Our Small Ski Trip during the Pandemic

It is hard to believe that a year ago this past week, we spent about 10 days in FL for Chase's first visit. (More on that in another post.) Little did we know that he wouldn't be back for quite a while. Then, the week after we got back from that trip, the country (and world) began to shut down due to Covid-19. We have been fortunate to be able to spend a lot of time in Cashiers in the past year, as well as a few trips to NJ. We had been planning a ski trip to Colorado for early 2021, but since the pandemic was dragging on, we decided to put that on hold. We have also made the trip to VT to ski a number of times over the last 10 years, but it seemed a bit too challenging to go all the way up there this year.

We didn't want to go a whole year without skiing, so we decided that we would plan a trip to Deep Creek Lake, MD where we could rent a ski-in/ski-out condo at Wisp for a few nights and get a little bit of skiing in. We were ready for a change of scenery and it would provide a good chance to get our little girl on skis for the first time! Fortunately, Kristi's parents were happy to come along to entertain the kids while we went off to ski.

After a fabulous Mid-Atlantic ski season, we were a little worried about planning the trip for the first week of March. Unfortunately we were slow to book, so that's what we were left with. It turns out there was cause for my concern, as a big storm made it's way up from the Gulf, with a whole lot of warm air and rain. The drive up was a challenge with the rain and fog and all I could think about was the great snow that was being lost. It poured the first night/early morning, but we already had lift tickets, so off we went. The first couple of runs were a challenge with the visibility, but eventually the clouds lifted a bit and we had a pretty good several hours before lunch. After lunch, the weather was pretty good, so we decided it was time to get Rowan on her new Lucky Bums!

As with most things it was slow going, but we finally got her comfortable enough to walk around on the bunny slope to get used to the skis on her feet. After some negotiations, I was able to get her up to the "top" of the slope so that I could cruise down with her between my legs. We were finally getting some excitement out of her. With that, we called the first day a success!!

The second day (and also the third) was a gorgeous bluebird day with not a cloud in the sky. The snow cat's had worked their magic overnight and we had a great morning of skiing on corduroy! We even had some visitors drive in for the day to ski with us. We decided to do the same routine with the little girl, but it was a bit of a struggle for her grandparents to get her in the car. She finally made it to the slope and everyone came along to watch, including the little boy who got to stand around on the snow.

The last day we only skied in the morning and had the little girl and her grandpa meet us at the slope before lunch. This time, she was waiting for us and couldn't wait to get her skis on! We even got to ride up the magic carpet! It took her a few times to get the hang of it, but eventually she did it all on her own. This time, even Mom got to give her a ride down the slope!

All in all, the weather turned out to be good, the little girl enjoyed getting on skis for the first time, and I even got in some good jumps! It wasn't quite our trip to Colorado, but here's to 2022 and getting the little girl in some real skis and a lesson with the professionals.