Whitefish: A Retrospectus

Dear Diary,

The last week was great.  I went down to Montana with C&C for a snowboarding trip.  It was great.  I hurt myself the first day and hardly snowboarded at all.  I know that doesn't sound like it makes sense but it's true. I think my favorite times were spent getting to know people I had never met before, and getting to know people I knew a little bit a little bit better.  Maybe this is the silver lining, but if I was out snowboarding all the time I wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to know some of the people the way I did.

So, we bussed down on Monday.  It was a very early day.  I read a lot.  I semi-napped a little bit.  I played a game with a group of people.  I talked with people and joked around.  When we arrived we unpacked, ate out, and sat in the hot tub.  It was a good day.

On Tuesday, the weather was bad.  The visibility was so low that a group of us went out on the mountain in the morning and immediately lost each other.  Shortly afterwards I jammed my back after hitting a ridge. The funny thing is, I have been trying to go out snowboarding every weekend for the last 2 months and never hurt myself (not counting a bruised butt and ego).  A couple hours on the mountain and I was injured.  I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening reading and hot tubbing.

On Wednesday NH and myself decided to climb the Big Mountain.  I wanted to give my back a rest from the impact of snowboarding and thought a little snow shoeing would be an easy way to spend the day.  Wow, was I wrong.  I thought the snow shoe path up the mountain would be a nice, leisurely, zig zag to the top.  Nope.  We were climbing up blue square runs all the way to the top, and I swear there was a black diamond in there somewhere too.  Throw in a couple blizzards and a painful wind chill and that was my morning.  It was awesome.  There is such a feeling of accomplishment when you conquer a challenge like that.  People asked us later in the day if it was fun.  My answer was, "No, it wasn't fun, but it was exhilarating, exciting, and a great feeling of achievement."  I spent the rest of the day reading and then went to town with more people to go out for supper.  It was good.

Thursday I was back on the mountain... for one run.  My back hurt too much so I called it a day and went back to the hotel to read and hot tub and work on a puzzle.  I know it sounds strange but it was a really good day.  I had the opportunity to get to know a few people a little better.  It was good.  In the evening we went back to town and out for supper one last time.  It was another really fun evening.  When we got back that night we did a little... hot tubbing... and then watched a movie.  There's no better way to get to know people than by cramming 5 of them into a couch made for 3.

And then we bussed back home on Friday.  It involved more reading, talking and joking and 3 movies.  It was good.  LW and DP spent the night at my place before heading back to PA.

I did way more reading than snowboarding but I had a great time.  Relationships grew just a little more over those five days.  It was well worth it.  And the whole week ended with a hug.  It may seem strange but I've only been home for a couple days and I miss people from the trip already.