Day 1-
Alright so the journey began at 3:30, I awake. It’s early in fact I’m pretty sure the moon was asleep! We leave at 4:05 only 5 minutes behind schedule. I get in the car somehow, I’m pretty sure I walked but I coulda hovered, or flown, or been carried or crawled I have no clue, did I mention it was early. Ok so we are in the car and I drive everyone crazy because I’m wired and won’t—
no--- I can’t sleep. I keep talking and talking and talking.
Finally I stop.
Then we are in Decatur.
Sarah calls we are now close enough to each other to care but not close enough to see each other, sad.
The next thing I know we are stopping at Love’s (sidenote I love Love’s because their bathrooms are so clean.)
Finally we are close enough to see Sarah and SuSu and AddieMae.
Now the road trip has begun!
Next stop Vernon to eat we to Mickey D’s and who did we run into my Director and her family.
We ate and got to Tucumcari and ate at Denny’s, now I’m not saying who but someone was not excited about this stop, something about it was snowing, he wanted to get further down the road, his face was about to explode with allergires, blah blah blah blah. I NEEDED hashbrowns. So I won we ate it was good. It stopped snowing, we eventually got further down the road and no face actually exploded. We stopped a couple more times and then we arrived at the most beautiful place on the earth (disclaimer I have not been everywhere on earth and I’m a little bit partial because of the amount of rock and Aspen I moved to build this particular cabin)
So driving up the driveway was quite interesting. Poppy got through with just a little stuckness. SuSu was not as lucky so after I shoveled the driveway with a little help from the others, the van got unstuck.
So we unpacked the moms went to the grocery store and picked up KFC. ( I don’t like KFC will someone remind of that the next time I suggest KFC)
We went to bed at 8:30 it was glorious!
Day 2-
We all woke up pretty early shocking since we went to bed at 8:30. Poppy started the fire in the fireplace and Sarah and I planned out our day
Step 1- Do nothing
Step 2- Do nothing some more
Step 3- I get ski’s, Sarah finds me a hat, we both try and convince Poppy I desperately need the hat, Poppy buys it!
Step 4- Go see The Vow
Step 5- Eat at Tequila’s
Step 6- Do nothing
Step 7- Do more of nothing because we at dinner 4:00 pm
Step 8- Watch Knight and Day
Step 9- Sleep
We skied on the right side of the mountain mainly the thick yellow run!
Day 3-
Awake early to the sounds of a crackling fire and bacon what more could a girl ask for!
Poppy and I went skiing. I discover its just like riding a very awkward bike. I also discover that I cannot slow down. I also discover that I cannot stop. Needless to say I’m exhausted after one run. Poppy snowboards the first day he doesn’t enjoy it like he used too. Poppy falls a lot when he snowboards. I enjoyed it cuz I got breaks waiting for him to catch up and it was funny when Poppy fell on his butt! We do 4 runs have lunch and do 4 more runs.
Happy Birthday Jake Finch. Wish you were here!
Last picture of Poppy with his snowboard, he says he giving it up for skis! Way to come back from the dark side Poppy. Skiers around the world welcome you back with open arms! Snowboarders around the world are saying "Dude you're like so old, bro"
Poppy and I's Professional Picture! Seriously gorgeous view! 11,000 ft. up in the sky!
We get back to the cabin and Momma makes chili, I make cinnamon rolls, SuSu makes brownies and Sarah starts a puzzle. Poppy watches A Knight’s Tale. I have a headache cuz I had 0 caffeine all day and so I go and lay down. Sarah make me get up so we can try some mask she found on Pinterest. We try it. It’s cold, it stings, it flakes and it made “our faces feel like Baby AddieMae’s bottom” (that was a direct quote from AddieMaes’ mom) Then I went to sleep!
(Flash Forward Moment the next day my face was sunburned, now I am choosing to blame the mask I used the night before because it took a layer of skin off my face, did I mention it stung. I am not to choosing to blame the fact that I forgot to put on sunscreen)
Day 4-
We wake up eat cinnamon rolls and Poppy and I go skiing. Today we ski 11 runs. Poppy got skis, Poppy is really good, Poppy likes to ski blues. I don’t because well I can’t stop or slow down or turn. So you guessed it we ski Blues! Poppy tries to teach me how to ski correctly less pizza more French Fry. As you can imagine since I’m athletic and all…oops even I couldn’t finish that sentence without laughing, It did not go well. I got it for a couple of turns & then lost all control while trying not to hit the 4 year olds who were skiing better than me.
We went home and ate chili and meatballs and they were yummy. We watched the Blind Side, it’s sad and happy and makes me want to watch football and adopt a 17 year old who plays football and wears Rugby shirts.
Then I went to bed.
Day 5- (Warning this day gets a little scary)
I awake to the crackling fire and bacon smell again so yummy! Poppy and I went skiing. This was an eventful day. 1st we made 15 runs before stopping for lunch. We couldn’t stop when we could ski onto the lifts without any wait. So after 15 runs we stopped on the top of the mountain to eat lunch. I had soup and Poppy got pizza! (y’all know we pack our lunch everyday and we packed it on day 5 too but lets just say the banana we packed was a horrible idea! You can ask Poppy the rest of that story! NASTY)
Our view from lunch!
We skied down and were going to make one more run for the 17th run of the day! We get to the top and start skiing down Poppy tells me to come over to the top Blueberry Hill to look at the view. It was gorgeous! So worth looking at it I promise!
So here’s how the story goes from my point of view----
Poppy starts to ski. I’m an idiot and start to go to. I ski over the top of one of Poppy skis. He skis over the top of my other ski. I obviously trip over Poppy. I see my life flash before my eyes. I feel a snap. I can’t move my leg. My knee feels like fire and ice and nothing nice (ha that rhymed I had to add it) My ski is still attached to my boot which is still on my foot which I’m pretty sure is no longer attached to my knee but then I hear my self say.
“Daddy get it off, get it off”
“It hurts”
Some words I’m not proud of
“I can’t move it”
Out of nowhere Cute Ski Instructor says “I can’t touch you because I’m a lowly ski instructor but I’m going to stand here for a minute until you tell me you are done staring at my hotness and that you don’t need me to call Ski Patrol. Don’t forget how cute I am!”
Me, “I think I’ll be ok Mr. Super Hot Extremely Good Looking Ski Instructor.”
Ski Instructor skis away. I miss him so much!
I lay in the snow and say some more words I’m not proud of.
Poppy helps me up I try and put on my ski. But when I go and put my weight on my foot to pop my boot in my ski .
I feel my knee go
POP POP POP POP POP
I fall down and say more words I’m not proud of and I tell Poppy to get Ski Patrol.
He tells about 4 people to get them when they get down the mountain.
Finally about 30 minutes later the Ski Patrol comes.
Now since the popping I had been crying off and on because I was scared and it really hurt and I couldn’t scream because I would start and avalanche and I was right on the edge of a black diamond slope and that couldn’t end well!
The Ski Patrol was a girl. I was mad I have never in my 21 years of skiing seen a girl as Ski Patrol but that’s my luck.
But I really didn’t care because my knee hurt and I wanted to go down the mountain. She braced my knee and got me in the sled thingy bundled me up and as we were about to go I heard a guy yell “Get ready for the ride of your life!" It was a fun ride all I could see was the beautiful bright blue sky and the tops the trees. My knee hurt worse with every bump and turn she made.
But all I could do was thank God.
I was with my daddy when I fell, it was gorgeous day, I wasn’t dead, I could breathe, I could still wiggle my toes, my leg was still attached, It wasn’t my arm, or my back, or head.
God is Good and He answers prayers quickly and in His own time. (That last part is a sidenote cuz I still can’t walk and it still hurts but I trust in Him to heal me)
I enjoyed the ride down the mountain. When we got to the FAR (First Aid Room) I move to a stretcher and then to a bed. Lena, the Ski Patrol girl, needed to go back out apparently it was a busy day so Natalie, yet another Ski Patrol girl, who knew there was so many girls in the Ski Patrol, looked at my knee she said she didn’t think it was broken, unless it was a hair line fracture.
So after filling out paperwork, Poppy , who by the way beat Lena down the mountain, got the car and we went home.
Right as we got in the car Momma text to ask if we were still skiing. I texted back and said “nope on our way home gotta drop off the skis first”. There was no need to worry Momma that I came down the mountain on a sled or that I couldn’t put weight on my knee or that I felt my knee pop. No need for that at all.
We got home. Momma, SuSu, Sarah and AddieMae were ready to eat so after we told the story we ate at Hogg’s Breath. It was so yummy. We had a horrible waitress but the food was delicious!
Sarah's plate! Seriously if you are ever in Pagosa Springs you have to eat at Hogg's Breath!
We went home and I could barely walk but it was well worth it to eat French Fries!
I could barely hobble let alone walk up the stairs so Momma and SuSu packed my bag for me as I laid on the couch and watched “How Do You Know”. While everyone else packed. I felt really bad that I couldn’t help but my knee hurt worse so I didn’t care that much. I slept on the couch cuz again stairs were the Enemy!
Day 6-
I woke and hobbled around for a little while so Poppy could pack up the cars and then we headed home.
Now keep in mind 15 hours in a backseat sitting sideways the whole time this was my view
Pretty right!
Until
God blessed Texas not east New Mexico!
Thankfully my knee only hurt when I moved it or when we hit a bump or when we stopped or when we turned or when the car was moving, So not to bad right!
We got home around 10:30. I went to sleep and our family vacation was officially over.
AddieMae was a complete joy. She is the best baby! She is also adorable and here's proof!
Please send Aloe Vera and Ice!
K-Dub
