Wow, I haven't been blogging a lot lately. There is so much new stuff to blog about. I just got back from a trip to Mammoth Lakes, California. I went there with Doug who I met from match.com. He is an amazing guy. He has rescued people who have gone over the side of a mountain in their cars on the way up to Big Bear. He has his own successful business and has been working in cabinet making since he was eighteen. He also has a talent for photography. On the way up to Mammoth, he told me stories about his days in the boy scouts where he would go on week long trip into the woods with them. They would go on 25, 50 and 100 mile hikes where they would camp out in the woods. It sounds like fun. It sounds like an adventure, but it also sounds scary at the same time. I've never done anything like that before.
It was a long 6 hour drive to get up there. There isn't much to look at. Most of the trip was at 3,000 to 4,000 feet elevation of high desert. It seemed like desert the whole way until we made a left turn up a hill and within a half hour we were there. We stayed at a lodge that had a nice restaurant right next to it. This restaurant is where we ate Thanksgiving dinner. The town of Mammoth is at 8,000 elevation. Needless to say, I got dizzy after drinking a cup of a mocha at the local coffee shop. We got our lift tickets to avoid the long lines at the ski lodge. By then, I was freezing even though it was only 32 degrees. I wasn't used to the cold at all, so I went back to the lodge to get on my ski coat.
Dinner was awesome. We had a spinach salad appetizer, and then we ate a full turkey dinner with stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce. We split dessert, and Doug had a full bottle of wine. I was too dizzy and tired to drink from the altitude, so I just ended up drinking a ton of water. It was busy at the restaurant. Every restaurant was all about do you have reservations.
The next day we got up around 8 am to get ready to ski. I dressed up in my coat, ski hat, gloves, snow pants, double socks with sock warmers and thermal type underwear underneath my pants. That day I was really bundled up a little too much as I found out later on. The weather on both ski days that we were there got up to the 50 and high 50s. So, we headed out to hit the slopes. The resort was a mob scene packed with people for the holidays that had the same idea we had to go some place nice for Thanksgiving. Finding a place to park was difficult at best. We had to park on the hill heading up to the ski lifts and take a shuttle to the lodge. Then, we had to wait on line for God knows how long to get our ski equipment and boots. After that, we had to find a locker to store our belongings and shoes.
I had trouble putting on my boots so Doug helped me. When I finally got them on, I realized how tight my calves really were from running all these years. It was painful within minutes of putting them on. I kept trying to lean forward and stretch out in my boots to loosen them up a little to no avail. It still hurt. Of course, Doug didn't know what I was talking about since he doesn't really run. So, I just sucked it up and kept going through out that day to ski. Doug is a way more experienced skier than I am. He explained to me to not have a lot of layers of clothes on and that anything that I tuck into my boots such as jeans could pinch my calves and cause my feet to go numb. So the best thing to have on is leggings of some kind and the ski pants which go over the boot.
We finally got out to the ski lifts which, of course, had huge lines to wait through. The first run we did was on the "bunny" or beginner slope since I hadn't skied since last year and Doug hadn't skied in 10 years. It was fun and easy for me. The problem is that it was too easy for him, so he wanted to go to the more advanced slopes. I think partly he didn't want to wait on the longest line in the park, too. So we went on an intermediate slope called Broadway. Now, I was still acclimating to the altitude, and I don't have a lot of experience with skiing. He got down the slopes with no problem. I struggled. I had to stop a few times to catch my breath in the middle of the slope. He said that I had good form and that I seemed to be enjoying myself. But the truth is that it was work. A lot of work to get down that slope. It was very steep the whole way down to the bottom.
There was another slope that we went on which was an intermediate slope, too. It was a little easier called Stumpway. It still had some really steep slopes but there is a period where you get a bit of rest before going back down. I liked going on the chair lifts to get back up. It gave me a chance to rest. We ate lunch at one of the lodge cafeterias located in the middle of the slope. I was getting tired toward the end of the day towards 4pm when they close the slopes. Doug wanted to go on one more run before we left, so he went without me. I was too tired to go again. It was very busy on the slopes tons of people skiing and snowboarding down. The lines thinned out toward the end of the day. Music was blaring from the lodge which gave me a boost and motivation to keep going.
We had to wait on a huge line to get the shuttle back to the parking lot. We carried our rented equipment back to the van. As soon as I took my boots off, I was in so much pain in my calves that I was limping on one side. We drove back to the lodge and made plans for dinner. We went walking around the village. We saw all the different decorations and big Christmas tree in the middle of the shopping area. We ended up going to a steak house type place called Whiskey Creek. I ended up going to bed early just because I was so wiped out from skiing.
The next day we took our time getting ready. I wasn't so anxious to get up there since I knew it was going to be crowded and we'd only be waiting on lines anyways. But, I only wore leggings under my snow pants this time and a ski coat with just a sweater underneath since it was going to be high 50s today on the slope. We took the shuttle back up to the slopes, and we had to carry our gear the whole way up there. We continue to ski the same couple of slopes since only a few of them were open. It didn't snow enough for them to open all the trails that they had and they had quite a few. The rest of them were black diamond slopes which means advanced slopes and I wasn't ready for that. Doug did give me a few pointers on how to use the poles as a way to help me get down the hills easier. As before, he wasn't tired at all and I had to keep stopping in the middle of the runs to catch my breath or to rest my legs from all the squatting and turning. We made it to the end of the day ski-wise. Again, Doug took an extra run without me. We left a little early to avoid the huge line for the shuttle back to the parking lot. We turned in our ski equipment, and my calves weren't as sore that day.
Tonight I decided to go out to drink and celebrate. It turns out that the club scene doesn't get started until around 10 pm. So, instead of turning in at my usual 9 pm, I had to sit around and wait for the dj to get started playing songs. I wanted to dance, so we stuck around. Doug wanted to see me dance. We started out on the town around 6:30 or so. We drank at the first watering hole and then decided to go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. I'm not wild about Mexican food, but I stuck it out. He ordered all this stuff, but couldn't finish it. I just kept ordering beers and a side salad. I was getting pretty toasted while just talking about my plans to go to Austria.
Finally, we ended up at a club with a Hawaiian name to it. I requested a song from the dj and he actually played it as soon as he started. I was jazzed and started dancing right away. I paced my drinks between 8:30 and 10 so that I wouldn't be drunk and too tired to stay. The DJ was excellent. He played all kinds of top 40 and hip/hop. It was songs that lots of people knew so everyone started getting on the dance floor. Doug had a hard time keeping up with me now. I told him that I had quite a many years of dancing practice. I could still feel the altitude affecting me and making it hard to keep going. After about 11, we decided to head back to the lodge. That's when we got pulled over. I couldn't believe it. I knew that I couldn't drive, because I had drank way too much. But, I didn't know about Doug and how toasted he was. He was given a dui test by the police and the whole works. They asked him tons of questions. I was nervous as hell wondering what I was going to do if he got arrested. It turns out that he didn't get arrested, and we got to go back to the lodge.
I think part of the reason the cops let him go was because he was so cooperative and 50 something with no criminal record. I was quite shaken up over the ordeal. We shared a pita loaded with vegetables and went to bed. We didn't get up until 9:30 am.
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