Skiing is awesome!

On Wednesday, we cross-country skied at Mt. Bachelor.  It was a gorgeous day, and the snow was icy.  We skied approimately six miles and even clocked 24 mph down the common corridor.  One of my better days skiing, but I was tired by the time we returned to the lodge.  I packed us food to make a lunch, but forgot to pack jelly.  Typical.

Our real plan that day was to take an alpine lesson, but we couldn't get into a lesson.  I receive complimentary lessons if there's one paid person in the lesson.  Emil receives a discount on the lesson.  Unfortunately, no one signed up for a lesson.  Our back up was Nordic, so it turned out fine.

That evening, I hatched a plan.  We would watch a few youtube videos on alpine skiing ... just for some helpful tips.  I mean, we are already familiar with skiing, so how hard can it be?  Plus, I watch skiers and boarders coming down the hill from my ticket window at least three days a week.  I see what they do. 

So, we would drive up, rent equipment, and ride the free beginners lift for a few hours.  Easy.  One quick stop for donuts in the morning, and we were on our way!

We rented equipment at Sunrise Lodge.  Jeff, the manager, was super helpful with the fitting, how to carry our skis without whacking people in the head, and declared me the experienced skier since I took one lesson in the eighth grade.  Now, find the chair lift, put on our skis, and get out there.

Getting sized up for skis.

It was a perfect day.  Snowing, four inches of fresh wet snow (slow snow), and not crowded.  We clipped in, skied over to Carrousel lift, and loaded up.

First run:  A few falls for me, one for Emil.  We practiced linking turns, pizza, and french fries.
Second run:  No falls for either of us.  We laughed, cheered each other on, and managed not to fall off the lift, or drop off poles.
Third run:  One fall for me.  None for Emil.  Still laughing.  Enjoying the falling snow.
Fourth run:  No falls for either of us.
Fifth run:  I felt I was going a little too fast, tried to pizza, and fell.  By the time I bit it, I was going slow, but my knee bent a really weird way, and I heard a pop.  Huh.  Oh well. 

I tried to ski across, but was a little shaky.  Then, I decided I would just take off my skis and walk down, then rest my knee.  Emil pushed the quick release for my ski, and my knee popped to the left again, and I fell down.  Time to call ski patrol.

Side note:  Ski patrol are young, cute, bearded guys who show up within three minutes.  How do I know this?  I've had to call them several times for guests with injuries.  I time them.  Once, I saw them put a girl on a backboard, into a sled, right in front of my window.  They were amazing - nice, considerate, and thorough.  I also see hurt people coming down in a sled, and I vowed I would never ride in that sled.

My friend, Francis, had just skied over from Pine Marten to see how we were doing.  He was going to teach us some of his bad habits.  I told him we were doing great before he arrived, but would he mind skiing down and asking the lifty to call ski patrol for me. 

BOOM!  Two minutes later, Kyle, from ski patrol showed up.  I told him I was an employee and not to tell anyone he was helping me.  He immediately told dispatch via radio about "an employee, he was assessing."  I told him I was not able to walk, and I was not going in a sled.  Thankfully, he skied down for a snowmachine and brought it up to me.

Wow.  We're back in rentals where it all started.  Except, I have to fill out an incident report, and I can hardly walk.  Yay.  Time to hit up Bend Memorial Clinic Urgent Care.  Kyle, the ski patrol, ruled out broken bones.  He was so NICE!  And, he said it was a steep part of the beginners area.  When he taught ski school, he never took folks down that part of the hill.  Interesting.

It was a long wait at Urgent Care.  We never ate the lunch I packed us.  To redeem myself from the forgotten jelly, I pre-packed our sammys.  So, while we were in the waiting room, we pulled out our lunch.  I'm sure people looked at us and wondered why we packed food to come see the doctor!

So, the doc thinks I have a sprained knee and fit me for an immobilizer.  If my knee doesn't feel better in two weeks, I'll have an MRI done.  Fun fun fun. 

Skiing is awesome!  It really was fun.  We laughed on the slope, in the waiting room, and over breakfast this morning, as I hobbled around. 

For now, I'm working on a cover story to tell my co-workers, so I don't have to admit it was a skiing accident.  Any ideas?

Cribbage

We played cribbage the other night with a bunch of friends.  It's one of my favorite card games, next to euchre.  I learned to play cribbage at a very early age.  My grandparents taught me to play, and I have many fond memories from playing over the years.  A few years ago, I taught Emil to play and passed down the wisdom I learned from Grandpa.  Never break up a run.  You never know what the turn up card will be, and it could make a huge point difference in your hand.

Here are a few memories from playing:

1.  During my teen years, I always wanted to watch TV while we played.  My grandparents had cable, so I could soak up MTV when I visited them in Florida.  I lost every game if the TV was on.  A huge distraction, but I vividly remember watching the Paradise City video by Guns N' Roses.

2. If there wasn't a seat for me at the table, I played waitress and took drink orders.  At their home in Cincinnati, I would carry around paper and pen.  Of course, I was too little to fulfill the orders.  Pretty sure that's where my waitressing career began.

3.  In close point games, I remember Grandma and her partner would say funny things before cutting the turn up card - little chants and such.  Sometimes, they would switch chairs, thinking it would change the outcome of the cards.  Being a little kid and watching that seemed so fun.  Sometimes it would work.

4.  Snacks were a big thing.  I remember eating Gardetto's Original Snack Mix out of small wooden bowls.  Two bowls on the table in between folks.

Here's a pic:

We played cribbage last night during the Olympics.  Just didn't work out since my attention span was on the women's skiing!  Go figure!