skiing with Skye

I've ALWAYS wanted to learn how to ski. Of course, I have a slight issue with having no control over where my feet go…hence, I avoid sports like water skiing, rollerskating, skateboarding, etc. I had a bad experience with ice skating in 7th grade, still have the scars to prove it! Don't ask me what happened, just know "I had a bad experience!" (movie reference, 10 points if you can tell me what movie that line is from).

Anyway, had been talking with my friend Skye about learning to ski. She has been snowboarding before, but never skiing, so it was decided that we'd just do it! We caught a bus from over by Mall 205, at the un-Godly hour of 6am, got a nice cushy (eventually chained up) ride to Meadows on Mt. Hood, where we were paraded through a somewhat short line at the ski rental shop. I got my boots and when I went to close them up, knew my day wasn't going to be without pain. My giant-ass calfs and really tight, non-flexible ski boots did not become best friends that day. But I made it through. That's a new experience though, walking in ski boots. You kinda start to feel like Frankenstein after awhile. The best part is though, that EVERYBODY is sporting the same very ungainly walk… so you don't feel too awkward.

We had an older instructor, about 10 people in our "class". I did not fall, though I made a few attempts. I was so nervous, I couldn't relax. But I smiled a lot! So much in fact, that our instructor Bob (about 65 and somewhat surly) started calling me "Smiley". "Hey Smiley, come this way", etc. Too funny. Just made me laugh more, which loosened me up enough to make it over to the tow line. We basically spent the rest of the day at the tow line. Everybody else made it to the lifts, but I wasn't really comfortable on the two sticks below me, and Skye didn't seem overly optimistic herself. So we spent our afternoon avoiding collisions with runaway 5 year olds and a bus load of Japanese snowboarders.

We had a good time. Vowed we'd do it again soon, but we never made it in the 2008 season. I hope we can go again this winter. I had a great time and it's something I could get into… once I get over the fear of losing control and hitting a tree!