The lift to our mood wore off after a few days after returning from our trip to the warm and sunny climes, and I was feeling really ready to be done with winter. Then last Tuesday we got six inches of snow at home and started leaning into winter. We decided to do a mini-vacation trip upstate. It began with a day of skiing at Gore mountain in the Adirondacks. Jeannie and I drove up the night before and stayed in a hotel in Lake George. On the drive up we listened to the Queen album Live Killers, which I don’t think I ever listened to the whole way thru before, and is totally amazing. Unfortunately, the weather turned snowy and slippery the further north we got, so I couldn’t listen as closely as I’d have liked.
It was an amazing day of skiing. The morning was just perfect, with fresh snow on a well-groomed base, and a gentle snow falling on off throughout the day. Probably some of the best skiing I’ve had in years. And because it was a Friday, the mountain was alot less crowded than last time we were there. We skied the first half of the day on the North Slope, with long beautiful trails winding thru the trees. Unfortunately, it began to get windy, and some trip up the lift were a little unpleasant. We skied all the way down to the base then went up to the summit via the gondola, another trail and another lift. The top was kinda windy and icy, but once we got partway down the skiing was great again. We ended up the day on another part of the mountain with mainly blue and green trails, because we were getting too tired for the big hills but wanted to keep on going. Jeannie had a ski tracking app, and we skied over 10 miles in 12 runs, meaning the average run was close to a mile, and some a good deal longer.
That night we drove up to the high peaks area to visit our good friends Mark and Kelly. Saturday we went ice staking in the speed skating oval at the Olympic Village in Lake Placid. It was a beautiful experience, skating outdoors surrounded by mountains. The track is a quarter mile around, and Jeannie did 14 laps and I did 18. That’s three-and-a-half and four-and-a-half miles respectively. Needless to say, after all this our legs were pretty tired. Afterwards we went to a bar for poutine and cocktails, then walked around Lake Placid. Out on Mirror lake, there was tobogganing, dogsleds, ice skating and several hockey games going on. Fun scene.
Spent alot of time just talking and hanging out. Mark showed me his new guitar effects setup, but didn’t get around to playing it. On the way home Sunday, we stopped by Martin’s house for a visit. Spent our time there just talking and hanging out too. Martin showed me his new custom-made combination guitar/sax/sheet music/stage monitor stand. Got home late last night, and today we were all tired out. Now back to work, but hoping to get a couple more ski trips in before the end of the winter.