Our First Ski Trip

My Christmas present to Keith was an Arctic Adventure - a trip full of skiing, waterparking, and general bumming around. We drove up to Kellogg, Idaho to stay at the Morning Star Lodge at Silver Mountain. It had been years since Keith went skiing or snowboarding, and I had never gone before. (Well, that's not entirely true. I went once in high school and had a miserable time. Why? Because I was so hot the entire time, since I was bundled head-to-toe. And my nemesis the rope-tow did not help either. But that is for another time.)

Once we arrived to the lodge, we checked in and then explored. There was an indoor water park associated with the lodge, to which we had weekend passes. We hadn't packed any swimsuits (it is freezing winter of the Palouse!), so we had to purchase some at the water park. It was such a blast to splash around, floating on intertubes, and going down crazy waterslides. One of the slides actually curved outside of the building, but I didn't notice since I had my eyes closed the entire time!

After splashing around and relaxing in the hot tub, we found a cute restaurant and had dinner. Then it was off to sleep, so we could attack the mountain in the morning!

In the morning we purchased our lift tickets and away we went...up the mountain via the World's Longest Gondola! It was pretty impressive and the views were fantastic. When Keith and I finally made it to the top, we rented our boots, poles, and skis. And then the terror began. Even though I had promised to be willing partner in this adventure, I was so scared! The packed snow made everything feel like it was moving fast.

We made our way to the bunny slope, where I promptly fell just trying to ski a little bit down the hill. The kids on the hill looked like naturals compared to my stiff-legged and stiff-armed approach! Keith skied down the hill, just to refresh himself on the technique and to show me that it wasn't going to be bad. Besides, how bad could it be since there was no rope-tow...only a carpet-tow!?! On his way down, Keith fell once and was so cute showing me that it wasn't bad at all! But on his way down, he ended up tweaking his knee turning.

So we headed inside to get some cocoa and to collect ourselves. But the longer we waited, the more Keith's knee continued to swell!! In the end we abandoned the remainder of our day and headed back down to the lodge. We haven't given up though, we plan to return...and this time I am planning on ski lessons! Thankfully the outdoor hot tub was running when we got back, and we took a quick dip to help ease our bodies. We left that night, as a snowstorm was headed our way...and it was already snowing heavily in Pullman (a 2.5 hour drive away in good weather). That evening we went to one of our favorite restaurants in Moscow, The Red Door. As always the food was excellent! The bonus of returning home early...we got to sleep in our own bed!

All in all it was a fun adventure and I got to share it with my best friend. (note: Keith's knee got better - after a few days of rest)