Brrrr already?

This morning I woke up and it wasn't even 60 degrees yet. It was cold. Brrr....

Mind you, I am more sensitive than most concerning the cold, and spend most of the winter wearing my winter coat, sleeping in stocking caps, sporting purple lips, etc, so though this may sound like a stretch for some of you, but this morning I was reminded of winter. It was a good memory though. Last winter we had the pleasure of being invited to my friend Brian's (husband to Kate) family cabin in Leadville, Colorado.

I was quite apprehensive when discussion of this trip started because I absolutely hate hate hate riding in cars for long distances. I can handle road trips where the idea is to stop and explore every few hours, but when the destination is over 6 hours (actually 4 hours) away, I would opt to fly. I did consider it in this circumstance as well, but thought it might be an inconvenience to my fellow travelers if they had to concern themselves with picking me up at the airport at a certain time.

So in the car we went. We left KC on the morning of February 4th quite early...I'll say 6am. Good morning!....and then drove ALL DAY LONG. 12 hours later we made it to Leadville. We stopped for dinner, went to the grocery store and headed to the cabin.

The beauty at the cabin made the whole day of driving worth it. It was a beautiful, snow covered landscape. The picture above was taken the next morning....don't get confused, We left KC and it was dark and arrived in Leadville and it was dark.

The next day was day 1 of skiing. Zeb, Kate and I opted for lessons and the other 3 took to the slopes. After lessons we hung out on the bunny slope for awhile until a blizzard came through. I learned then, that skiing without proper eye wear and face covering is no fun and the 3 of us retreated into the lodge to wait for the others. They joined us with stories of snow blindness and spills as they attempted to make their way down the mountain during the blizzard. Their experience sounded treacherous and fun but nothing this newbie wanted any part of.

Day 2 and the 6 of us got to ski the slopes together. It was freezing on this day. I think the temperature was 5 degrees, (which we only realized after getting in the van at the end of the day) but add altitude and speed and it had to have been much colder than that. I'll say it was -20 degrees and accurate or not, it sure did feel like it.

So, day 2: -20 degrees.

I was a bit miserable at times (most of the time) and I had to emergency ski to the lodge a couple of times because I was convinced that once I took my gloves off, all I would have were dead, blackened hands. Surprisingly, this was not the case, my hands were not frost bitten, just cold....and hot chocolate seemed to make everything better.

 A picture of Zeb, me and Amber on a lift. We were smiling, I promise.

This was Zeb's first time skiing (I had past experience skiing in Colorado in 6th grade) and he was a trooper. (side note: I do believe during dinner after our 2nd day of skiing he was awarded the 'Spirit Award"). After falling as many times as he did, I surely thought he would throw in the towel at some point and belly up to the bar in the lodge and just drink the day away. However, he stuck with it all day long, and as I was in the lodge waiting for everyone to finish their last run (I threw in the towel before Zeb did, even) he skied down that mountain like a pro. Perhaps the absence of my yelling 'Pizza Slice!!!!!' as he whizzed past me on the slopes or other's constant (and caring) advice every time he fell helped him to find his ski legs.