Ski Day! (Or: You can teach this girl new tricks)

So today was the day.

A day I would never have thought coming.

If you know me--you know I have an irrational fear of heights, elevators (I don't care if it's 26 stories to the top...if there are stairs, I will most likely be on them), and falling.

So if you had told me even three weeks ago that on December 20th, my ass would be in a ski lift--I would have suggested you go get medicated.

Oh how times have changed. I am a person who does enjoy learning and doing new things. Even if that psychic at Connor Prairie told me that I tend to be a "stick in the mud" (this is not fair..everyone has slow periods and if I choose to stay home and revisit my copy of On Royal and Papal Power or A Woman Named Jackie, that is my business), I find myself, as of late, shocking myself with the things I am taking on.

First with the skiing.

We get to Perfect North Slopes and there a good amount of people. We get our skis and boots (and away I go into the bathroom to put on my puffy pants--which thank god! I bought and wore...it would seem the black overalls were very popular. I was practically chic.) and we are off to our lesson. We took an hour with a very nice kid (17--drat) who taught us the basics. By the end of our lesson, Beth and I were feeling quite competent.

And this would lead to Rhea's Folly.

We go down the bunny slope 10 times or so...each time getting better and better and we start to think that "little" hill over there on the green lift doesn't look so bad. How wrong I was.

And no. I still loathe ski lifts. Dread them. Hate them. Petrified. There is nothing holding you in! And at one point they just STOPPED. I think I might have said "What the FUCK is going on!" a bit too loudly for a family place--but oh well. Some fears are hard to kill...and this one would mainly be the fear of my plummeting to my death from a tiny little swing.

The first time down the big hill was a fiasco. It didn't appear to be THAT high until I got up there. And then it seemed REALLY high and I might have had a small moment of "So.... this is how you are going to die? Well--at least it's interesting." I think it would have been better if I had just sat on my ass and scooted down. The second time was comical. To say I fell down is an understatement. I bit it. Hard. And at one point, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get up with out starting to slide freakishly fast in the backwards direction. I'm sure I looked the fool, but I was so frustrated that I started beating my skis with my poles while I was stuck on the ground. Reaching my breaking point (I believe at one point I wailed "All I want to do is stand up god dammit! Fuck these stupid skis! Assholes!!" Again--not the best vocabulary for kidlets--oh well. Curse words are like the wonderful little condiments of the English language..and I don't trust people who don't swear at some point. It's not natural.), I struggled to get the damn skis off my feet, snatched them up, and attempted to to go down the hill in my boots. This is the first time I hurt my knee. The second time I went down HARD and wrenched it, I literally heard something *pop*. My knee is now the size of a grapefruit--and I sit here with a bag of frozen blueberries on said knee hoping it will go down enough for me to be able to carry down my trash tomorrow morning.

But I survived--and Beth did really well! She is sure to impress her boyfriend on the slopes of Tahoe. Well, I would be impressed--but then again before today, I had never put on skis in my life. So maybe I am not the best judge...whatever. It's hard and she did great...and I didn't suck as bad as I thought I would, which is always a plus.

After skiing--we did the tubing thing. Again..mildly terrifying--but super fun. And really fast! We went down in tandem twice, which makes you go even faster.

Since I didn't die doing either one of these activities, and I now have the snow pants--I guess I'm up for such activities again. As long as you are okay with leaving me on the bunny hill and not mocking my squeal of terror while going down the massive hill while tubing, count me in--I'm game.

And now I am off to a hot bath to soak away the rest of my bumps and bruises.

Then it's back to the frozen veggie section in my freezer. Thank god I still have peas!