Ski Boot Camp Continues

Day 4, Deer Valley:
We piled into the car at 8:15am and were in the Silver Lake Express lift line by 9am when they opened. We took the Silver Lake express to the Quincy Lift and Lost Boulder to the Northside lift where we skied Lucky Star and Lost Boulder again. The second time down Lost Boulder I skied the moguls on the left side and when I got to the bottom, Jesse told me I had to ski with him and Uncle Tom because I did well in the moguls. :) We took that lift up one more time and then we took Woodside to the new Lady Morgan Lift which had virtually no skiers on it. Up at the top it was very windy and we decided to head back to the Empire Lift (Jesse stayed on the Lady Morgan), but halfway down, ski patrol told us Empire and Ruby lifts were on a wind hold, so we took a van from the Empire lodge to the base of the Northside lift which was getting busy since 2 lifts and Bald Mt. were closed. It was at this point that we discovered the Silver Strike lift and skied Blue Bell, Silver Buck, and under the lift line (in some fun moguls!) until lunchtime. We changed our lunch plans at least 6 times throughout the morning, and found ourselves at the Silver Lake Lodge (where they have fantastic grilled smoked turkey and cheese sandwiches!) at about 12:30. All the while, mind you, it is snowing to beat the band. And now soft fluffy snowflakes, either. The snow was falling in little pellets about 3 or 4mm in diameter. After lunch, I said goodbye to Vinnie and he and Dad skied down to the car to go get cleaned up and drive Vinnie to the airport. After lunch, Aunt Laura and I took the Quincy lift to Hidden Treasure a couple of times and were on the lift when we heard lightning, so we took Ontario down to the Homestake lift and Solid Muldoon down to the Snow Park Lodge.

When we got home, we were going to shovel the driveway before visiting the hot tub when I got a call from my dad at 4:30pm. They were stopped on the highway, and I found out (watching The Weather Channel and searching the internet for Utah traffic and highway alerts) that I-80 Westbound was closed at Jeremy Ranch, so they turned around and came back to Park City since there wasn't any way to get Vinnie to the airport for his 7pm flight. We ordered pizzas and watched the Oscars. I was impressed that I've seen 26 of the 80 Best Picture winners. And I want to see more of them.

Day 5, The Canyons:
Again, we were in the car by 8:15am and on the lift at 9. Mom stayed back since she still wasn't feeling well, and she kept Vinnie company until his shuttle came at 12. So, the party was down to Aunt Laura, Uncle Tom, Jesse, Dad, and me. We took the Gondola to the Red Pine Lodge area and skied Chicane to the Tombstone lift. Aunt Laura and I skied Another World to South Fork twice and then took Silver Spur (where I got caught in the powder and took Vinnie's 10:30am face plant) to the Peak 5 lift and Harmony over to the Dreamscape lift. We took Deja Vu down, and then the Day Break lift opened and we took it to Winter Way and then to Elk Dance to the Porta-Potties (that was an adventure all on its own!). Then we split off from Dad and Uncle Tom and skied Snow Meadow and McDonald's Meadow on the Dreamscape lift and then Elk Dance to Lazy Day on the Day Break lift twice. Lazy Day was so nice! Then we ran into Dad and Uncle Tom and took Harmony to the Tombstone lift to Sidewinder to the Red Pine Lodge for lunch. The pulled pork barbeque sandwich was quite good. After lunch, Aunt Laura and I skied the Saddleback lift: Snow Dancer, Kokopelli to Main Line, Snow Dancer again, Pine Draw twice, Snow Dancer again, and then Kokopelli to Pine Draw to the Short Cut lift and Doc's Run all the way to the base to meet up with the rest of our party. We had leftovers for dinner and watched another couple episodes of Hopalong Cassidy. "Here he comes!"

Day 6, Salt Lake City Temple Square:
After a leisurely morning (though I was still up at 7:15) of breakfasting and packing, we drove down to Salt Lake City. Our first stop was the shop to get their discount lift tickets for the end of the week. Then the visitors center which has a cool black mirror in the middle of the rotunda and if you look up or down it goes forever. Then we headed over to Temple Square and took the free tour of the Assembly Hall and the North Visitors Center. It was interesting and informative, and I'll post some pictures soon. After the tour, we went inside the Tabernacle which I didn't know was elliptically shaped and therefore without need for amplification (though I did geek out and take pictures of the sound console and some of the overhead lighting).

We had lunch at Crown Burger and then they dropped me off at SLC. My neck, head, and shoulders were still hurting from my tumble on Monday, so lugging luggage around was not fun, and it took about 2 hours to get my bags and take the two trains home.

Today I did all my regular and ski laundry and had a very productive trip to the grocery store. And now I'm making meatloaf, baked fingerling potatoes, and roasted asparagus for dinner. My neck is still hurting, but I'm taking acetaminophen and I bought a tube of IcyHot.