There and Back Again

This is how Beaver Creek says Good Morning :)

We finished up our ski trip by doing the Talons Challenge. NOW THAT IS VACATION TO ME! I don't know why I enjoy torturing myself... but I do. This is the order we skied the runs in...

1. Lupine ♦
2. Shooting Star ♦
3. Loco ♦
4. Bald Eagle ♦♦
5. Falcon Park ♦♦
6. Osprey ♦♦
7. Ruffed Grouse ♦
8. Ptarmigan ♦
9. Raven Ridge ♦
10. Screech Owl ♦
11. Golden Eagle ♦♦
12. Peregrine ♦♦
13. Goshawk ♦♦

Bumps on Bald Eagle ♦♦


Self Portrait - Bottom of Bald Eagle

The Downhill Course was FREAKING AMAZING. It was really cool to ski it... of course we didn't ski it at 85 mph ... more like 8 mph :)


The Brink, Birds of Prey Downhill Course

The skiing was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC ... it really couldn't have been any better.

ok.. ok.. so i love to ski.. i've shown you my pictures... you believe me.


The Flatirons/Boulder

I finally visited Boulder and I fell in love with it. There's a small pharmaceutical company called Array Biopharma there. Every time something rocks my world ... I say "I'm $%*#X##F moving to Colorado and working at Array". You know you've heard me say it.. probably sick of hearing it. In my heart, I THINK it's exactly what I NEED TO DO. However, I'm always afraid I'll miss my family and friends... and I never actually take steps to move. WELL... I picked up a paper in a cute little coffee shop in Boulder and read this article about about mountain love...

Mountain GAZETTE/Mountain Love/February 2008
THE SKI BUM - Stoner Flake or Transcendentalist?
But when's the last time anyone ever said he or she came to a mountain town to fall in love anyway? They come for the snow, the singletrack, the rock. They come to get away from the ex, the job, the family and the Rust Belt shithole that they can't stand to call home. People come to the mountains because the real working world sucks. Because there's nothing better than the narcissistic pleasure of doing nothing but getting good at mountain sports (except for hoping that someone else might tell you how good you are). And sure that might include fantasies about hooking up with an aloof, beautiful like-minded athletic soul. But is sure as hell doesn't include the tethers of a mortgage, long hours at the laptop or screaming kids and changing diapers.

That very sense of independence, of wanton wanderlust, is what makes all mountain town lovers essentially the same. There is some empty yearning in the gut as inexplicable as love itself that draws someone to a mountain town in the first place. As Rilke, that poest of the great, singular mystery of the yearning sould says, "Sometimes a man stands up during supper/and walks outdoors, and keeps on walking ... "

SO...if you happen to see me stand up during supper and walk outdoors... and I keep on walking ... make sure I go There and Back Again. There's plenty of narcissistic pleasure right here in NC.