Ski Trip 2018

The first time I ever tried to snowboard was when I was 18 and at my parents house for Christmas break in college. My family had recently relocated to Michigan and my brother had really taken to the sport, so he wanted to show me up me to try it.  A couple of my friends from high school who had snowboarded before were in town we we loaded up and headed down to the majestic Mt. Holly (aka a former garbage dump turned into a ski hill) near my parents house where I attempted to snowboard! The key word here is attempted...in reality I spent a couple of hours attempting to stand up on a snowboard without falling before giving up and retiring to the lodge for the day while my brother and friends spent the day on the slope. At that point I decided that snowboarding was not my forte and that I'd stick to summer skiing.

Fast forward about 7 years when my BIL and (now) SIL asked us if we wanted to take a trip to Sugar Mountain, NC to ski/snowboard. Eric had never been and I only had my one completely unsuccessful experience under my belt so naturally we said "heck yes we want to go!" Clearly the mid-20s versions of us were lots of fun and had no trouble throwing caution to the wind, so we loaded up and headed to the mountains for a weekend on the slopes!

Sunset on the slopes!

Now you may be asking why we opted for snowboarding as opposed to the much easier snow skiing (or so I've been told)...well it's because the people we were with who had experience on the snow were snowboarders and could teach us. I've thought over the years that I should try skiing but we only go once a year and I'm not willing to give up half a day to learn something else when I can get myself down the mountain on a snowboard without falling. At this point in my life I would be considered a geriatric Olympian so there is really no need for me to progress to backside 1440s or 900s with a front-side grab.

For 4 years in a row we made a ski trip part of our annual trip rotation with friends.  We did Sugar Mountain twice (2011, 2013), before we took the plunge and spent a week in Steamboat Springs, CO, and then spent my 30th birthday weekend on Ober Mountain in Gatlinburg. But then life got in the way and all of a sudden it had been 3 years since our last ski trip, so when some friends of ours suggested a trip this year we jumped at the chance, to head back to Sugar Mountain for a long President's Day weekend (which tends to be our ski weekend with the extra day off and works out as a nice birthday trip for me!)

We headed out early on Friday morning and got there just before dark....thank goodness because our cabin was at the top of a steep, narrow, curvy road with no guardrails....gulp.  There was actually one switchback that Eric had to back up and re-position his truck every time we went up. But our view from the Owl's Roost was 100% worth it!

 I could stare at mountains like this all day long!

 The cabin on top of the hill....

Since we were exhausted from our travels and first night revelry (as all ski trips go) we slept in on Saturday before heading to the ski shop and the slopes.  Of our crew almost half had never skied or boarded on snow before, so we stuck to the easy hill until they got the hang of it.  However, we were quickly reminded of why we are typically night skiers.....the lift lines were absolutely ridiculous.  I'm talking 30 mins of waiting to go up....I was thrilled when the majority of the crowd left after the night ski session and we were able to hit lots of different runs during the evening session.

Obligatory lift picture

All smiles after the first evening on the slopes!

We made it home late that night and thankfully had the presence of mind to throw dinner the the crock pot before we left, so we refueled and then fell into food and exhaustion-from-skiing comas.  The next day we decided to forego the afternoon ski session and head to Blowing Rock, NC to see the sights and grab something to eat. We made a stop at the Jerky Outpost on our way, and the guys got to sample several varieties.....

 We preferred to take in the views while the guys shopped

So many pretty mountains!

Some of the more unique varieties included python, shark, camel, kangaroo, emu, and ostrich jerky.

We ended up having a delicious lunch at The Speckled Trout Restaurant and Bottle Shop before we headed back to the slopes via the scenic route.  We took a very windy mountain road (thanks Google Maps) and took an alternate route via a literal gravel/dirt road.  It was not as mountainous, but we were very thankful we were in trucks with 4 wheel drive.  I believe it was on the 2nd or 3rd switchback on a steep decline that we were all laughing so hard we were in tears because we realized how ridiculous the situation was.  But we made it out and back to the slopes for night number 2!

Scenes from The Speckled Trout....the taps were old tools, and some of the fare: Drunken Brussels Sprouts (sprouts and pork belly in a whiskey reduction) and the prettiest deviled eggs I'd ever eaten!

We had a very successful evening this time around despite the ice that had formed on the higher slopes....I did one of the icy runs and did not go back up that high the rest of the night.  As expected we were even more exhausted after our second night on the mountain, and despite wanting to enjoy our last night of vacation we raised the white flag of surrender and went to bed.

The trip home was pretty uneventful, but man did the Smokey Mountains show out!  They gave us quite the fond farewell, and I hope we get to see them again next year!