied near the summit most of Monday, avoiding any rain, and actually saw sunshine later in the day. I will admit that we all - with the exception of the annoyingly in-shape Jim - developed sore legs and aching muscles. On our last run of the day, we took a three-and-a-half mile long trail, and Adam, Jacob, and I were all doing some serious whining by the time we got to the bottom. We are taking a planned day off on Tuesday to do some sightseeing.

Jim and Jacob inside the gondola.

We stopped here for a snack halfway up the mountain.

Nice scenery.

Rock Band

Adam’s Rock Band game is still a big hit at our house two months after its arrival on Christmas Day. I love to sing and I am ok strumming the guitar, but I absolutely stink at playing the drums. As I was looking through the list of available songs for the game, I noticed that there was nothing by any of my favorite artists, like John Denver or Roberta Flack, for example. That is when Adam snidely informed me that the game is Rock Band, not Easy Listening Band. Well, here is some advice for all of you video game inventors out there - a few mellow selections from the 70s might be very popular with the older crowd.

Anyway, here are a couple shots of Jacob rocking.

Drumming.

A laid-back guitarist.

Lost

On Saturday morning, Jim and I went to Bev’s assisted living place to bring her a Valentine card and some candy. Bev’s room was empty when we arrived, but her cell phone was on her chair, so we assumed she was close by because she and her phone are never far apart. (In fact, Jim recently had to change her cell plan to include additional minutes since she has been yakking hundreds of minutes over her limit each month.) Anyway, we checked the dining room and lobby for any sign of Bev, and made a few laps of the building’s hallways, but she was nowhere to be found. I immediately suspected that she was with one of her smoking buddies, so we eavesdropped outside of her pal Mary Lou’s room and thought that we heard Bev’s voice inside. Not wanting to interrupt their visit, Jim and I decided to run a few errands, then come back.

When we returned, Bev was still not in her room. In the lobby, we saw Debbie, who was also trying to locate Bev for a planned lunch date. Debbie and I wandered over to Mary Lou’s room and knocked on the door. Mary Lou’s daughter appeared, and when we asked if Bev was there, she slammed the door shut in a huff saying that we had the wrong room. Well! We double-checked the sign-out log, and finally queried the front office. Before long, a small search party was hunting for Bev. By now it was lunch time, and when Bev’s table mates realized she was missing, the poor women were worried sick. Debbie decided to drive over to Big Boy to see if Bev had possibly waddled over to the nearby restaurant without remembering to sign out at the office first. A few minutes later, Jim’s cell phone rang with the news that Bev was indeed there, enjoying lunch with some old friends who had picked her up from the assisted living place for a previously arranged outing. Of which Bev had no recollection. And, oops, she forgot to sign out. And, geez, she forgot to take her phone along. And, wow, she even forgot that she had arranged a lunch trip with Debbie for the exact same day and time. When Jim and I arrived at Big Boy, Bev was as happy as a clam, smoking up a storm, and cackling about how she hadn’t remembered planning anything at all for the day, yet here she was now with her favorite family and friends. Jim reminded her that she must always check out at the office each time she goes out. Bev insisted, however, that she had no prior knowledge of any sign-out rules because she had never, ever before left the building. Sigh.

Another small mystery was solved for us, too, that afternoon. Bev explained that Mary Lou’s daughter is currently very angry with her because she (the daughter) is trying to help her mother (Mary Lou) quit smoking, yet Bev keeps sneaking her cigarettes. Troublemaker. No wonder Mary Lou’s daughter was annoyed at the mention of Bev’s name. Slowly, but surely, Bev will probably alienate all of the nice people in her building.

Happy Valentine's Day

I am in the process of writing two posts, but do not have either one of them quite ready. Adam did help me put the video of our December ski trip on my computer, but left me to edit it on my own. What is he thinking!? Hopefully, I will become more tech savvy in the future so I do not have to rely on Adam to assist me with all of my queries regarding electronics. I have also been busy trying to snap some blog-worthy photos of the family playing Rock Band, but all of my pictures so far are either too blurry, too close, or too far away.

In the meantime, I'll just say Happy Valentine's Day to you all. We don't do much celebrating here at our house, but for those of you who do - have a great time!

Senior Citizen Brunch

What do you think of when you hear the word "brunch?" A nice restaurant with food stations full of warm, delicious breakfast and lunch items? The Finnish Center holds a very different type of brunch at their facility on the second Sunday of each month. Irma loves to attend, mostly, I think, to socialize with her old Finnish friends. Nancy, the boys, and I like to go mainly for amusement. Personally, I love senior citizens, but you cannot even begin to imagine the chaos that erupts when the average age of the folks in charge of an event is 85. We arrived at the Finnish Center today, and the hostess, Edith (age 80-something), gave us numbers to hold our place in line. There were six of us, and Edith worked for about ten minutes trying to find consecutive numbers in her pile of homemade cardboard numerals. Frustrated, she finally just handed us 11-15. And 5. The food is supposed to be served beginning at 11:30 a.m., and today it was 12:20 p.m. when the cooks were at long last ready to start. Edith shouted loudly into her microphone (yes, she loves speaking into her microphone even though the luncheon area is quite small and her voice doesn’t really need any amplification) for everyone “to settle down.” The low mumbles of conversation amongst the elderly were barely audible, but apparently Edith wanted everyone’s complete attention. She announced that brunch was ready, and numbers one through four could proceed to the buffet line. And just to reiterate, she stated, “That’s one . . . two . . . three . . . and four.” These earsplitting broadcasts continued throughout the entire meal. The food available at the brunch leaves something to be desired, and I don’t usually eat the breakfast fare because cold eggs, undercooked French toast, and raw sausage do not appeal to me. Today they offered chicken a la king, which I ate and enjoyed. Nancy went through the buffet at the end of our group of six, and had to wait about five extra minutes when they ran out of plates. The senior citizen workers just stood around flummoxed as to how they might solve that problem, and, remember, Nancy was only number 16 to go through the food line. Eventually, more plates were located, much to the relief of the 40 or so other people who had not yet eaten. We got our food, paid the 90-year-old cashier, then traded knowing shrugs & sighs with the few other under-70-year-old people who were in attendance. There is nothing like a roomful of elderly Finns to make you feel young!

Westward Ho

In a few weeks, we are going to Park City, Utah to ski. I found some awesome airfares a couple months ago (pat self on back), and now we are in the process of booking a condo for our stay. Fortunately for us, there are quite a few empty units just waiting for a nice family like ours to come along. So far, I have contacted 122 condo owners (why, yes, I do keep track) to check availability and prices. Almost all of them have emailed me back, which has made for quite a crowded inbox lately. Anyway, since there are so many units still available, I feel confident waiting until the last minute to book, hoping that perhaps a perfectly cozy ski-in/ski-out location with a hot tub and separate beds for the boys (not that Jacob kicks and moves around a lot at night) will suddenly open up at a reasonable price.

Before we head out west, I do need to purchase some replacement ski poles. On our last ski adventure in December, Jacob and I had a collision on a trail, and, as a result, the bottom few inches of one of my poles bent perpendicular to the rest. When we attempted to bend it back, the metal snapped. Jim was actually taking movies of the rest of us skiing at the time of the little mishap, so the pole-bending incident is captured on film. As soon as Adam will assist me, I will post the video clip here.