(David and Harriet on the lift at Santa Fe - you can barely see her lavender coat next to his.)
I grew up with Ski Utah! written in script across the bottom of nearly every license plate in the state. But, Ski-NM has proven to be an acceptable replacement. We've had some serious fun skiing here and I'm constantly amazed that you can drive through the parched, dry, desert (ABQ has had 0.5 inches of moisture since OCTOBER?!) and wind your way up a nearby mountain and find a few feet of snow. It's the only consolation Grace has for living here. She loves snow and rain and kind of goes crazy in our climate. I feel pure guilt that I enjoy the heck out of being dry so much when she misses the precipitation. I do love skiing in NM though. It is usually warm, very sunny, and totally gorgeous. The cloudless blue sky with the green tree tops and pure white snow is just awesome.
I mentioned a couple posts ago, that Grace has become an AWESOME skier this year. It's so true. We spent 2 days of a 3 day weekend heading up to Santa Fe last month and going heavy on the ski school for the girls. They have the best ski school for kids that we have found. I really could not believe how great Grace got by the end of that weekend.
(the top of the mountain overlooking Santa Fe)
Then, David took Grace on a daddy-daughter date last weekend. They went up to Pajarito, the ski resort at Los Alamos. Since we have lived here, it hasn't gotten much snow. It has been open only for about 2-3 weeks each season and we had never had the chance to try it. We bought this great SkiNMX card this year which gives you big discounts at most of the local resorts and pays for itself pretty quick (thankfully making skiing into a nearly affordable family activity.) The card included a free pass at Pajarito. (If you are interested in skiing in NM, you should totally check out the SkiNMX card.) So when Pajarito got a big storm and opened up, David decided to take the Gracers up to try it. They say it was extremely fun and they pretty much skied their legs off. (looks like I need to steal some photos from David's phone.)
We got really lucky when we looked at the calendar and realized that the 4 day parent-teacher-conference weekend holiday from school collided with David's birthday and Grace's birthday weekend. We decided we had to go skiing. David's been dying to do a little weekend at the Sipapu resort. Add on the added benefit of the ski card which gives you buy one get one free at Sipapu. Plus, Sipapu offers free skiing for 6 year olds AND 4th graders and you can free lodging on a Thursday night (even if we ended up opting to pay extra for what turned out to be a very "rustic" cabin,) and you've got yourself an easy, nearly free, ski weekend. If you want me to add that up for you, we averaged $11 each for our ski passes and I rented a pair of skis for $17. We opted not to do ski school and just enjoy the day with the kiddos as a family.
I had to take this picture of the girls snuggled down in the cabin. The last overnight ski trip we took was exactly 5 years ago in Vermont and I have a similar picture of them going to sleep the first night. The years have evaporated in between.
Sitting in the lodge at breakfast, getting ready for our ski day!
The girls, skiing with Daddy on his 38th birthday. It doesn't get sweeter:
Of course, Grace and David went and shredded the upper mountain together, skiing as many black diamonds they could get under their belt. Grace's favorite run was a black run through the trees called Jimmy Pop.
Harriet and I found the Sassafras green run and took our merry time swishing and swirling around the switch-back trail down the mountain. After a while, she decided she was a little bored with doing the same run all the time (it's a small resort) and wanted to try a blue. David said that there was a little blue run at the top called Smart Chicken that Harriet could easily do. He was right. She totally rocked it. Then, in great daddy fashion, he decided to take things a bit too far and put her on a real blue. It turned out to be too steep for her to make her turns and she ended up going way too fast and tumbling down it. She took him down with her. After that, she was SOOO mad and swore she would never go fast again even though her favorite thing is going fast. I convinced her to do one more Sassafras run and she felt much better after she realized that she could go fast, in control, on a run that suits her level. She felt even better when mommy totally biffed it on the last Sass. "Hmmm... I wonder what my skis will do if I move my hips like this? Oh, that's what they will do." I admit, I really need to learn more about the physics of skiing and learn to use my body better. I have no idea what I am doing. Still, I am very happy and satisfied staying on greenish blue (not too blue) runs and just swishing down the mountain in the sunshine. I know that Harriet won't stay with me for long and I will have to find a new ski partner.
And, I just had to take a picture of this sign. I think it's supposed to be the name of a run, but I'm pretty sure I would whine if I went down it. It's not marked, which means it's probably at least a black. I'm pretty sure I'll be framing it for the kitchen.
Grace on Jimmy Pop
Harriet on Smart Chicken
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