Observations

It's funny how one brand of ski boots causes bruises, while the same size in a different brand feels like a million bucks.

-15 degrees really doesn't feel as cold as it sounds.

It's still freakin' cold here.

I've seen more fur coats on the last three days than I've seen in my life.

Handicap ramps are a useful alternative when wearing ski boots.

Ski in-ski out rocks.

-15 degrees

Yes, that's a minus. That was the temp as we were having breakfast at 9 am. We just got back from lunch,and it's up to -2 now.

Cass just left for a run. I'm about to get dressed and meet him for a run just before the lifts close.

7 degrees

We got 4 inches of snow last night. When we went out at 10 am, it was a whopping 7 degrees - wind chill of -2. We went halfway up the mountain, skied down, and we were completely frozen. Back to the hotel to thaw out. We thought it might warm up some after lunch, so we lounged around until 2 pm.

At 2 pm, it had gotten up to 9 degrees, and it was snowing. We went halfway up again -my hands were frozen and my goggles had fogged up and frozen. LOL! Not exactly ideal conditions. We tried to ski a little blue trail on the way down, but my legs were too tired. I took my first fall. :)

I'm back in the room and Cass went back up for one more run.

I hop it's warmer tomorrow!

More from today

We skied from about 10 am until 1 pm. We came back to the hotel for a rest. Cass decided to go back out, but my legs had already given out.

He went up to the top of the mountain to try out some new slopes. At some point he skied off the path an ended up knee-high in a snow drift. He said it took him about 10 minutes to get out and back on the path.

He also talked to a guy on the lift, who suggested that we go eat at a restaurant called the Alpen Rose. We went at 6 pm, and our waiter was the guy from the lift, Kai. Cass had the special which was lamb, filet mignon, and elk. I had the filet - imagine that. No elk for me. LOL!

It started snowing hard about 3 hours ago, and it hasn't stopped yet. High of 15 degrees tomorrow!

Greetings from Vail!

We are having lunch at Eagle's Nest, about 10,350 ft up in the mountains. We've made several runs today. Cass only fell down about 10 times. ;)

I'm taking pictures but we can't post them. We didn't bring a computer. You'll just have to take my word that it's beautiful and the slopes are pure powder. I love when there's enough powder that it squeaks under your skis.

Leavin' on a jet plane

What am I doing up at this time of day? No, I'm not awake getting ready to leave. Our flight isn't until 9:45 am. I'm up, because my allergies have now caused me to have stuffed up sinuses. I finally gave up on sleep at about 4:30 am. I'm sitting here catching up on the news and stuff. I think the Sudafed finally kicked in, but it's probably too late to go back to bed at this point. I have to get the kids up at 6:15 for school.

Like I said, we're leaving from Austin at 9:45, and we'll arrive at the airport in Vail at 2 pm. According to the snow report, they've had 2" in the last 2 days and 50" in the last week. They're supposed to have snow showers Wednesday through Friday, high of 10 degrees on Wednesday. Yikes!

We're not taking the laptop, so I'll only be able to post from my iPhone. If it doesn't freeze in my pocket.

We'll be back home late Saturday night.

Turtlenecks

Apparently, come January, no one in Austin has need for turtlenecks.

This is the place where we don't have winter. I'm always baffled when I go back-to-school shopping in August, and they have wool sweaters and pants out. Um, newsflash - it's still 100 degrees here in August. Put those away and get them back out in January!

I started packing the ski stuff a few days ago. I was going through Cass's stuff, and I couldn't find his turtlenecks. I know he used to have a few, but I guess I got rid of them during the great closet purge of September. Somehow, I kept 3 or 4 of mine, but threw all of his out. I only found a very old forest green turtleneck from Structure - that I got ages ago for him at Walls in Starkville. Why didn't that get purged and the nice soft Eddie Bauer turtlenecks get saved? Who knows. It really won't do either, because his ski ensemble is black and red. He really needs more of a white and/or heather gray option. LOL!

I went to the Sail & Ski store in Austin today to get us an extra pair of wool socks - we both only had 1 pair each. While I was there, I looked at their turtlenecks. The ones that they had were designed for skiing, and they were all some polyester sport blend material. I know Cass doesn't like that at all - he's a cotton kinda guy - so I passed. Surely, I could go pick up a couple from the Lands End section of Sears or from the Gap.

Nope. Once they clean up the stores after the Christmas sales, they apparently put out the new spring stuff. Nobody needs a turtleneck in January, the coldest month that Austin sees. Time to break out the sun dresses!!

Sheesh.

Follow ups:
- I still love and adore my iPhone. It is seriously the most wonderful gadget ever invented.
- The day that I was going to go buy the pink Chi - my original black one was returned to me in the mail. I should probably get the pink one anyway, right? ;)
- Cass's boss and another co-worker are here from California. I seriously think they just came to hang out. Another nV guy who lives in Moscow is in Austin right now too, so I think it's just a big social gathering.
- The big internet juggernaut that he interviewed with Monday called tonight while everybody was here. Hee hee! Busted. No, they knew - Cass can't keep secrets.