Snow Skiing in June? Part One

This will be a two part blog!

Here is a classic tale that I remember from time to time. When I remember it, I usually have a few weeks of great fun in re-telling it over and over and over, until those around start saying......."yea, you already told us that one!" "Why do you still laugh so much about it, snow-skiing yea, we got it!

Pride can teach many painful lessons in life. Why is it so difficult for us to ask for help, or admit we are just not very bright about certain things? I don't know, but sometimes it seems as though learning that "pride comes before the fall" is tougher than climing a mountain! Literally!

So, at the ripe old age of 20; myself, my best friend, and two other buddies head out into a vacation that skiers across the nation dream about; four days in the snowy land of Vail, Colorado. After many months of planning, (and much effort on the part of my counterparts to convince me that skiing was actually a fun thing to do), my buddies and I landed in the Denver Airport, and started driving towards the winter paradise known by all as "Vail". Now it should be noted, that being the Southern Texas boy that I am, prior to my 20 year in existence on this planet I had never seen snow.....Seriously, and boy was I excited! "Snow, how awesome is that, it is like white, and cold." (Little did I know I could experience this fascinating creation much cheaper, by opening my freezer and scraping the ice from the sides of the box into my hand). But, I am not bitter.

So anyway, we go rent our Dodge Intrepid (yea, four guys, ski gear, and luggage, in a dodge intrepid, another one of those great ways to save a few bucks, kind of like the mattress) and we begin our long journey UP THE SIDE OF A MOUNTAIN!(oh yea, it was in the snow too). We drive for a few hours, in pitch black darkness, while it was snowing, around twists and turns that only had a small piece of somewhat old looking steele keeping the car from barreling down off the side of the cliffs. But Im not bitter.

What made this situation even more dramatic, was that every once and a while I would look up and see a small road that would immediately swerve off to a dead end up a large hill. There was always a sign that would explain these sporadic hills were for OUT OF CONTROL 18-WHEELERS to use when they could not get there rigs to stop properly. Great. So here I am, on a mountain somewhere, with four guys that tell me skiing is fun, in a Dodge intrepid, in the dark, while it is snowing, and I am surrounded by small slivers of metal (maybe even aluminum) that are used for the purpose of keeping "the intrepid" from flying off the side of a cliff while avoiding out of control big rigs! But I am not bitter.

So anyway. After a few hours of travel, a stop on the side of the road, to "see the snow", (which at the time I thought would be a great idea to run around in) (In case you haven't learned this the hard way, when you play in snow, your clothes get wet, and when your clothes get wet, and you stay outside, it has a tendency to get cold), and to help out a young lady who had slid into the ditch(she was fine, although maybe a little intoxicated), we make it to the resort. By the way,Im still not bitter.

After a few hours of sleep we awaken to a beautiful Colorado morning, and head out to get our rented skis! And here I will stop and say to be continued........ Don't worry the second half of the story is where the fun begins! Let's just say it involves me on top of a mountain with ski's and no lessons!