Vermont Trip Details
It always feels good to fall into my own bed after a trip. That happened a bit later than planned last night, but let's start from the beginning. <rubs hand on chin as video fades out>
My flight left on Wednesday morning, and after a quick stop in O'Hare, I ended up in Burlington, VT on time. Andy was waiting for me and took me back to their house where Lauren and Bella were still up making pizza. After a quick chat it was off to bed.
Andy and Lauren had to work on Thursday (somebody has to make the cookies!), but I skied for free at Sugarbush thanks to a voucher from Andy. They had gotten 10" on Tuesday night so there were still some nice, soft runs. I stayed on Lincoln Peak and didn't make it over to Mt. Ellen. My favorite run of the day was the lift line of Super Bravo down to Lower Organgrinder. Those runs had great soft ungroomed powder moguls that you could blast through. After skiing, I headed over to Liz Lovely headquarters and met the whole staff. They've got a great setup and I was able to see some of the new products that will be on sale soon. Go order some now!
Thursday night we went out to dinner at John Egan's Big World Pub and Grill. Andy is in the middle of his Veganize Me project. I think it's getting rough for him. He kept staring longingly at my pork goulash. Jay arrived later that night, and after some Rock Band, we all headed for bed.
On Friday morning, Andy, Jay and I headed over to ski at Sunapee, NH with Alan, his family, Mike, and Tom. It was -16 degrees Fahrenheit when we left the house, but thankfully it warmed up 30+ degrees during the day. Sunapee has won a lot of awards for their grooming and it was easy to see why. The place was impeccably groomed and we had a great time carving big turns down the runs. I also got reacquainted with east coast glade skiing and left my mark (literally) on a few birch trees. We drove back to Vermont and met Lauren for dinner at Arvad's.
Mike stayed overnight with us and we all skied together at Mad River Glen on Saturday. Mad River Glen is known for being "old school." There are no big lodges, no detachable quads, and only one groomer which doesn't get used very much. It's like stepping into a time machine. As I rode up the single chair lift, I felt like the whole day should be in black and white. I'm glad I skied there, but I definitely don't have the skills to spend a lot of time there yet. Skiing Mad River is like going ten rounds with Mike Tyson and he's not wearing a muzzle. During lunch, Andy tied the old world record for most bananas peeled and eaten in one minute (two.) Unfortunately, Big from Rob & Big has set the new record at three. Saturday night was spent digging Jay's Jeep out of a snowbank, watching Mike's truck get pulled out of a snowbank by a huge front end loader, and eating homemade burritos.
By Sunday, we were so tired and beat up that we decided to sleep in instead of getting one more day in at Sugarbush. That doesn't mean that we didn't ski though. After starting the day with a huge slab of bacon and some sausages (poor Andy), we headed out to play in the snow. Andy and Lauren have a metal roof and the snow has been sliding off all winter making a nice big pile beside their house. The snow has basically piled up to the roof line. After some experiments with jumping off the roof, Andy carried his skis up the ladder and clicked in for a first descent down <insert clever run name here.> Andy gets to pick the name since he made the first descent. Eventually we all did it a couple times with Jay throwing in a grab on Lauren's snowboard and Andy riding away from the drop. We took video of the whole thing. You can download it here or watch the embedded video below.
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I'm not much of a dog person, but I love seeing Bella. I honestly didn't even think about her being a pit bull until I read Andy's post. She is the most friendly and well-behaved dog I've ever met. At night she would curl up next to me with her head on my pillow, and when I sat on the couch she would jump up and sit on/next to me. I'd have a dog in a heartbeat if I was guaranteed it would be like Bella.
My trip back was a bit of a mess. My flight was delayed leaving Burlington because of "weather in Chicago." I only had a 40 minute layover so that meant I was probably going to miss it. They boarded us at 6pm and we sat on the plane until 7:40. There was a mechanical problem. Since it was a small airport and a Sunday night, they had to call the mechanic from home. Fun. We got into O'Hare a couple hours late and I hustled over to the gate for the last flight to Seattle. I snagged one of the last open seats and eventually arrived in Seattle. I was pretty surprised to see my bag show up on the carousel. A huge thanks to Tim for driving out to the airport at 1am to pick me up! I owe you some Red Robin.
All in all, it was a great trip. I'm just disappointed that it's over because I have been looking forward to it for so long. I love that feeling on vacation when I completely forget about work and responsibilities back home. That happened more than once over the weekend. I was also able to cross Vermont off my list of states. I have now set foot in 41 states! Five of those are a bit cheesy since I have only been in airports, but I'm still proud of that number. Remaining states are Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Nebraska Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and North/South Carolina.
Thanks again to Andy and Lauren for showing us around Vermont and putting up with our meaty antics. Be sure to check out the full photo gallery.
Vertical Feet On the Trip: 58,430
Season Ski Days: 22
Season Vertical Feet: 347,830