Archive for March 3rd, 2009
Returning from the mountains
March 3rd, 2009 | 
Author: We had an awesome weekend at Snowshoe Mountain in eastern W.Va.!
Snowshoe is the mid-Atlantic’s best ski resort and some say it’s the best on the East Coast. The resort is located about 4800 ft. up in the Appalachian Mountains and has plenty of ski trails. Not being a skier, I can’t judge the slopes, but the resort itself is loads of fun – pool, hot tubs, shops, restaurants, game rooms, snow tubing, skiing, snowmobiling.
In the past, we’ve always visited in the summer, so a winter visit was a nice change. We learned after our first visit to be prepared for dramatic temperature differences. This time was no exception! making the weather a little unpredictable. Friday and Saturday were pleasant … cold, but comfortable for winter. Snow and ice blew in Saturday evening, and the temperatures plummeted. By Monday morning, it was 1 deg. with a wind chill of -17 deg. Cold doesn’t even begin to describe what it felt like!
I have to say that skiers are die hards. Even after the temps changed, they were still flying down the slopes. Hopefully they had all exposed skin covered because if they didn’t, well, they had frostbite. The only difference is the little tykes weren’t out. Seriously, we saw some little tykes no older than 3 or 4 years old on mini skis. Some were tethered to dad and others were going on their own. Made me feel pathetic for not knowing how to ski! If a little 4-year-old kid can do it, why couldn’t I? I haven’t decided which would be easier – skiing or snowboarding.
Probably the only regret of our vacation was our accommodations. We opted to stay in a different building this time, and it just didn’t compare. On previous trips, we always stayed in Rimfire Lodge, which is about 10 years old, but gorgeous – very rustic with amazing views. This time we stayed in Mountain Lodge. What a disappointment. From the outside, it doesn’t look too bad. Inside, it’s age of 20+ years shows. You can hear the noise in the hallways (ski boots make a lot of noise!) and the general condition is deteriorating. At check-in, the lady told us that our room had a limited view of the slopes. Um, more like no view! We looked at the parking lot! LOL We wanted a balcony but couldn’t enjoy it because the snow on the one above dripped down on ours. So what did we learn? Never stay in Mountain Lodge.
Even with icky accomodations, going away for the weekend proved to be the refresher that I needed. I love the feeling of being “unplugged.” This trip I wasn’t totally unplugged since I had my new iPod Touch with me. (Can I say how much I LOVE that thing?) I was able to tweet a little and check my email. For some reason I couldn’t send emails, but at least I wasn’t totally out of the loop. I knew what was waiting for me when I got home and the amount of time I needed to schedule to respond to a couple of important messages. Having my iPod along also let me jot some notes without carting a laptop around with me, read an ebook, listen to some podcasts, and enjoy some music while watching the slopes.
Now that I’m home, I have to figure out some dilemmas. First is how to get photos on these posts. Majority of my photos are over 2 MB so I can’t upload them without a lot of extra steps. I’d love to show you photos of Snowshoe, but they’ll have to wait. Second is deciding what to do about our washing machine. The clutch went out (yeah, didn’t know they had a clutch) last week, and we have to decide if we should replace the washer or just the part. And third is just general work stuff. I need clients! LOL
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