Ski Vacation: Day One

We stopped for breakfast here.



From left to right, Elsa, Omral, and Jess



Driving up to the Ski Basin, would anyone care for some mountain spring water?

It's a quarter to two and I'm sitting in my room in the ski lodge watching the cloud banks below. This place is incredible! Here is a picture from out of my room's window. I'm heading out to ski now.



And I'm back from the slopes! After taking a long, long shower followed by a long, long soak in the tub I'm very relaxed heading into this new year. Now, I hadn't been skiing since I was twelve or so, and I fell down a lot at first. But after the first hour I was getting back into the motions and taking turns right. We went on one final run from the very top as the sun was setting. The setting sun turned the snow deep red and the mountains really looked like Santa Fe. I miss that city, maybe one day I will move back to it. It feels good to be in the mountains again.

We met with Omral's brother Omer and Omer's wife for dinner at the lodge where they are also staying. He asked me to put the following onto the blog. "I was in the mountain with my friend Omer, today we skied very good. I was almost afraid my legs would break." We have been invited to visit him in his house on the black sea, I would really like to visit there in the spring, the hills are supposed to be a lush green.

The ski lodge is very large, heck it even has a pool on the top floor in an atrium. We'll be heading up to the lounge to relax in a minute and have dinner later this evening. Elsa is a very good skier, she was an instructor in Vermont, Jess didn't go on the slopes today since she "has to get psyched up and then spend a whole day skiing" and Omral got some lessons since he had never been skiing, and by the end of them he was gliding along with a big grin on his face. Everyone's having a great time, I couldn't think of a more spectacular way to close out 2005 and move into 2006.

Wishing everyone the very best, have a safe and joyous new year.

-Alex