Learning to ski was on my bucket list for a long time. Granted, East Tennessee is not perhaps the most ideal place in the country to dream of learning to ski - but it is possible.
I tried to learn to ski multiple times. There was a trip to a ski resort during college - we went with Candi's cousin, Travis to go 'night skiing' (it was cheaper.) But alas, when we arrived, it was sleeting and raining and we decided we did not want to learn to ski on ice.
Then there was a trip during my vet school years. My classmates Chad, Samantha, April and I drove to Greeneville where we met up with my pal, Chris to drive to another ski resort. By the time we were ascending the mountain, it was snowing so hard it would not have been safe to continue. Chris made the tough call to turn back around. Foiled again!
I'm pretty sure there was at least one more failed attempt - but I can not recall the details.
2002 was a big year for me. I graduated from vet school. I moved to VA where I did not know a soul. I learned to drive a manual transmission and a truck at the same time. And I learned to ski!
I moved to VA - and three of my best buds from vet school moved to PA. The two in the picture above were right across the PA line in Shippensburg. That's Sam and Chad. April and her husband were a little further north and east.
I drove to PA almost every other weekend to stay with Sam and Chad. They were my closest friends and they were the only people on the planet who knew and truly understood what I was going through as a new vet in a mixed animal practice. We would spend our entire time during those weekends discussing cases.
Because they both worked in two separate mixed practices - their weekends off together were rare. But when they were both off, they would sometimes come to visit me here. One weekend while they were visiting - we went skiing!
And apparently, so did everyone else in VA. :)
It was a lovely weekend. Fresh snow, sunshine, and a nice 30 degrees outside. PERFECT skiing weather. We made it up to the ski resort to find that we were able to rent boots and skiis - but they were all out of poles. :( So many people at the resort, they were OUT! No matter - we would still ski!
We signed up for the last ski class of the morning and our instructor told us he was glad we did not have poles - that way we would have to learn to ski the proper way - with our legs. "We don't let kids use poles" he told us.
We had a marvelous day. And though I was the only one to not fall during ski school (I remember Chad giving me a hard time about that.....) I made up for it by bombing a few times down the slope.
I went skiing a few more times that winter and the next. I sometimes went with a gal from church and sometimes I went by myself. I remember once going down the slope on a thankfully not-crowded day at nearly full speed. I still have never really learned how to turn well or stop. :) I just pointed my skis down the slope and off I went! I am so so grateful I did not run into anyone! I reached the bottom of the slope, hit the gradual incline and slowed myself, came to a stop and realized that I could have just died. And then I began to shake as I came down from the awesome adrenaline rush that arose in me as I sped down the mountain with two lightning-fast boards strapped to my feet.
Skiing is fun. Learning to ski with friends like Sam and Chad is the best.
Miss them. So much.
I tried to learn to ski multiple times. There was a trip to a ski resort during college - we went with Candi's cousin, Travis to go 'night skiing' (it was cheaper.) But alas, when we arrived, it was sleeting and raining and we decided we did not want to learn to ski on ice.
Then there was a trip during my vet school years. My classmates Chad, Samantha, April and I drove to Greeneville where we met up with my pal, Chris to drive to another ski resort. By the time we were ascending the mountain, it was snowing so hard it would not have been safe to continue. Chris made the tough call to turn back around. Foiled again!
I'm pretty sure there was at least one more failed attempt - but I can not recall the details.
2002 was a big year for me. I graduated from vet school. I moved to VA where I did not know a soul. I learned to drive a manual transmission and a truck at the same time. And I learned to ski!
I moved to VA - and three of my best buds from vet school moved to PA. The two in the picture above were right across the PA line in Shippensburg. That's Sam and Chad. April and her husband were a little further north and east.
I drove to PA almost every other weekend to stay with Sam and Chad. They were my closest friends and they were the only people on the planet who knew and truly understood what I was going through as a new vet in a mixed animal practice. We would spend our entire time during those weekends discussing cases.
Because they both worked in two separate mixed practices - their weekends off together were rare. But when they were both off, they would sometimes come to visit me here. One weekend while they were visiting - we went skiing!
And apparently, so did everyone else in VA. :)
It was a lovely weekend. Fresh snow, sunshine, and a nice 30 degrees outside. PERFECT skiing weather. We made it up to the ski resort to find that we were able to rent boots and skiis - but they were all out of poles. :( So many people at the resort, they were OUT! No matter - we would still ski!
We signed up for the last ski class of the morning and our instructor told us he was glad we did not have poles - that way we would have to learn to ski the proper way - with our legs. "We don't let kids use poles" he told us.
We had a marvelous day. And though I was the only one to not fall during ski school (I remember Chad giving me a hard time about that.....) I made up for it by bombing a few times down the slope.
I went skiing a few more times that winter and the next. I sometimes went with a gal from church and sometimes I went by myself. I remember once going down the slope on a thankfully not-crowded day at nearly full speed. I still have never really learned how to turn well or stop. :) I just pointed my skis down the slope and off I went! I am so so grateful I did not run into anyone! I reached the bottom of the slope, hit the gradual incline and slowed myself, came to a stop and realized that I could have just died. And then I began to shake as I came down from the awesome adrenaline rush that arose in me as I sped down the mountain with two lightning-fast boards strapped to my feet.
Skiing is fun. Learning to ski with friends like Sam and Chad is the best.
Miss them. So much.
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