Many of my daughter's friends often visit New Hampshire or Maine – which prompted Samantha to wonder and ask why we don’t go on outings very often? Since Samantha’s birth, the only vacationing / traveling we have done has been back and forth between Virginia and Massachusetts. I traveled extensively as a youngster, with my father, who indulged my every want when he had me on the weekends and school vacations. I have been in almost every state in the USA, as well as Quebec & Montreal in Canada and Tijuana Mexico. So her questions got me thinking... Why is that we never go anywhere? I think mostly it’s a money thing - but I got to thinking that it didn't have to be that way. There are plenty of things we could do that would be inexpensive and fun!
I decided I would plan a trip for us in the very near future. I remembered that I had Waterville Valley lift tickets sitting in my wallet. Ok.... we will go do that this weekend. I set my sights on planning our weekend trip using the internet as my tool and research assistant. Thank heavens I hadn't yet mentioned it to Sam because this trip wasn't coming together as I wanted. The tickets we had were “weekday only” tickets. They couldn't be used on any weekend or during school vacation season and of all things this Friday actually was the beginning of school vacation. To top that off, all of the hotel sites I looked at were outrageous – running about 160.00 per night. Hmmmm… this stinks… So much for that brilliant idea.
In my younger days I was a very impulsive person (this having it's pros and cons) but it had been a long time since I actually had done something spontaneous. I decided we would go the next morning! Yes, it was a school day but taking a day off a day now and then never hurt anyone!
I checked the motel and for the night it was only 69.00 and the other expense, the ski rental, was half price on the weekdays and would be only 30.00 each. We could make sandwiches for lunch and order our dinner from the 99 cent menu at McDonald's, BK or Wendy’s.
Wow! Was Sami ever excited when I said to her “We are going skiing in the morning!” She was floored, jumping with joy – excited wasn't even the word for it!
We had fun packing and planning. We would leave at 5 a.m. and be on the slopes by 9 a.m. Samantha asked if skiing was even fun? She didn't know much about it and didn't know if she would like it, but I reassured her she would love it. This was going to be very interesting.... Could I still ski? It had been about 15 years ago since I had last been. Could Samantha ski? Only time would tell.
We awoke early and left before sunrise. Excitement was in the air! We had a great ride – 2 hours of driving in New Hampshire.
Samantha was loving every minute of it. The mountains reminded her of Virginia (which she misses a lot) and even the smell and feel of the air... she was in her glory. I hadn't realized how much she really loved the country life.
We got to the ski lodge at about 9:30. Sam took to skiing right away – she didn't fall on her first time down and only fell once throughout the day. As for me? Well I learned all about the muscles in my legs which I hadn't’t used in years – but it was much like riding a bike and came right back to me.
The whole day of skiing was just so very awesome it’s hard to even describe!
Here are the trails / of course we stayed on the smaller ones:
I was so very glad I had reserved the motel instead of driving back home that night. My legs were like rubber and we were both more than tired – but it was that good kind of tired! The motel had a nice indoor pool so we topped the evening off soaking in it for an hour or two and then slept like logs!
I am foreseeing a lot of upcoming ski trips.