Stratton Skiing…Derek Style

Today’s recap is brought to you by yours truly, Derek, because Meghann is currently dancing in the kitchen with her blogger friends to “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha. A camera, the internet, and free reign of the ‘publish’ button is a powerful thing! =)

Ok, so on to the day. After breakfast, another lazy morning, and a late start (my fault), we arrived at Stratton to kick some mountain ass. As you can see, Leslie and Meghann were in fashion show mode. I couldn’t say no…they’re just too awesome.

Like four 18 year olds at homecoming/prom, we snapped a pic of the classic ‘shoe shot’. If you look closely, I’m the only one that has the skill for a tricky ski boot heel balance. Ok, fine. I may have been using the people to my left and right for support.

The combination of Saturday skiing and a holiday weekend caused the lift lines to be long. We sure were spoiled yesterday. We used the singles line to counteract it and just met each other at the top.

Luckily though, we were able to find a few lifts that weren’t so packed and rode together. Everyone but me, looking like a possible bank robbery suspect, got the memo to raise their goggles and lower their gator for a decent picture. Oh well, I’m sure there are other pictures later on in this post that will make up for my gaffe.

If you recall from last night, Tina and Mal joined us for some weekend skiing. Mal has been snowboarding since about 10 years old and, well, I’m not sure how long Tina has been skiing. Mal has mini speakers built into the ear pieces of his helmet so he can seamlessly rock out to music while boardin’. I must have this new fangled technology. After all, who wears earbuds under 2 or 3 layers of headgear? Err, I do. Like I said, must have.

This next series of photos I’m not exceedingly proud of but definitely laughed like crazy about. So, I’m skiing down this blue trail (I think it should be black) that has a generous degree of descent. My goggles are somewhat fogged for some reason and I hit some unexpected bumps. Imagine you’re in a school bus with no seatbelt and you start going over multiple speed bumps. It was like that but while on my feet. I don’t remember doing this but Meghann swears I began skiing on one leg. At some point, I switch back to both legs and try slowing down. It works, but far too late. Derek sees tree. Derek meets tree, intimately. Derek is OK and can’t stop laughing.

Ah, the joys and entertainment of skiing mistakes.

Lunch time eventually came and we met at Grizzly’s again. Clearly, don’t mess with a good thing. @Mal, are you OK? Something catch your eye? Excited? World coming to an end?

Meghann says she wants this headband. Leslie says it’s from a mall kiosk.

Ok, I’m on it.

Ski boozin’

We split these nachos between 3 or 4 of us and still didn’t finish them. Personally, I’d give them an ‘eh’ rating. Pretty average nachos if you ask me.

In edition to the nachos, I ordered clam chowder in a bread bowl. It was quite tasty, but I don’t think it compares to the clam chowder bread bowl we had in San Francisco.

On a side note, a stray nacho chip is trying to scale volcano de bread bowl. We’ll never know if it made it cause it was dipped, dunked, and consumed.

You are now being presented with our ‘couple’ pictures. Meghann says we have “old eyes”. What do you think? I’m pushing 27 and she just turned 26. Apparently some kind of anti-aging eye cream is in our future. Kidding…kind of…not really.

My picture timing, or lack thereof, is on display below. Either way, it’s a fun picture. And you know what? I’m pretty sure I captured the FUN in the picture.

After lunch we headed back out onto the trails. The lines had died down which was a very welcomed thing for our afternoon ski runs.

At one point, we all attempted a double black diamond. For all you non-skiers out there, double black diamond is as hard as it gets. I know the below picture doesn’t do it justice, but we were on an approx. 75 degree hill with moguls. I fell about four times, Leslie somehow didn’t fall, Meghann (who took the ‘woosy’ way down) fell once, and I believe Leslie’s fiance fell once or twice. In all fairness, I tried to ski the hill the way it’s meant to be skied, without all the falling of course. The ice on the hill had others ideas about me staying upright.

Meghann, Ashley, and Theodora ended the day with a waffle treat that they had been eyeing since yesterday. It had a generous drizzle of chocolate and, from what I hear, was quite a treat.

And there you have it folks. I hope you enjoyed my recap of our second day of skiing at wonderful Stratton mountain.

This is Derek signing off. Take care of yourself…and each other. And yes, I stole that from Jerry Springer. Good night!