A Little Chaos

Our Steamboat Adventure...Starring the Rileyman

Steamboat

We had a rough start to our long-planned trip, which started around 2 a.m. on our first night here, when, after 14 hours of house-to-condo travel, Riley hurled four straight times. This was accompanied by a fever and a first day here of jammies, a blanket and 8 hours of spongebob. Grandma took over Riley-watching duty while dad and I skied. He got sick again later that day, but by Sunday night was on the mend. 

On Monday he hit the slopes for two runs, but he was still pretty beat. Today he got his first shot at the big time in his Rough Riders class, and he went all day with only minor complaint in the morning. The teacher said he did great but was easily frustrated. Welcome to my son. 

Here are a few shots from our day. 

 

Yoshi Mountain Snow Report

10 new inches of snow made for an excellent base, much improved with the arrival of the neighbor kids and their sleds. Their inability to stop before the creek is a bit of a worry, but they seemed to do OK, and their big, flat sleds turned a semi-crusty surface into a perfectly groomed packed powder. I took about a dozen runs, and each was better than the last. Every time I was just about to quit, I yearned for one more, and up I went.

My dreams of the rope tow are reignited, although it's already late in the season. But this was the first true ski day at Yoshi, not just an experimental run or two. It was enough to realize the potential of getting to take a few dozen runs without too much effort, and without the hour and a half drive to seven springs or beyond. 

I almost bought a 600' spool of rope I found on Craigs List, but it was nylon and after a bit of research I realized that it would stretch about 20 percent under load, which is equal to 120 feet of slack. In other words, I'd have one long bungie cord instead of a rope tow. I'll figure it out eventually. For now i've got that post-ski glow for real, and all in the comfort of my own yard. 

So much to do, so little time to talk about it

After a two week hibernation over the holidays, we're back at it. First I had no motivation to write, now I have no time. Beginning the week before Christmas we had a birthday party for Kylen w/ the family, had his actual birthday, had christmas, then a birthday party with his friends (his first big party), then a party for Traci's friends, then I flew to Chicago for my dad's 70th, then back in time for New Years with Traci. 

Whew. 

A+ all around. There. That's as much as I've got in me at the moment. Off to play Xbox and turn off my brain for the night.