Last weekend was our first skiing excursion of this season (and I’m only now writing about it because I’ve been busy cramming for next week’s final exam… what happens when a former English major with only an anecdotal understanding of business takes a grad-level Project Management class with a bunch of 20-something MBA students? She gets the second-highest grade on the mid-term and the second-highest grade on the term paper. Why? Because unlike seemingly everyone else in the class, she actually did the assigned readings. Goodness people, life is not that hard.)
Oh yeah. Skiing. We decided to go skiing on Sunday, so we drove out to the Berkshires on Saturday mid-morning with a vague idea that we’d spend some time hiking in one of the state forests near our hotel. We had a picnic lunch and lots of cold-weather gear, as it was a windy, cloudy 40-degree day. On the drive out Little Boy played with my work-issued iPad until he began to feel carsick, and then complained bitterly at how long the drive was taking (2 hours). When we pulled into the parking lot for the randomly-chosen October Mountain state forest, he was actually excited that we’d be going for a “walk in the woods.” The trail was gradual and ultimately not very steep, although the leaves covering the rocky trail made the footing tricky. It took us about 45 minutes to go one mile, and though we had attained no view we decided to stop for lunch. When we stopped moving, we really felt the cold. I fretted about what bad parents we were when Little Boy told me his hands were so cold he couldn’t hold his sandwich, and we huddled together as I fed him. When we finished eating, of course we headed back to the car. I think it’s good for kids to be taken out of their comfort zone once in a while, but there’s a fine line. Little Boy recovered nicely in the hotel swimming pool, where he romped for a solid two hours (and would still be there now, if he could). Eventually we made our way to an upscale pizza restaurant and then headed back to the hotel for a relatively early bedtime, as the slopes awaited!
The next morning after the breakfast buffet, we geared up. Little Boy still fits into last year’s bib, jacket, gloves, helmet, and boots, which is a huge parental triumph. We drove about 20 minutes to Jiminy Peak, which had one major lift open that provided access to a few trails of man-made snow. Unfortunately, the only trail coming off the lift was somewhat flat and subjected to a blast of bitter wind that made downward progression a battle. Little Boy did not like this! He clung to Mr. P on the first run and was cautious on the second and third runs, and then demanded to go back to the car because he was cold. Mr. P took him inside the lodge while I took a few more runs. By the time I went inside, Little Boy was ready to go again. And again. He fell a few times (mostly while stopping) but overall he is really good for a little kid. Sometimes he “forgets” to turn and goes straight down at a terrifying (for me) speed. He discovered a few “jumps” on the side of one of the trails and became fanatical about going over them. He is totally going to be one of those teenagers doing terrifying (again, for me) things at the terrain park.
We took a few more breaks over the course of the day, but had a lot of runs between 10am and 4pm. When it was time to go, Little Boy was very sad. Incredible! What stamina those little legs have, to be able to do snowplows all day long. Mr. P and I were both exhausted (though it is very tiring skiing slow and keeping a 4 year-old on his feet). Ah, the vigor of youth, and the ravages of age.
Alas, no pictures, as it was too cold to take off my gloves.
