They Led Me Up the Primrose Path Again!

One of the perks of living in Chicago is that Wisconsin is right next door. My hubby is a Wisconsin boy and he wanted to drive up and do some skiing and stop by his favorite cheese factory. The boys were able to join us so it was a wonderful family weekend. We're heading home with a cooler full of cheese and no one is "broken" so it was a successful trip!

However, that doesn't mean there wasn't drama. I love to ski, but I'm done with the daredevil, speed demon kind of skiing. I like a long gentle run where I can ski without thinking and without working too hard. After the first half day at lunch, my boys convinced me to come on the runs they had been on. They smiled and said convincingly that they weren't steep and were just like the green runs we did in Colorado. I should have known better than to listen to them, but they're so cute and sincere.

So after lunch we headed up the lift to this long gentle run that I was going to love.

I got off the lift and stood there with my boys on either side of me.  I said to them both...this is NOT steep?  But when you're up on the top of the mountain you've got no place to go but down.  It was only the first few minutes that was steeper than I like, and the rest was long and gentle, so in their own way my boys did tell me the truth.  What they didn't tell me is that long gentle path ended up at the donner lift.    The only way to get back to the chalet was to take that lift.  Geez, they'd done it again...marched me down the primrose path right to my demise. 

See that red dot on the right side of the map at the top of the mountain...yup, that's where I ended up with no where to go, but down.

I gave them that you've done it to me again lecture, and I was patronized and told how I could do it, no problem.  I think they love to see me sweat!  So, I headed down top notch, tentatively for sure.  It wasn't only steep, it was skinny with a cliff on one side.  There had to be a cliff! (My boys read the post and wanted me to correct this...no cliff...at most a small drop off.  See what I mean?)

As I was going down, I stopped to gather some confidence and a young girl was laying on her side in the snow with what I assumed was her boyfriend leaning over her.  She looked at me and said, "you're better than I am."  I smiled and nodded, but I wanted to say...looks like you got bamboozled  by a cute guy just like I did.

I kept going, slowly down the mountain and heard above me shouts of "look out!!!" A girl was careening straight down the mountain.  She zipped right past me (too close for comfort) and just about took out a kid below me right before she wiped out.  I skied over, collected her poles for her and asked her if she was ok.  Just as she was about to answer her boyfriend arrived to help her.  Does anyone see a pattern here?

The good news is I made it down the mountain and skied the rest of the weekend where I wanted to ski and had a great time.  Lesson learned, beware of cute guys with ski run recommendations!