Mammoth Mountain (Part 2)

Whew! I skied Mammoth today and lived to tell about it. I road my first ever ski lift and everything Jeff and Denise said about it was true. It wasn't a big deal at all. My worst fear was that I would fall flat on my face getting off the lift and it would hit me in the back of the head causing me to be transported down the mountain on the back of a snow mobile. I'm happy to report that didn't happen.

Today we went to Eagle Lodge and started on the easiest slopes. My first run went quite well and I didn't fall once. The first two trails we road down were gentile and I was feeling confident. The last trail, heading back to the lodge, was a little steep and caused me to move a little faster then I wanted too. Still, it was exhilarating and I was excited to go again.

On the second decent down the mountain I fell twice, but at very low speed. Actually, probably because of very slow speed. It shook my nerves a little and caused me to loose my confidence. I made it to the bottom without any major incidents but wasn't sure I was up for a third run. I also noticed the soreness starting in my legs from overusing the pizza wedge I am so dependent on to control my speed.

After lunch I agreed to go for a third run. The three of us headed up and Jeff split to scope a run that Denise said was easier than it actually is (she wanted me to try it.) Denise hung with me and we met up with Jeff half way down the mountain. The third run was tough on my muscles but I wasn't as scared so I took the opportunity to practice my parallel skiing, which went pretty well. I'm still overly dependent on my pizza wedge. I was pretty beat and there was still a couple of hours left before the slopes closed so I let Jeff and Denise go off without me and enjoy some more challenging trails while I listened to the guitar player at Eagle Lodge.

Tomorrow I'm going to try cross-country skiing here at the lodge. The guys who work the front desk said, "if you can walk you can cross-country ski." Which was all I needed to hear. Of course they also said there was a 90 minute lesson first thing tomorrow morning. Hmmm. Suspicious that I need a 90 minute lesson to learn something as simple as walking. Well, we'll see how that goes. If nothing else, I'm sure to enjoy the exquisite scenery and I can always utilize my Plan B; head to the lodge early and enjoy cocoa by the fire.

By the way, the internet connection here is really slow so we haven't been posting photos. We have been taking lots though and will post them when we return home.

-Christie

Mammoth Ski Trip (part 1)

So, here we are, Tamarack Logde in the wilderness outside of Mammoth Lakes, CA, in the dark shadow of Mammoth Mountain itself. The drive was, scenic, quick, quiet, and (conveniently enough) there were few others on there way up to the Mammoth Lakes area. Our guess is that anyone who wanted to party for New Year's does not go to the mountains, but it's just a guess.

So, we are here at 8100' above sea level for a night's worth of restful (alpine-air, altitude-sickness induced slumber, after eating a rather hearty meal of German food at the Austria-hof Lodge "around the corner."

The greatest thing about Mammoth is the roughly 3000' vertical of skiing. Christie is excited to start the new day and try on her first ski lift. We tell her it's nothing to worry about, but still she worries (we also tell her that flying down the side of a mountain at half the speed of light while dodging trees, rocks, and other persons with large, small, fat, and skinny planks attached to their feet is fun too, so there is merit to her worries.) Hopefully by the end of the day, we'll be able to drag her off the bunny slope and talk her out of using "The Wedge" to stop herself. Wish us luck!

-Jeff

Skiing Mammoth

For Purple Mountain Majesties, originally uploaded by Bill Wight CA.

Tomorrow morning Jeff and I leave with our friend Denise to ski Mammoth in the Sierra Nevadas. Well, Jeff will ski, Denise will snowboard and I will flail, screaming down the mountain as a giant frozen ball of snowy fear-filled chaos, dotting the mountain with equipment shedded as I take out experienced skiers, adults and children alike.

I've only been skiing once before. Last year at Mammoth Jeff and I went with Denise and her friend Kristen. The three of them spent the day on blue trails while I enrolled in the adults-who-have-never-skied-before class. I feared it would be me and class full of 6 year olds but fortunately they don't mix the children with the adults. Not because they want to spare the adults the embarrassment of learning with youngsters but because the children are so fast to pick up the techniques they didn't want us to hamper their quick and natural progress.

I actually did OK last year. While I never could figure out how to right myself after falling without taking off my skis completely, I was the first in my class to to be able to control my awkward decent down the bunny hill and thus was rewarded the prize of practicing on my own while our teacher helped the rest of the class. At the risk of sounding boastful, our teacher, after the first hour of class, pulled me aside and whispered, "if by the end of the day I can get the rest of the class to the point you're at right now, I will have done my job." Beaming with pride (after all these words have stayed with me a full year now) I took that as implied permission to cut class early, grab a hot cocoa and hang at the lodge for the remainder of the weekend. Shit, skiing is hard work and my knees were killing me. I was the prize pupal after-all and didn't want to make the rest of the class look bad by one-upping them all day.

Ok, while the above is all true don't let it mislead you. I suck at skiing. I mean, I could barely stand it for 2 hours and now I'm going for four days. Humph. The plan is to ski the first day utilizing the pizza wedge technique I mastered so well last time. If I am completely miserable after the first day I will try cross country skiing at the Tamarack Lodge, where we're staying in hopes that I will like it better. If that fails, there's always and endless supply of hot cocoa at the lodge.

Wish me luck,
Christie

Planning Our Trip to Queretaro, MX

Templo de la Congregación de Guadalupe. Querétaro, México, originally uploaded by praseodimio.

Jeff and I are busy planning our trip to Queretaro, Mexico for this May. Our friends Veronica and Paul are getting married there. Queretaro is where Vero is from. I've only been to Mexico once for a camping trip and even then we only made it as far as Northern Baja. This will be Jeff's first trip ever to Mexico.

We spent tonight looking at flights and deciding which hotels we want to stay at. This was made easier by Vero's meticulous planning. Basically she did all the leg work and we just need to figure out which of the several hotels she has researched and secured discounts at best suits us. They're all charming and beautiful.

Well, I'm tired and have been planning for hours. Jeff and I enjoyed several good laughs though as we read the rough website translations from Spanish to English. Funny how computerized translators never really quite get it right. One hotel website, when translated, roughly stated that 1% of the rooms were nice. Ha ha. I wonder what they actually meant to say.

Well, goodnight all.

C+J

New Christmas Corals for my Aquarium

Horay! For Christmas this year, Jeff brought me to the fish store to buy corals for my marine tank. I decided to go saltwater when I moved from DC to San Diego so I sold off or gave away all my freshwater fish and plants and set up the saltwater tank when I arrived in in California. I started with just live rock and some easy-to-care-for marine fish. After a year everyone was still alive so I decided to pick up a few zooanthids and some other invertebrates. They are much more difficult to keep alive then fish, and as it would be, more expensive too. That was about 4 or so months ago and all are still thriving. Jeff, who has been known to pass a comment a time or two regarding the amount of time I spend with my fish, was able to recognize the joy it brings me and has sponsored the latest and greatest additions to my now official reef tank. Corals can be extremely delicate, difficult to care for and pretty expensive to boot. It was great to go to the fish store and pick out a bunch a beautiful corals guilt free. Thanks Jeff!

Merry Christmas

What a nice Christmas we've been having. It's been so low key and relaxing. Even as I write this we're still in our PJs and it's 1:00 in the afternoon. Boo Ya. The downside to having a stay-home Christmas is we didn't get to see any friends and family this year and we miss out on a cold and snowy Christmas. I guess that's partially the up-side too.

Jeff and I opened our presents this morning. I got the iPod car adapter I really wanted, a yoga outfit from Prana, the Raving Rabbids video game from Jeff's parents (awesome!) and Jeff got me a trip to the fish store to buy more coral for my aquarium. I'm totally psyched about that. Coral is expensive and almost never splurge for it myself.

Jeff got lots of video games, some clothes, 30th Anniversary of Garfield book and a speed light for his camera, among other things. The cats got a plethora of bows and ribbons to attack and chew on. They're on cloud 9.

Later I will make Christmas dinner; stuffed pork chops filled with walnut and cranberry stuffing and portabella mushrooms stuffed with vegetables, herbs and Italian sausage. Jeff made the most amazing chocolate, almond, cherry biscotti last night which we had with our coffee this morning. It was better then any I have had before. He should start a bakery.

Well, I guess I should consider getting dressed, you know, before 2:00 in the afternoon at least.

Happy Christmas to all!

Christie + Jeff




Dave under the tree

Home is Where Your Cats Are

Potential Rental in RB

This morning Jeff emailed me with a Craigslist ad for a condo for rent in Rancho Bernardo. It is a 3 Bed, 2 Bath with a fireplace and over 1200 s.f. of living for a fraction of what we’re paying now. We have been pretty spoiled at the Villas though, making it hard to move. The patio we have now is amazing and I love the landscaping around our building. The high ceilings and granite would be hard to part with, but the savings would mean we could have a modest down payment in a year if we wanted to buy. I’m torn between the excitement of new digs and premature nostalgia for what we already have. I supposed I shouldn’t get too ahead of myself. Jeff only has an appointment to see the place today. It’s possible that the place is a dump and we’ll stay right where we are. Who knows? After all, this isn’t the first time we’ve scoped the competition and decided we already have the better value.

Sea World Photos

Killer Moves!, originally uploaded by Matt McGee.

Oh my goodness. I haven't posted in so long and we've done so much I don't even know where to begin. I'm thinking that I will make regular blogging my New Years Resolution. With my new laptop I have absolutely no excuse not bang out a sentence or two each week.

Here are some of the things Jeff and I have done in the last couple of months...

Went to Lauren and Justin's Wedding in Rhode Island.
Had Thanksgiving with our friends Vero and Paul.
Went to Sea World.
Went to the OB Christmas Parade and pub crawl (not in the same evening).
Saw Twilight at the Movies.
Bought and decorated a Christmas Tree.
Planned and booked a ski trip to Mammoth Mtn after Christmas.

So we've been pretty busy to say the least.

Here are a few photos.