Skiing Around Town

Good Afternoon! I (Jenna) have been granted the opportunity to tell you about the weekend of skiing/participating in other Michigan adventures. For me, it began late Thursday night. I have the privilege of being a part of the soccer team here at Trinity. Since I have this commitment, I get to enjoy the luxury of practicing at unholy times of the day. Practice began at 11:00 pm Thursday night and got done around 1:45 on Friday morning. Yikes! Not a very great way to start the weekend. Of course, after practice, the last thing I want to do is go to bed. I had way too much energy after running around. Around 2:30 I finally got around to getting ready for bed and slipping away into a short dream that last about 5 hours. My alarm rudely sounded at 7:30. After seriously contemplating turning over and going back to sleep, I decided it was in my best interest to get up; I had a life that needed living. After a non-stop day of class, chapel, class, lunch, and work, I was ready for a vacation...so I hopped in a cute little red car that was bound for the beautiful state of 'pure' Michigan. I decided to try and sleep during the 2.5 hour car ride, but the music, limited space and bounciness of the road made it nearly impossible to get comfortable. I resorted to watching 'The Great Gatsby' with my lovely friend Kati-weird movie, by the way. We arrived at our destination around 7:30 and were greeted with a wonderful dinner of hamburgers, fries, peas, green beans, and noodles that Kati’s family had prepared. After a little bit of catching up, Kati and I decided to make chocolate cupcakes. Side note: chocolate is our downfall, we eat WAY too much of it at school. We’re thinking about giving it up for lent...as well as facebook. We’ll see how long our refrain from chocolate actually lasts. =) Anyway, after we frosted the cupcakes we headed off to bed for the morning would be coming sooner than we hoped. At 6:15 our alarm went off making it known that a new day had begun. We got all ready to head out- snowpants. check. hats. check. mittens. check. goggles. check. money...? On our way to Kati’s church, she realized she didn’t know where the money went that her mother had given her the night before. She frantically searched her bag and everywhere she could think which included driving back to her house to check if she’d left it there. It’s always an adventure with Kati, your never sure what kinds of interesting moments there will be. I guess that’s why I’m friends with Kati, she keeps life entertaining! By the way-her parents found her money in the car that she had driven the night before while she was away for the day. Whew! Once we got to the church, we all piled into different vehicles and were on our way. We stopped at a McDonalds along the way. Where we ordered some breakfast food before continuing on. I ordered a caramel mocha. It was delicious. We continued to drive and drive and drive. Eventually, we arrived at Crystal Mountain. Oo short story first: Kati’s brothers, Codi and Collin had invited one of their friends to go along on the skiing trip. His name was Trevor, I didn’t realize it at first, but later became aware of the fact that I had met Trevor before! His family was friends with my relatives who live in Vermont. During the summer when my relatives came to visit, my mom would invite Trevor’s family over as well! Small world, I’d say! Now, back to the skiing. We unloaded all of our stuff and began getting ready for a fun-filled day of skiing & snowboarding...kinda. I had decided to try out snowboarding, I had done it once before and I remember enjoying it. So, I put on my boots and took the board outside. The first struggle I encountered was securing the board to my feet. There were lots of different clasps and things that looked foreign to me. With the help of Kati’s brothers I was able to fasten one foot securely on the board. It is so strange to me that people walk around with only one foot tied up to the board and the other one as free as a bird. But anyway. We got on the ski lift and made it safely to the top of the hill. We picked an easy hill to go down, which I was grateful for, but after strapping my other foot in and beginning the downward journey, it became more and more clear to me that I would not rate this hill 'easy.' I began to pick up speed, I started to get scared. I realized shortly after I took off that I was unaware of how to turn the snowboard properly and people were whizzing by, which made my feel a little insecure. So, I fell. Then struggled to get up, and fell again. I came to the conclusion that it was better to face-plant it/bite it/or royally wipe out, then to speed down the hill and have a full on collision with the other skiers waiting in line at the bottom of the hill. It is safe to say, after that experience I have far too many bruises and my whole body aches. After various attempts, I decided it was best if I tried doing something I had more experience/confidence in, and traded Kati for her skis. I felt so much more comfortable with skis strapped to my feet. We had way to much fun on the ski slopes making fun of each other, falling over, and Kati going into a 'ditch.' it was a grand time. Kati also got a few teaching lessons on how to properly snowboard, I’d say we both learned something on that trip; Kati learned how to snowboard, and I learned never to attempt to snowboard again. At about 5:00 we packed up our stuff and headed back home, the weather was getting a little nasty, but we made it back safely. I had a lot of fun and glad I had the opportunity to experience that. The end.