The annual family ski trip to Vail, Co was last month, January 3 -9. Not only was it a great ski trip, it was my first ski trip. Phil has been skiing since he could walk and I didn’t even know what a lift was. I was thinking this is a bad idea. I can barley walk normal without failing. Now I’m going to go down a hill, covered in snow, with sleds strapped to my feet, great idea.
I didn’t own any snow gear so, Phil had to take me to the only 2 ski stores in the area Alpine Ski Center and the Board Room for my ski gear. This was a challenge in itself due to me being the size of a large elf. First I needed a ski coat. That should be easy right? LOL not at all. I have short arms and NONE of the women’s coats would fit my stubby arms. So, I had to try on the little girls and the arms fit great however I have a few body features that 8 year-olds tend to not have, like hips. Next, was the little boys and had the same problem but I looked like spriderman. I finally found one but the arms were still too long and I just had to deal with it. Next, was the snow pants. I thought here we go again I have short legs and I cant even find blue jeans to fit me. The first pair I tried on PERFECT fit. Finally, the last major item I needed was my gloves. This was, like the coat, a problem too. I have a hand the size of a child’s and the stores were out of childrens gloves. I had to get a small in women’s mittens and they were too big but I had to make do. I still had to purchase Smart Wool socks and a lot of winter hats. Shopping was finally finished after 2 months.
All packed up and ready to go, but now I have to get to Colorado. Since the most common way of travel when going long distances is via plane. I have never been on a plane before. It was a direct flight to Denver, CO. We were running behind for our flight, the whole family runs on “Zarb time” so once we got in the airport we had to board to plane. It was too much too fast for me. At the last minute I find out since we were late I would have to sit alone. I got on the plane and freaked out! But I settled down after the man beside me changed seats with Phil.
Arrived in Denver, CO around 5:00 and it was dark outside. We still had to go rent a car and drive 2 hours up the mountain to Vail. By this time we were starving and decided to stop at a BBQ place in the middle of the mountain. It was really good BBQ . I wish they were local were I could book them for my wedding 😉 We arrived in Vail around 8:00 pm . The condo we were staying in was really nice, a lot better than any of us had expected. It had a log cabin style with 3 bedrooms and 3 baths and over looking the balcony was a stream running through the back yard.
Day One: We decided to go to Beaver Creek for Phil to warm-up and for me to learn. We didn’t even get a lift ticket at first because I wasn’t sure I would be able to get on a lift my first day. I began on the bunny hill, a long with a few children and a group of adults from the ski school. It took me a while to figure out how to put on and move in the skies. Phil decided it was time for me to go down the “big” bunny hill. Then, near the middle of the hill I see a 2 year old baby fly past me. That made me feel about 2 inches tall. I had to speed it up a bit. After lunch I decided to get a beginners lift ticket and try a bigger slope. When we arrived at the top I put my skies on and got about 10 ft before I began to tumble down the hill. I was mad at this point, about to just give up because I couldn’t stand up. Poor patient Phil, helped me up and talked me in to trying it again. Once I gained a little speed, and I mean little, down the slope it got a little easier. I was so happy that I did it! Phil wanted to try it again before the lift closed. I made it down the slope the second time in 10 mins. Since, I was getting the hang of it we went on the lift 3 more times! By this time the sun was beginning to set and the lifts were closing. When we got back to the condo I was EXHAUSTED. I went to bed at 8:30.
Day Two: On this day we decided to go to Vail, a little bit more challenging mountain. Vail had a lot more experienced people there. Phil took me on my first Green hill. It wasn’t too bad but it took me a while to get use to being on the skis again. However, one thing I didn’t like was the experienced riders flying down the Green slopes. They are marked Green because they are for beginners. Phil had to match every move I made to block me from getting ran over. After lunch, Phil’s dad thought it would be a good idea to take me and let Phil get some real skiing in. I was okay with that and Phil said he would stay with me for a little bit. His dad took us down a trail and then there was a fork in the trial. There was not a sign to say what way we should go so we guessed and took a left. Wrong, this was the BLACK DIAMOND with moguls! There was no turning back I couldn’t hike up the hill in skies, but how was I going to get down? On my butt, I kicked off my skies and down I went. Poor Phil had to go down backwards for most of the hill because he had to grabs my skies and throw them down. I was so tired I had to take the lift down the mountain.
Day Three: Another day at Vail. This day I wanted to try to go down a Blue slope. Hey, if I can go down a Black I surely can do a blue. Well, I ended up having to take a blue because I couldn’t read the signs. It was a long hard ride down. I cut across that mountain about 30 times before I made it all the way down. I did it! I didn’t think I was going to be able to walk once we arrived at the condo.
Day Four: Off to Breckenridge. This ski resort was about 1 hour away but his dad had never been there before and wanted to try it out. The town it was in looked liked an old mining town, unlike all others that were new and resort like. This place was a lot more scenic than the others. When had to ride a lift from the parking lot up to the first mountain. Once again Phil and I stayed together whil the rest of the family went on there own way. I started small on the greens, but the green there were way easier than all the others I had been on. I went down them too easy so Phil and i started on some blues. The blues there were like the greens in Vail. Phil wished we had went there first to teach me. It would have been a lot easier. There were 3 mountains to ski 7,8, and 9. we skied the first one and Phil wasn’t feeling that great, he tends to get altitude sickness. He started feeling well enough to ski down to the meeting spot for lunch. That is when he noticed his ski boot didn’t feel right. Once he took the boot off and examined it he noticed the liner was broken. He was still able to ride on it but it was hurtin ghis foot pretty badly. After lunch we decided to head back to the beginning of the first mountain. It would take the rest of the day to return. On the way home we stopped in the town to buy a few gifts then headed to the condo where we had dinner waiting on us because Phil’s step mom didn’t ski that day.
Day Five: Day of Rest
Day Six: Return home in a blizzard. It began to snow the night before we left and it didn’t stop all night and day. There interstate was covered. You couldn’t even see the lines on the road. People were driving it the “self made” lanes. The 2 hour drive going to Vail was 4 hours driving back from Vail to Denver. We planned to get there 2 hours early were we wouldn’t have to rush but we were pushing the clock on flight time. We were relieved when the airport called stating there would be a small delay on the flight. Then when we checked the status of the plane is was back to the orginally time!We didn’t give up, even though my soon to be sister in law was freaking out. I remained clam. Of course we had to go through security and of course I had to get searched. I told everyone to go on and hopefully me and Phil would made it. Finally, they were done checking the backpack and off we RAN we had 1 min before the plane was to take off. I felt like I was in the movie Home Alone 2 were they are running in the airport and they loose Kevin. I was hoping I wouldn’t be Kevin. We made it! They were just loading the plane as we arrived at the gates but we couldn’t find Phil’s brother and his girlfriend. She had stopped to get something to eat! After freaking out the whole time in the car she stops for food. She cracks me up. I thought my belly was going to eat its self but I was going to wait until I knew I was on my way home first. Anyways, We made it to Nashville almost on time and had a nice dinner before our 3 hour drive home.
Summary: Phil ended up getting new Ski boots and new Skies. I finally learned to ski and hope to return next year. Riding on a plane isn’t as scary as it looks.
The Zarb Homestead 