Thursday and Friday

Thursday morning we got up bright and early to make sure we got out to the slopes by 9:00 - we wanted to get in as much skiing as we could before we had to leave. We were skiing with Mark again in the morning and wanted to take him over to Middle Rib and Outlaw since he wasn't able to get over there while skiing with his family.

We talked up the two runs and of COURSE they were icy and horrible:) They were pretty well shaded and because the previous afternoon had been sunny and had slushed up the runs pretty well, we were skiing on pretty hard runs. Middle Rib was nearly terrifying that morning. So we did one or two runs and went over to Morningside to ski through the trees again. And more runs that were not quite as fun as the previous time... We had a good time there with Mark, but decided to move on to Storm Peak and try out some of the runs that we couldn't see to ski on earlier.

Because we had spent a good share of the morning over on the far side of the mountain, the sun had time to soften up the snow on Storm Peak (which is not shaded). Buddy's Run and Storm Peak run were awesome and we flew through them and had a ball. We did a few runs on that section of the mountain and then went to grab a snack and head over to meet Jane and the boys.

When we found them, their 8 year old would have nothing to do with skiing like he had learned in lessons. There was much frustration amongst all members of the family and finally Jane told us to go on ahead with their 10 year old and she would ski with the youngest. So we took Gibson to some blue runs and helped him get comfortable turning outside of a snowplow. Cornbread and I were definitely okay with taking the runs very slowly - we were pretty skiied out by that point and ready to call it a week (it was about 1:30). We had gotten so beat up the day before and were tired and sore and had talked about getting massages that afternoon... and although we really enjoyed playing follow the leader with Gibson, it also got kind of boring;) So we told them we were going to head in and try to get massages.

We were able to book a couples massage at a spa in town (which was much cheaper than the spa in the resort). We were together, but not really. I had an amazon woman who gave me an amazing massage. Up until that point I felt like I needed to bathe in icy hot... after the massage I felt so good. My legs were still slightly sore, but my neck and shoulders felt awesome - better than they had all week! It was definitely worth the money.

We had our final group dinner that evening - Farewell Steamboat. It was a buffet dinner in the resort. Before we went in to the room to grab our seats, the wholesaler and his family walked by us. We said hello and got another dirty look from his wife. At this point, I'm chalking it up to her being completely socially inept or perhaps just generally bitchy because we didn't say or do anything to cause the weird looks both evenings.

We sat down to eat with our friends and their kids. We were in the back of the room. While we were eating I looked over and saw the wholesaler's wife crossing the room with an open cake-sized box - like 12"x12" - and watched her go to the buffet table and fill her cake box with food to take back to her room. She walked the full box back through the middle of the room and then returned with a to-go container for soup. WHAT? I have never heard of anyone taking leftovers from a buffet! Let alone take leftovers in the middle of dinner while all of the diners were still present and possibly going to eat it. And she was not subtle about it. So that sealed my impression of her. Awesome.

We spent the rest of the evening hanging out in our room and packing. Not terribly exciting, but we were prepared to go home.

Friday morning we set the alarm and woke up early to go to breakfast. We had been told that a local restaurant - winona's - had wonderful breakfast so we wanted to try it out. We had a wonderful - and quick - breakfast and went back to the resort to do our last minute carry-on packing. Checked out and left for the airport.

It was snowing again and the streets were messy, but it sure made for beautiful scenery as we drove the 45 minutes to Hayden to return the car and get on the plane. I was pretty surprised that we didn't have any delays on the way home, given the weather as we left. We returned to beautiful sunny and warm Chicago. Bugly was in the house and the other two were next door. All greeted us with huge, lovely smiles... so wonderful to see our girls again!


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