You know it’s going to be an exciting weekend when it gets started with a bank robbery, a high-speed car chase, a fire fight with the police and four or five helicopters hovering over your house.
Ok, so Kristian and I didn’t decide to become the next Bonnie and Clyde. But this piece of weekend news took place in our neighborhood on Friday evening. We were wondering why traffic was so heavy and there seemed to be so many cop cars speeding past us. Then we got home, saw four or five helicopters hovering over our neighborhood and I figured it was time to ask the neighbors what in the what was going on.
It turns out that a bunch of dudes robbed a bank near us, then hijacked a car, then clashed with the police, and then three of them were shot/arrested in a “hail of gunfire.” Oh, and there may or may not have been a fourth suspect wearing tactical gear being chased around the neighborhood by the cops.
Whoa.
It was like the Town, but the Boston accents were far more accurate.
We had already made plans to head up to VT for the weekend, so we worked out an alternate route (there were quite a few roads closed off) and headed out of town. I suppose you could say that we were starting to feel the heat.
Back in October, before we decided that having a baby might be kindof fun, I purchased a Living Social deal for a ski weekend up at Mt. Snow. Then, winter decided to avoid New England pretty much all together, we changed our mind about having a kid, Gummy Bear graced us with her presence and I was all, “Hmmmm… ski weekend. That sounds… impractical.” But we’d already paid for the damn thing, so I booked a weekend and we decided that I would sit in the lodge and sip hot cocoa while Kristian skied. A bit of a cliche, perhaps, but we were mostly just looking forward to getting out of town for a couple of days.
We figured that it would be low-key weekend (and by bank robbery standards, it still was), but we ended up doing more than hanging out at the Lodge. Which was a nice surprise, actually. Things have been a little too quiet around here lately.
(Yeah, yeah… be careful what you wish for).
Saturday morning, we slept in, had a big breakfast at the lodge, went out for coffee and then meandered over to the mountain to see about getting Kristian set up for a half day of skiing. Even with the vouchers we had from our deal, it was going to be a bit on the pricy side. Especially when the mountain looked like this:
Did I mention that the temperature was in the mid 50s?
Someone offered Kristian some free lift tickets, but even then he decided that he would rather just hang out with me. He’s a decent skier, but when the guy mentioned having to avoid dirt patches, it started to sound much less appealing. And I was happy that I wouldn’t have to risk ending up 15 minute famous under the headline “Tragic Ski/Dirt Accident Widows Young, Pregnant Woman.”
Luckily for us, the mountain was sponsoring a “Sink or Skim” competition that was far more entertaining than attempting to ski down a muddy mountain. What’s a Sink or Skim competition, you ask? A bunch of people, all wearing costumes, push off from the top of a small hill, attempt to build up some decent speed, and then send themselves hurtling towards a 92-foot-long pool. If they’ve built up enough steam and they hit the water just right, they skim across the water and emerge on the other end, relatively dry. If they don’t? Well, that’s where the “Sink” part of the title comes from.
In order to enter the contest, you needed to be dressed up in a costume. And there were some good ones. Like the six guys who dressed up in blue body suits and called themselves the “Blue Men Group.”
There are only so many skiers that you can watch hurl themselves towards a pool full of funky, blue water before you say to yourself, “It might be 57 degrees out, but I am still wearing sandals and standing in the snow. Also, my fantasy baseball draft kicks off in 45 minutes and I never set up a pre-draft ranking.” At least, that’s what I said.
Off to the lodge we went, to eat sandwiches, watch Breaking Bad (Kristian) and draft some fantasy baseball players (me). I had to cut the draft short because (horrors!) I had a prenatal massage booked and I was going to be damned if I missed a minute of it. Prenatal massages are awesome, I can’t recommend them enough. Especially if you have a $10 voucher to put towards the cost. The one thing that I would recommend, if you are smuggling a bowling ball under your shirt, is that you book a location where they have a cutout in the table where you can let your belly hang down. I had to lie on my side for the massage and it was surprisingly hard to relax when I couldn’t just melt into a puddle on the table. Don’t get me wrong, I loved every moment of my massage, but I think I would have had some more long-term benefit if I wasn’t holding myself in place the whole time.
After my massage, we drove off to meet some family friends who, coincidentally, were getting together that weekend to indulge at a local few maple sugar shacks. We missed the sugaring, but we were just in time for a tasty dinner and some good company. The maple glazed baby carrots were so delicious, I am still drooling over them.
I was expecting to enjoy the weekend in a “hey, it was nice to get out of Boston” sense. I was pleasantly surprised at all of the stuff that we managed to do. The lodge was a little rustic, but it was nice enough. And you couldn’t beat the view from our balcony.
If you’d told me back in October that we’d be using our “ski package” while I was about 18 weeks pregnant and the temperature hovered in the upper 50s, I would have said “Wha?!?! That’s crazy talk!” And then I would have had second thoughts about my purchase. But it worked out well, so I’m glad that we went for it.
Next time we go skiing, it will probably be with Gummy Bear in tow…
(Yikes!)
That looks entertaining! I’ve lived in Utah almost my whole life and have never been skiing or snowboarding. LIke you said, it’s pricey, and I have no interest in falling down and being cold, and PAYING for it.
The skim or sink must have been hilarious. I would have loved watching. Glad that you had a great time and am also glad that you were not besieged by fleeing bank robbers and live ammo.
Wish I could have been with you and our other friends at the sugaring and syruping gathering. I hope you can still drive and travel in August so I’ll see you then, providing My great-niece GB hasn’t arrived early!
I’ve only skied once in my life and it was last year. :p I liked it a lot, but I guess I won’t be skiing for a couple of years now.
I’m looking forward to seeing you as well! I just talked to my Dad about booking a room, because I’m not going to want to camp when I’m all huge and uncomfortable. Things have gone really well so far, so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to drive at that point.
Some people are so clever! Did the little girl squeal “weeeeee!!!” while she was skiing??
Can’t even imagine skiing with how warm of a winter it’s been everywhere. Glad you guys were able to enjoy yourselves outside of the dirt and warmth! Oh…and what is “sugaring”?
Hope all is well with you and the little one ^_^
We were at the very end of the pool, so I couldn’t hear if she was going “weeee!!” but rest assured that’s what she sounded like in my mind as she was coming down the hill. :p I hate most commercials, but that one still cracks me up every time I see it.
Sugaring is when people tap trees and boil the sap down into syrup. A lot of the maple sugar shacks where they boil the sap also have little restaurants and you can get a variety of foods smothered in the syrup that was made on the premises. It’s been an annual tradition for this group of friends to have a big meal at one of the shacks. It’s pretty much the definition of delicious.