Family Vacation

This past weekend, my family took our first family vacation in more than six years. The last trip we took together was to Alaska and was definitely a high point in my life. This time, we took a trip to Park City, Utah for some skiing and family fun. To make things even more exciting, this was our first family vacation with Matt. While going from a group of 4, to a group of 5 proved slightly difficult, especially with all of the “quad” chairlifts, overall his addition proved to be a positive one.

Besides the incredible scenery, the beauty of Utah is that you there are so many incredible places to ski, all within an hour drive from Salt Lake. We skied at four different mountains: Park City, Snowbird, Snow Basin and Deer Valley. While Park City is close to our family’s heart (Abby worked there for a season back when she was 24 years old), I think Snow Basin is my favorite.

Snow Basin

Snowbird

Snowbird

Snowbird

Park CIty

Snowbird

Snowbird

Snowbird

Deer Valley

Back in 2004, when Abby was working at Park City, we flew out to see her over Christmas. Here are some of our pictures from that trip.  It is crazy to see essentially the same pictures 9 years later.

Then – 2004

Now – 2013

Then – 2004

Now -2013

Hmm, suddenly I feel old. And I realized that I need a new ski coat.

Thanks for the great trip family! I wouldn’t want to go anywhere with anyone else.

 

 

Fish Out of Water

This weekend, Matt and I decided to take a day trip out of the city. Living in New York can be particularly challenging in the winter. Unless you are a committed skier, you find yourself never leaving the city. And even though New York is a big city, let’s be serious, never leaving a 23 square mile island, filled with 1.6 million people, can make you a little stir crazy.

We tried to plan a weekend getaway to somewhere like the Catskills, the Berkshires or Lake Placid but our timing wasn’t great – with the combination of President’s Day Weekend and MA/NY school vacations, everything was booked. So instead, we rented a car for the day and drove out to NJ.

We drove out to High Point State Park for a little cross-country skiing. Although the north-east received a big storm only a week ago, a lot of the snow had melted so the coverage on the trails wasn’t great. However, it was well worth it – just to get out of the city. Oh yeah, and to see Matt on cross-country skis for the first time. That was fun too!

Snowed In

Growing up in New Hampshire, I am no stranger to blizzards. Nearly every winter, we would get a handful of big storms and if we were lucky,  a snow day or two would result. My family would often take advantage of the snow by heading up North to ski. And for the days where we reminded at home, we would spend at least half of the day playing outside, building snowmen, making snow forts and sledding. In preparation for these activities I would spend hours bundling up before heading outside. I assembled the perfect snow outfit, complete with the trick of pulling my wool socks OVER my pant legs to ensure that no snow would touch my skin! After time in the snow, we would warm up with hot chocolate and, more often than not, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.

Blizzards in New York City are a little different. People freak out leading up to the storm, but then once it comes even though this city is a little quieter, things continue on as normal. Restaurants still deliver, Starbucks remains open and Broadway shows still go on.

I took advantage of the quite weekend to stay in a do a little baking and crafting. Unfortunately, I don’t have completed projects or blog posts to show you so hang tight.

That’s right – the sewing machine came out this weekend!

Some exciting things went down in the kitchen this weekend. More to come!

What did you do this weekend during the storm? Anything fun?

Park City Recap

This past weekend Matt and I journeyed to the home town of Ted Bundy (serial killer), Scott Wolf (played Bailey Salinger on Party of Five), John Schnatter (founder of Papa John’s Pizza) and Mitt Romney (if you don’t know who that is, you should read a newspaper).

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We jumped on a plane Thursday evening after work and arrive at the Salt Lake city airport by 10:00 local time. The flight was relatively painless, thanks in most part to the Delta agent who clued us in to the shorter security line at JFK terminal. Why Delta seems to have such a hard time operating efficiently at this one terminal it beyond me. Two years ago, after waiting in the check in lin for 45 minutes, we missed the bag check cut off time and were forced carrying on all our luggage. We accomplished this by putting on all of our ski gear to go through security and abandoning a suit case in the lobby. Thankfully we learned our lesson and made sure our bags made in through on time.

We stayed large house near the base of Park City Mountain with 16 other people  (yes, I said 16). Matt and I were the last to arrive but thankfully, a pull out sofa was available in the basement living room area. While there was no door to our “room” I was just glad that I wasn’t sleeping on the floor. Of the 16 other people, Matt and I knew a grand total of 4. One of our friends organized the trip and it included people he went to high school with, people he went to business school with, people he worked with (us) and people he lived with. It was fun to be in such a large house – I imagine it was like what a co-ed fraternity/sorority house would be like. Unfortunately, since we were only there for 3 days, I didn’t have time to institute house rules, chore charts or a noise curfew. So, I am sure this comes as no surprise for anyone who knows me, I was definitely ready to come home. But that isn’t to say that I didn’t have a lot of fun while I was there.

We skied Park City on Friday, Snowbird/Alta on Saturday and Deer Valley on Sunday. The weather was between 50 and 60 degrees the entire weekend and I probably reapplied my SPF 60 sunscreen at least 4 times each day. And while the snow wasn’t the greatest the fact that I didn’t have to worry about the cold was well worth it – we were skiing in t-shirts and light weight jackets! We also downloaded the best app on our iPhones – the GPS Ski Tracks app, that allowed you to see your total number of runs, altitude skied, and maximum speed among other things. Clearly this was up my alley and Matt and I spent the trip trying to ski faster than each other (something that didn’t make my mom too happy). I am thrilled to report that I ended the weekend victorious, topping out at 52.5 mph!

By the end of the trip, I was both exhausted and sad that this was the only ski trip I would be making this vear. As a result, I’ve been gearing up to give my parents the hard sell on buying a condo out west. I really could use some more skiing in my life, and I could probably do without the 18 person party house…

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I know – I am old.

Thanks Jack for planning an incredible cruise ski trip.