Beauty and Beatings – A Recall of the Adventures in the Andes – PART 6: The Realization

I awake, amazingly to no hangover, after a mere 4 hours of sleep, and prep for another day of skiing along with another forecast of bluebird skies and low wind.  Today is going to be a good day.  Upon gaining the ridge on the Otto lift, I’m finally able to look around and see the beautiful scenery under the clear skies.  There were peaks, ranges, and volcanoes stretching for miles, some with snow covered tops, some poking through clouds in the distance.   It was a sight to take in; one that makes you forget the music you're listening to and get lost in the beauty.

There was a little refresher of snow since Friday; some new, some blown in from other parts of the mountain.  All that mattered to me was that I was sliding on snow.  I find that I am most at peace and happy when I’m skiing.  Even in a year of low tide snow and a miserable winter, as had been the case with the previous winter in Utah and now in Chile, I still say skiing horrible snow is better than not skiing at all. 

The day blew by as we hit lap after lap of fast pow.  I spent most of the day skiing with Dave from Powder Quest and a new friend by way of another, Matt, a crazy Frenchman from the Pyrenees, that had a “dirty” habit, as he so eloquently put it, of straightlining any and everything he could.  He was fun to ski with and our styles meshed well; we both like skiing fast lines, and then scaring ourselves with tight technical lines and drops.  We would spend the long rides up the Otto lift sharing stories of wrecks, fun descents, and differences in our cultures and countries.  He told me that he usually comes to Las Trancas for a month each year and rents a cabana with a few friends.  He is able to do this as he gets an allotment of seven weeks of vacation each year at his job in France, compared to the “measly” five week standard of the rest of the country.  Immediate jealousy ensued. 

Being Saturday there was sure to be fun and shenanigans had tonight.  We heard that a Brit was going to be playing covers at Oliva’s, a local pub, after dinner, and then everyone was going to head to the disco right next to Oliva’s for mischievous times and dancing.  To protect the innocent, the details of the night shall remain untold.  However, it’s safe to assume there was plenty of dancing and drinks downed as we closed the disco and at the spry hour of 5 am.  This was easy to do as we had already made the decision to have a down day on Sunday, as the forecast was lousy, and the partying so primo.

I spent Sunday hiking up to the closest waterfall of the two in town.  As the weather was still warm down in the valley, the waterfall hadn’t yet frozen over.  The hike was through a jungle of trees and Chilean plumbing, as pipes, water catches, and more pipes encased the hillside below the waterfall.  It was good to get out of the hostel and see some of the local goods.  As I walked the couple miles back to the hostel, the rain picked up, and for the first time in years, I got to play in the rain and not care about being soaked.  That’s a rare occasion when one lives in the desert and also spends majority of their time inside behind a desk.  And it’s that latter part of the previous sentence that echoes loud inside of my mind, like a bad childhood nightmare, as I have long ago been diagnosed with Peter Pan syndrome; how can I be happy sitting still, living someone else’s dream, caged within pinstriped pants and button-up shirts, using ten times more intellect than physical skill in the completion of each day’s duty, playing the game of corporate jargon and status reports?  Is that me?  Is this what I envisioned for myself as a child?  This would be the recurring theme and question running through my mind while on this vacation.

The truth is I don’t think I ever truly envisioned what I would do as an adult as a kid.  Now I of course said I’d like to do this or that, maybe having titles of prestige like doctor or lawyer, or a title of adventure like special forces or helicopter pilot, but even as I continued through life, into college and into the “real” world, I never gave much time or thought to what I was to do next, just going with the flow of things.  I had an idea, but in this day of age where we’re surrounded by unlimited electronic distractions, habits of fighting boredom for a few seconds with a swipe or two on our smartphones, or constantly having music playing in our ears, the true dissection and subsequent decision of one’s life quest hadn’t really happened for me.  But I had an unexpected treat coming to me the next day which gave me an opportunity to be left to my thoughts.

Monday arrived with a bluebird setting and medium winds; another resort ski day.*   That asterisk is the caveat that winds may close down the lifts and you better have a Plan B in place. At this point in time you bet your last dollar I had a Plan B in place.  I had skins with me and planned on hiking up to the volcano due east of the resort, Volcan Neuvo.  On the second lap up while on the T-bar, as sure the sun rises in the east, the wind picked up just like the forecast said, and the lifts stopped spinning. Plan B is a go; midlayer off, skins on, and time to hike.  I gain the ridge and who do I run into?  My new roommate at the hostel Leon.  Mr. Leon is a funny German Italian, or is it Italian German, from a small village in Italy where he ran the business side of his family's winery.  He came out here to get out of Italy and to run the business side of a winery in Chile.  Anyhow back to the story, Leon had skinned up from the base with a group of 4 Frenchies.  After a quick chat about their agenda while battling the deafening 45 kph wind, I decided to hike with them.  This turned out to be quite the hike as the wind was head on blasting us with ice pellets, and gusting up to 60+ kph at this point.  Thank goodness for balaclavas.  It was so bad that I had to keep my helmet and goggles on.  A few hours into this brutal beating of an Andes adventure, we summited the volcano.  The crater was smaller than I expected but the view around was more than I could have asked for.  And the skiing was actually a treat on the south west aspect of the volcano considering how wind beaten the terrain had been on the hike up.

Now that we had skied down the second phase of the group's plan came out; they wanted to ski down to "Aguas Calientes" (the hot springs) in the valley to the south.  I really wanted to go and had only chatted with someone on where they were located without having them pointed out on a topographic map.  The Frenchies said they believed they were just down in the valley below us in the streams that were visible from our location.  I was told they were around the corner in the next valley lower.  At this point I was starting to reconsider making the trek as I didn't plan or prepare for such long day.  But really wanting to hit this spot while at this point not knowing if I was going to stay in Las Trancas, I gave into group think while knowing deep down the majority of the group's travel description didn't fit the description I'd gotten for a local guide with over 12 years experience.  After a long 20 minute skiing traverse we could see the "hot" springs.  I stayed high and waited for the sign that the water was actually hot, as we couldn't see any steam due to the wind.  After everyone went down, I finally dropped in only to find out that the water was indeed not hot at all.  Sucky monkey balls. (We'd find out later that we were only 200 meters away from the hot springs hidden around the corner.) If I would have stayed at my previous location, I was a mere 20-30 minute skin out to the top of the resort.  Now I'm a good 60-90 minutes out. 

The skin out was in an ice valley, and even though we were now heading north on this skin, east on the first skin, the winds changed and were now hitting us head on, but gusting even harder as it was the first notions of a new storm coming in.  By this point in the day around 5:00 pm, as my energy was depleted and I was borderline dehydrated not having planned or prepared for this long of a journery, I hit the wall and it hit me back hard.  Not only was I spent, my iPod had now run out of juice, leaving me to my thoughts and the complaining of my body for the next hour plus. At first the complaining was louder, but having grown up playing football and then moving onto the college ranks, I learned early in my youth how to put those things aside and just finish the task at hand, regardless of the struggle.  (Now here comes that unexpected treat I mentioned above.)  Towards the end of the skin to the top of the resort, my thoughts returned to the recurring theme and question running through my mind while on this vacation; am I satisfied with where I am in life?  As I thought deeply about this while pushing myself to the top of the skin, battling the pros and cons of my life, the good and bad, I came up with my answer as I caught a view of one of the most beautiful sunsets I'd seen in quite a long time.  The answer came as simply this; I'm satisfied with who I've become and the experiences I've gained at this point in my life.  The rest of the night including the ski down to the car, the delicious dinner and beers, and the chatting around the was sweet as I had accomplished another "epic" out in the backcountry and come to the decision that I was satisfied with me, yet still I was not satisfied with someone else's "dream" I was living back home in the states.........

Matt straightlining a shot


Me skiing some fast pow














Natacha, myself, and Nick being forced off the lift at midmountain















The "jungle" around the waterfall

Beauty and Beatings – A Recall of the Adventures in the Andes – PART 5

Now it’s Thursday, conditions look exactly the same as the past two days, and I’m assuming the worst, but still not throwing in the towel.  I mean come on, I’m on vacation a ski vacation nonetheless, every day is a good day, but even better if I can ski……so here we go again:

Yeah buddy ski day today and I have a ride up there, no hitchhiking!!!  Woohoo!! Alright gear on, skis in the car, day pack ready.  Let’s go.

We get up there to a warm overcast day, hardly any wind down low, and the Otto lift spinning with the staff saying it’s going to open.   Alright I’m buying a ticket.  Not ten minutes after I purchase the ticket, the staff determines it’s time to shut Otto down because there is 25 kph plus winds up top.  Awesome….  There goes twenty-five mil pesos down the drain.  I’m not accepting another down day, not today.   Time for “Plan B.”  I proceeded to pull out my skins and take off layers; let's hike the resort. 

A short forty minutes later the quick hike turned into a slow slog as I gained a ridge and the previous 25 kph turned into a 50 kph head on Andes winter welcome hurling snow and ice into my face, slowing me down to a miserable crawl.  There was so much snow being blown around combined with the low visibility cloud, I couldn't see a damn thing.  After another hour of Andes winter love, I decided to finally get some skiing in.  The next one thousand vertical feet of miserable, icy, crusty, thigh rattling groomer skiing brought a huge smile to my face.   Finally.  The down days frustration had melted away.  One more quick lap later I was finally all smiles heading back to the hostel.  And what is on the plate for tomorrow? Supposedly a few inches of fresh and a bluebird day of skiing.

Friday comes and so did the snow, but not so much the bluebird.  We pulled up to fresh tracks and blue skies.  Hallelujah, I'm soooo happy.  Plus I could finally see the mountain and started scouting lines and adventures.  After two runs of a few inches of fast pow, the glorious scenery was quickly hidden by a thick low lying cloud.  Considering the low tide snow and sharp volcanic rocks poking up all over, this was not a the best scenario, but thank goodness for skiing.  Another good thing was getting to ski with Dave from Powder Quest, especially since he had a good knowledge of the mountain.  We met at the hostel restaurant the night prior and had a fun time.  Now that he sent his group up north, he had a few days to himself.  If you're ever looking for a guided adventure down in South America, or need some info on the Chillan area head on over to Powder Quest's website and get in touch.  The best part of today was finally getting face shots, with skiing for a whole day without having to hike for turns in a close second. 

And what better way than to finish off the day? How about with a Chilean asado.  Of course no one is going to say no to slow cooked steak, chicken, and pork straight from the local butcher consumed with hot rolls, Chilean wine to die for, beer, and shenanigans.  How'd this great idea come to fruition?  Well I'll just pat myself on the back for this one; and then give credit to Isi for getting the meat and to Alejandro for taking the main duties of cooking.   It was a great time and a few of us managed to keep the night going till about 3:30 am at the local pub owned by a pair of gringos.  So back to bed by 4:00 am just to start it all over again in a few hours.  Enjoying life the Chilean way.


Here are some pics from the Asado

Rhys and Dave

Dave and Me



Beauty and Beatings – A Recall of the Adventures in the Andes – PART 4

Yeah buddy ski day today and I have a ride up there, no hitchhiking!!! Woohoo!!  Alright gear on, skis in the car, day pack ready.  Let’s go. 

We’re about a 20 minute ride up a dirt road to the resort.  It’s overcast and slightly warmer than desired.  My mind skips around various thoughts due to the excitement of skiing and the anxiety of not skiing battling it out; this ride couldn’t go fast enough.  We pull up to the middle parking lot. OTTO LIFT CLOSED!!!  Just the beginner’s poma is open and that is obviously not worth the price of admission.  My heart drops in time with the rising frustration created from a down day, one that wouldn’t have happened in America, a closure of the top lifts due to 25 to 40 kph winds (and the bottom lifts weren’t running due to no snow).  No why wouldn’t this have happened in the States?  Because a few years back the resort bought some second hand 50 year old Chinese pieces of crap cheapo lifts to save money.  And you pay for what you get; no secondary safety mechanisms on the tower rollers, a poor mountain top location with no windbreak, and twice the cost due to constantly breaking down from being a piece of poo.  Yep.

Dejected and disappointed we headed back into town to our hostel, once again the ride seemingly taking forever. Official “Down Day #1.”  We shall try again tomorrow.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out in the hostel getting to know some of those on their own adventure.  First off there was the gentlemen kind enough to give me a ride to the resort, Nick, a spry man in his 60’s and on his tenth plus tour of South America.  Now it took us all of a couple of seconds to realize we’d met before.  I immediately recognized him from time spent at Snowbird.  He’s a very interesting chap and has stories from all around the world many times over as he’s one that chose many years ago to seek after treasures of experiences and knowledge.  And he has a very refined talent of always being kind and inviting to those around, enlisting them into a group setting.   Nick and I hung out quite a bit during the trip and usually shared a table for dinner in the hostel’s restaurant.   He was also a huge boon in getting me up to and back from the resort every day that he was at the hostel. Then there was Natasha, a Parisian former ballerina now turned doctor going into her third year of residency enjoying the last couple of weeks of a three month vacation.  How was she? Classic Parisian for the first few days; I mean come on, even the French hate Parisians.   But she loosened up after a few good days of skiing later on down the road, but not quick enough, earning the nickname “Parisian Princess” in the meantime. 

Alright it’s Wednesday now. Yeah buddy ski day today and I have a ride up there, no hitchhiking!!! Woohoo!!  Alright gear on, skis in the car, day pack ready.  Let’s go.  Does this sound familiar?  Rinse and repeat.

“Official Down Day #2.”

Now my legs are just getting antsy.  Now frustration has really set in.  The weather reports are all over the board.  Depressions, ridges, systems on the horizon, no systems on the horizon; it all is true and it all is false in some sense.  Welcome to the Andes.  To combat hostel laziness and spending hours upon hours attempting to battle each other to connect to the ever inconsistent and flighty internet connect, Nick, Natasha, and I set out on a walk up Shangri-La road out to the Mission Impossible Lodge.  The walk, under overcast and drizzle i.e. snow in the mountain tops, became a discussion of France, Europe, and the reaches of modern medical reaches between Nick and Natasha with me listening and observing.  Interesting times to say the least.

The day also brought two sets of Australian couples on opposite ends of a similar journey.  The first couple, Chris and Kate from Melbourne, was in their first month of a nine month vacation, while the second couple, Rhys and Terri from Perth, was in their last month of a ten month vacation.  It was fun to see Western and Eastern Australians interact, to see the opposite sides of the adventure spectrum, and tell us of the differences between the coasts, and asking them about "Stalia" slang .  All four were a good inclusion into the the hostel group, escpeically when it came to consuming vast amounts of Chilean wine, pisco, Escudo and Cristal.

Group shot after dinner one night

Beauty and Beatings – A Recall of the Adventures in the Andes – PART 2

“Veinte dos mil.”

“Twelve mil.”
 
“Veinte mil.”

“Fifteen mil.”

“Diez y ocho mil.”

“Eighteen mil? Okay done.”

My haggling over the price of a taxi to my soon to be new friend’s place in the Santiago suburb of Vitacura was done. Maybe I should have just requested a taxi with a meter, but ignorance won over critical thinking when going on a few hours of sleep. 

As I rode to Rafa’s place I couldn’t help but return to the image of the sunrise I captured on my phone while descending into SCL.

Now finally at Rafa’s place, which is located in a nice younger middle class neighborhood, I was finally able to start my adjustment to the Chilean way, but I wasn’t given much time.  After meeting the cool family of three (Rafa, Victoria, and Nieve) and a quick shower, Rafa and I headed out to gather the meat and drinks for the asado (BBQ) Rafa was throwing for my arrival.  During our errands I got to know Rafa through his fairly descent and slang filled English.  The man is pretty cool and loves to have a good time.  It was so easy to adjust and relax when being taken care of by a guy like this.

Man I love Chilean asados, sitting around a grill slow cooking marinated meats, having drinks, chatting everyone up, not worrying about schedules, or that all the food is ready to eat at the same time.  It’s just such a relaxed part of their culture.  So what was the surprise dish for the asado?  How about mollejas, also referred to as sweetbread.  Yep there’s nothing doughy or baked with this “bread.”  We’re talking about the thymus glands of a cow.  And how was it? De-freakin-licious.  We devoured two or three jars of it as soon as each piece was ready. 

The sweet savor of a fresh cut of meat, that had just barely become ready for consumption, hovered around us throughout the night almost certainly dancing around us and into our senses in beat with the mix of Chilean and American music played.  A steady stream of friends and compadres stopped by bringing more rations for the grill and those enjoying meeting the new “gringo.”

The invitation to continue the party at a dance club in Santiago came about 1:30 am.  Having the Chilean way influencing me, how was I supposed to let everyone down and say no, even having been up since 5:00 am?  Challenge accepted.  I was left in good hands with Rafa’s brother Juan, and away we went.  So after 3 hours of dancing, I finally made it to bed around 5:15 am.  Plenty of smiles, laughs, drinks, and fun times were had.  I started my first day in Chile the Chilean way partying hard late into the night.  I went to bed with a smile on my face, ringing in my ears, and a single final thought; this is going to be a very good vacation.

Beauty and Beatings – A Recall of the Adventures in the Andes – PART 1

Even as one can artificially, accidently, or purposefully create start and end dates for activities, events, or happenings in life, the same is not necessarily true for the start and end dates of life lessons or life changing events.  These types of events can happen anywhere through direct means like giving up one’s time and life goals to the full-time dedication of a greater cause like the Peace Corp, a religious mission, or a humanitarian mission, or indirectly when one allows their self to disconnect, assume nothing, and allow “whatever” to occur, essentially becoming once again as a small child, hungry, interested, willing to learn all that is out there.  When one does this, there is no end to what may happen, the limiting factor is not time but oneself.  As so eloquently put by the famous Yoda “you must unlearn what you have learned.”

…………………………

Just over two years to the day I arrived home from my first trip to Chile, an awesome and fun two weeks in Portillo, I departed on my second trip, but this time I ventured away from the “you are taken care of here” wonderful and easy ways of Portillo, to the unknown and “on your own” ways of Santiago and the small town of Las Trancas to access the blessed Nevados de Chillan.  My original trip plans had visions of getting a group of friends together along with a photog to have fun and get some “work” done in the snow and rocky peaks of the southern hemisphere before our season began up in the northern hemisphere.  Those dreams were dashed to pieces as many spent available funds on new Macbook Pros, cameras, or other trips, and the arrival of the horrible snow reports of the early season coming from South America. 

Undeterred by the lack of a group and lack of snow, needing an escape from the heat, inversion, and the drudges, and smoke and mirrors, of “real” life in our country, I pressed forward through the anxiety of no snow and going into the unknown alone.  But, that’s when the good stuff happens.  A few weeks before my departure, a recently new buddy recommended going to Nevados de Chillan.  He spoke of meters of fresh pow, adventures of hitchhiking up to the resort each day, and a sweet, cheap hostel right in the middle of town.  And to top it off, he had a buddy in Santiago that I could stay with before and after heading to Las Trancas.  With the unfolding of this potential adventure came the calming of the nerves.  Confidence, excitement, and smiles returned.  The three weeks leading up to the trip were filled with long hours in the office preparing proposals and briefs.  There was no rest for the weary.  I even had to give a personal briefing to my division director during dinner the night before I was to leave.    

I could see others heading south with ski boots and smiles through the sea of travelers at SLC.  The excitement and hopes was high.  As the extra pull of gravity inherently felt during takeoff dissipated, the pull of the day-to-day world of my life lost its cold grip, well, almost.  After staring at the storm clouds over Georgia during my descent into ATL, I decided to delete my work email account off of my phone while in Chile. Viva la revolucion!

The gate at ATL was filled with even more skiers.  The excitement and anxiety of little snow of those there spread through amongst the crowd quickly.  New friends were being made at every bench over discussions of trip plans, reports, previous experiences, and the unknown outcomes of new experiences.  It was here that I first met a “Reggie” from Ketchum that was heading down to do some guiding in Las Lenas.  He was pretty cool and it never came to me who he really was.  We talked about getting our seats moved next to each other to share a beer, but got distracted until boarding time.  Now I was one “short” Ambien filled flight away, but did manage to have a beer and a few scotches with my new acquaintance before shutting down.  Let the dreams begin, and in the morning we live the dreams.

Time to End........

As the snow turned to a hard, technical medium from the soft heavenly blanket of bliss with the raging winds of the upper Andes, the reality of our required departure and return to a world two weeks forgotten also blew in.  The two weeks of skiing, touring, yoga, hot tubbing, joking, bonding, and constant schenanigans were now soon to become memories and experiences of the past instead of the daily routine that had become life for two weeks. 

During that time everything else was forgotten and put aside. There were no worries of work, of bills, or of the summer heat.  There was just living, living in the moment.  All that mattered was skiing, fresh turns, food, partying, sleep, and avoiding falling prey to the next prank; life was good. 

The days were spent honing an upright tight stance and embracing speed, invoking the style and technique of Nick DeVore.  Both of my ski weeks started with a fresh dump of soft snow.  The fresh turns to be had each day came under the coaches' requirement of doing so with speed and fluidity.  My legs were pushed to new limits and given a pounding that I'm still recovering from.  

Both of the groups were awesome even though they differed on many levels.  The first group was mainly juniors (under 17) and just full of so much energy and laughter, which was truly contagious; I felt like got a little younger that week, and we all know that I don't need anymore excuses to act immature. It was constant joking and laughing.  Honestly just an epic combination of personalities, energy, and skiing.

The second group was all adults and a good bunch of mountain rippers.  We had a blast hiking around and shredding pow.  And they all definitely knew how to have a good time both on the mountain and off. 

As I now depart my little bit of heaven and return to the grind, my muscles ache and my joints are pained a little.  Yet I smile with each little ache and pain. The soreness and the aches serve as a reminder; a reminder of the adventure had and the friendships made.  But it also serves as a reminder of the hard work and long days of cutting trees down after sitting in an office for nine hours a day to pull together the extra funds needed to make this trip possible, the late nights, the stresses of a financial commitment, the doubts and worries........and oh how it was worth it.

Rocking out hard at La Posada

Beautiful sunsets every day

Enjoying the sunset during my daily hot tub session with my mustache

Slackline session

Final dinner group shenanigans

Parting our ways at the airport.  I was bracing for the payback wet willey to follow.

First Day Out

Sweet sweet sweet day.  Did I mention how sweet today was.  We woke up to a good half foot plus of new snow.  Energy was running high and we couldn't believe that we're skiing pow on our first day out.  Nick and Kayo declared it to be a schralping session.   It was a care free day of lapping some light snow.  We did 23 laps and scored 15,840 vertical feet.

I did break the cam out and filmed a buch of the group taking laps.  We're going to surprise everyone with a short edit of themselves after the camp.  It's going to be hard for me to get it out before the camp concludes, but I'll get something out to each participant.  Here's a couple of shots for the day.  I'll have plenty more photos to share after I get back to the states.............I may try and delay that for a month or so...........

The scenery

 

Fun Chair shots with the GoPro

Chile!!!!!!!

First day in Portillo down and out.  I managed to get a shuttle before I even checked out of customs.  I did have to wait around for an hour for the driver and other scheduled riders to show but it was all good.  The two hour ride definitely felt just as long.  Since there was snow in the mountains and all throughout the pass from Portillo to Mendoza, the Chilean Carabineros (police) had deemed it too dangerous to drive and had the road closed off.  Luckily we had a Portillo sign in the van window so when the diver told the cop he should let us through because he is "an expert driver that runs this road every day and could do it in his sleep", the cop believed him and let just our vehicle pass. 

The road was definitely not scary, but merely slushy in most places, with the temperature being at or above freezing.  But since most don't grow up driving in snow and ice in Chile, it could be considered scary. 

With the road being closed I didn't have to deal with a huge rush of incoming skiers.   As I stood in the freezing lobby getting accustomed to my preferred season, all I could think about was getting some lunch and then skiing.  I clammered all my stuff over to my 15' by 6' room for 4 and tried to unpack with organization.  I finally gave up and just went to lunch. 

It wasn't until I had clicked into my skis and started to ski toward the lift that I experienced my truly excited state.  At that moment I just had the biggest smile push it's way out and I hadn't even made my first run yet; I was completely ecstatic. FINALLY.  It took so long for me to get to this point. 

The visibility was pretty bad as a storm was moving in and whatever light we did have was completely flat.  I got some nice "knock-off-the-rust" turns in some nice milky maritime powder.  It felt so good to be home but somewhat awkward and foreign at the same time. 

After skiing 7 laps, somewhat successfully dodging the just barely buried rocks, and notching 5,000 vertical feet, I called it a day.  As I walked in to the lobby after checking my skis and boots, I first saw Luke Lubchenco, and then the rest of the group.  Kayo Ogilby and Nick Devore, the coaches soon came up and introduced themselves as I chatted with Luke.  I can already tell that this is going to be a blast and a great learning session. 

We had a short introductory meeting and then proceeded to finally eat dinner at the ripe Chilean time of 8:30 pm.  We sat, ate, and joked around in the cafeteria while snow continued to fall.  Spirits and aspirations are high.  We'll be having a bluebird powder day in the morning. 

 Dropping into Santiago

Getting my visa

 


Our LARGE room for 4 people

First night storm sure to bring the goods in the morning

Vacation Appraisal: Needed, but not what was expected.

My first week of official vacation: How did it go? Quite disappointing. Let’s look at how that came to be.

So I was planning on going to Flaming Gorge for 4 days, the whole reason why I took the vacation days, and the trip got cancelled two days before we were to leave. That was a little disappointing because I was really looking forward to riding behind the boat all day long for four days. But I really needed a break from my fabulous job, so I still decided to take the leave. I did manage to get out behind the boat, but only once.

I played hockey Friday, Monday, Wednesday night, and Thursday morning. It's a lot of fun and helped make up for not going to Flaming Gorge.

The biggest disappointment came on Friday. I was planning on driving out to Steamboat Springs, CO to see my sister Kira, Andrew, and my cute niece Masha, while they were out in the area for a wedding. Well I only alotted about 36 hours for the visit since Mapquest said is was only a little longer than 5 1/2 hours to drive out there. It turned out that it takes about 8 hours if you're pushing it. So I would have ended driving for 8 hours to stay for 8 hours, sleep for 8 hours, only to wake up and drive back for 8 hours. We decided that it just wasn't as convenient as we thought it'd be and bagged it. So I was really disappointed in not being able to go out and visit with them and that weighed down on me.

I did luck out and was still able to go out camping with Charlotte and Joni, which was a lot of fun. But overall the vacation wasn't what I was expecting. But I do like how I used only 3 days of vacation for 9 straight days away from the office. B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L.

Camping Vacation

So it was decided that we all wanted to go camping for a night. Since I live in the state of Utah, there being a ton of ational forest land around, finding a good campsite was only a 30 minute ride. The group consisted of Brooke, Camille, Dustin, his brother Archie, Archie's daughter, Justin and myself. I was really excited to go camping since I've had a new tent for about 2 months and haven't had the chance to use it.

Once we found a good site, I ran out ahead of everyone and found the spot that would be the quietest. But I forgot the think about a spot that would be out of the sun as well. But I was very happy with my selection. I managed to snag a beautiful plot a few yards away from a running stream. The sound of the water rolling over the rocks brought serenity and sleep into my life that night.



The night was quite usual for car camping. We had hot dogs for dinner, told funny, gross, and embarassing stories, we had s'mores, and eventually went to bed. Oh but that was for just Justin and myself. The other four stayed up later than us and had quite an eventful night. Let's introduce you to David and Jessy.



Well they were at the camp site across from us. Now these two 18 year olds came over earlier and invited us to have some beers, hence the picture we snagged. Apparently, after I went to bed these two got in a fight over the girls that were with them, threaten each other's life more than once, woke up the rest of the campground, beat each other up, and apparently the winner of the fight (guy with the bandana) was left behind with no car, out of cell phone service, to sit in a drunken stupor and bug everyone that hadn't gone to sleep in my group. This picture was taken during the whole incident as the rest of the group "was in desperate fear for their lives."



But thanks to my prestine tent site with the rolling waters, I did not wake to hear any of the commotion and finally had my first good night's rest in two weeks. Now hearing the story upon waking was very amuzing. After that Justin and I packed up promptly and returned to Ogden to attend church. Here's some more pictures from the outing .

Justin "helping" set up the tent



Apparently I own a lot of prAna attire



I was really good at employing friends to cook my hot dogs



S'more Time!!!!



My only s'more of the night



Trippy Fire Pit