Spending the winter with my girlfriend, Victoria, at my family's mountain, vacation home while she and I are under the employ of the local ski resort, working as servers at the Lodge's breakfast buffet.
Things are quiet around here, now that all of our holiday visits with friends and family have ended. Victoria and I had it easy...everyone came to us this year. First my family was here, then her's. Our parents finally met, after having been a couple for almost 2 years. Of course everyone got along great. Our families' trips only overlapped a couple of days though...I do wish they could've spent more time together, but I'm sure there will be plenty of other opportunities. Aside from her brother and sister-in-law, Victoria's family was experiencing Montana for the first time. I think it's safe to say they enjoyed being here very much, and of course, having the big house up here for everyone to stay in, cook in, and play in never hurts chances of the inaugural trip being packed with good times & memories. I'm looking forward to editing the photo slideshow with Vic...would love to be able to give copies to her parents and brothers some time soon. Maybe we'll do it on our day off tomorrow. That would certainly be an economical way to spend the day. Or maybe we'll go skiing/boarding in the morning, and then come home to work on the slideshow. Nice to be able to ride the mountain for free too. Of course, we could always grab free, employee breakfast first at the Lodge. It's been unseasonably warm here the past few days, and it will be tomorrow, but the breakfast calories always help to shred. It's been sunny too, which is great. If it isn't gonna snow, it might as well be sunny and warm...as long as we've got the base to spare, which we do. I'm on the back patio now at the house. Snow melt's dripping into the gutters and from the roofline. The sun has dipped below the ridgeline, leaving the sky directly above me purple-blue, and the sky out in front along the ridge cream-colored. The blue to white spectrum traverses the in-between. A few clouds stretch along the ridge like pink, frozen smoke. The old conifers below me in the meadow are lit barely enough to show some deep green. The oldest and tallest trees, the ones wise enough to peak above the ridge deep in the background, are black in silhouette.
Heard today that we'll only be working 2 days a week until the hotel gets busier. Occupancy is much lower than usual. No one is coming to vacation here. I'm a bit worried...I do need to make some money. The situation is much more serious for most of our coworkers though. Many of them are supporting families back home, in places where the dollar goes further. Guess I'll put off thinking too hard about it for now...Victoria's family is staying with us for another few days and much quality time together is planned. Tomorrow, we're taking a snowcoach through the national park. Things with all of them are going very well. They're an active group, so we're out there skiing or sledding or something every day - which is great to offset the bountiful meals Vic's Mom has been cranking out. I'm very glad they could come here for the holidays. Her parents have finally met mine, and we've had the pleasure of introducing them to this beautiful part of the country. On top of the mountain today, taking a break from snowboarding, I toasted Vic's Dad and Brothers, saying I've never known another family that was more 'get along' than theirs. All three of the guys said it was an act. P'shaw! We had a laugh, slugged our beers and headed back out on the trail. Great to be here still...great to have Vic's fam with us for a bit...hope work picks up so that we can keep earning, and so our international, coworker/friends don't have to leave after having spent the last month getting used to life here...LOTS of good kids I hope to keep on knowin'.
Had our first day in the restaurant yesterday. We haven't opened yet, just went in to meet the staff, get uniforms and do a bit of housekeeping. We're working with lots of peeps from South America and Indonesia. I think the dining room staff is maybe 12 or 14 people strong. Our boss, Lilly says most days there will be 5 to 6 of us servers working. A normal breakfast serves 500 people she says. I wonder if we'll be learning the computer today. I'm still a bit nervous, but like everyone says, if it sucks we can cut and run. Hopefully that won't happen. I think I can handle it. Lilly let us out at 1 so we could get a few runs in, which Victoria and I certainly did. We had to come back to the house first to grab gear, and ran into our builder, Roscoe and his wife, Deb back at the house. They were here to check up on things, something they do somewhat regularly. He's taken care of this place since he started building it, over 7 years ago. First time meeting Deb...nice as pie. She invited Vic and me to dinner in their hood should we ever swing out that way. I hope we get to take 'em up on it.
Today was our first ski day, an overcast and chilly one. Sun was shinin’ all day yesterday, but we didn’t make it up there. Instead, I organized some drawers in the kitchen and did a little more unpacking once our UPS boxes arrived. Only got outside to sweep off the deck. The sun on it all day loosened up the ice pretty nice. I hope the folks dig the little bit of arranging Victoria and I have done. We haven’t changed anything major, just thrown out or recycled duplicates of outfitter and gallery brochures, old trail maps, and outdated phone books. Not much else. Nothing really worth mentioning, so why the hell am I? Why the hell did I spend so much time on organizing junk drawers when the sun was shining and I’ve got a free ski pass in the first place? It’s cuz I’m a freak, and I’m starting to fall into the same, stupid organizing traps I fall into at home. Gotta watch out for those.
We did get down to the Meadow yesterday though…Vic set herself up with some new boards: Dynastar 8000’s, WITH bindings. Bought the poles separate, with a sweet ass 10% off employee discount. Pays to be employed at a ski resort. She paid $520 for everything, which was damn near exactly what she said she’d allow herself to spend. They’re great skis, and she’ll get many many kicks out of ‘em, even after she’s graduated from the first few weeks of lessons the skis are gonna teach her. Worth the $.
I thought about my snowboard the same way when I picked it up a month ago; sure I’ll spend money I almost don’t have on it, but it’ll hopefully be the only one I buy for the next 5 or 6 years…maybe longer. Realized today I’ve had my skis for 10 freaking years. Yeah, Vicki’s boards are way finer. But the board is sweet as hell: Liberty Technologies, Banana style, Burton bindings (last year’s), & Thirty Two boots. God bless Vic’s mom for shipping my board. In the rush to get out of Chicago, I wasn’t able to get it packaged up in time. The task fell upon Mom’s shoulders after Victoria had brought the board along to her fam's Thanksgiving festivities and ran out of time to take care of the shipment for me. Her mom saved the day, taking the board to a board shop to find the appropriate sized box, and then buying about 100 yards of bubble wrap to snug it up in, and then jettisoned it out here. Showed up safe and sound via UPS this morning, right after we finished the killer breakfast burritos Vicki made; first we’ve tried at home with tofu sausage. Also had some spinach and pepperjack thrown in there. All killer, no filler. I owe Vic's mom $50.
So, we geared up, threw our skis, and my board along with the bindings, intending to have the setup mounted up at the Mountain Mall (employee disc of 25%!) after finishing our ski day.
We skied for a few hours on only a couple runs. The mountain is only 8% open, which means just over 300 acres of ski able terrain. Considering almost no one is up there yet, we had plenty of stuff to make for a good, warm-up, first day. Victoria said her skis felt great, but after awhile her shins started to get pretty sore to the touch. ‘Least that means she’s keeping her weight forward. She’s got a great technical foundation, and I’m hoping she pushes herself to ski as much of the mountain as possible this season, as opposed to just sticking with what she knows she can handle. It’s a huge resort, and we have free passes…ya gotta take it all in! I’m a shitty teacher though. I can’t make suggestions to anyone on anything without lecturing. I’m planning on taking some snowboard lessons this season (we get deals!) and maybe she'll take some lessons to get her to that next level. Just want her to see lots of the mountain. Maybe that’s not what everyone wants though.
Shit…it’s my goal though. Been skiing this mountain for 18 years and I still feel like I don’t know it’s secrets. I’m glad I got the board with me this season to get out of beginner territory, but I’m kinda wishin’ I had the ski gear to get me down the tricky stuff I've never had the time to master. It doesn’t come down to gear though. Dudes were skiing that terrain on wooden planks way back when. It’s just a choice I’ve gotta make.
So we wrapped up our ski day, went to the car, geared down, and then walked back to the Mountain Mall with the board and bindings. The guy at the shop was cool; had country music playing, but it was decent country; some stuff I had actually bought when I went through my country phase back in high school. Anyway, he had lots of great things to say about the board, and how I could sell it there and buy two setups from last year’s unused gear! Then, this boarder girl comes walking through the shop, with the same board as mine, sees mine on the counter w/o bindings screwed in, and says to the guy, “No way, you guys are selling those!?” “No, we couldn’t keep ‘em in here if we tried. This is his board.” He pointed to me. “Oh, right on. You’re gonna love it! It’s so much fun to ride. Don’t leave it on the rack though.” “Yeah, keep it with you. It’s definitely sought after up here. People will totally take it,” Counter Guy added. Boarder Girl said to have fun and was out the back door, Lib Tech tucked tightly under her arm.
Back to mounting the bindings….Counter Guy got ‘em on, and said, “Wait a sec. Oh man. They sold you two right-foot bindings.” Sure enough, they did. Fuckers. This whole deal went down at the ski and snowboard expo at a convention center in Chicago a month ago...how the hell am I supposed to make and exchange? Dude said there’s a Zumiez shop in Town (bought it at the Zumiez’s booth at the expo), and that they should be able to fix the issue. Victoria and I are headed to Town again tomorrow to buy pants for work and do the Christmas Stroll with friends so, hopefully it’ll all work out. He was bummed for me, and said to come back to have the bindings put on once it all got sorted out. He also suggested I check to see if they’ve got a 158 to replace the 154 I ended up getting…thought my board would be a little short for me in the powder. I’ll ask the guys at Zumiez what they think…if making a trade is even an option.
Got back to the house and worked out for a bit on the Bowflex down in the Memorial Gym. Was goin’ good for awhile ‘til I think I broke it. Just as I was cursing myself out, scratching my head over the tweaked pulleys, Vicki came in with dinner: pork tenderloin in a raisin glaze, singed brussel sprouts, and roasted, red-skin potatoes, and my troubles went elsewhere. We took the food, and an Orval, Trappist Ale I picked up the other day in Town, into the home theater where we watched Ghost Busters while dining. "Back off man. I'm a scientist."
Town tomorrow: fix the board, fix the Bowflex, get some black pants for work, and stroll down twinkly Main Street with Vicki, and friends, sipping nog and b.s.'in. Staying the night there, so maybe we'll get rowdy enough to stay up until midnight!
Got in last night around 11pm. Local Taxi brought us down from the airport. Driver was a nice guy. Told us about an enemy of his who lives off the highway who hates it when drivers hit the rumble strip on the stretch of highway outside his place. We’ll be sure to hit that spot every time we go back and forth to Town.
Was snowing when we got here. Pretty much hasn’t stopped since, and that was about 24hrs ago. Got at least 5 inches in that time.
There were 3 real beers in the fridge: 2 Fat Tires & 1 Skinny Dip. We fell asleep drinking ‘em while watching “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane;” my current Netflix.
Victoria and I had some coffee and granola this morning – no milk, of course…I mean, there was milk in the fridge, but wasn’t worth taking the chance. There’s quite a bit of old food in the fridge, freezer, pantry and cupboards. Once I figure out when garbage day is, I’ll toss a load out. Of course I’ll have to check with Mom first to see if the chicken stock she made 5 years ago is to be saved. She’ll bite my head off if I take any liberties.
Figured out how to hook up iPod/Laptop to stereo in original TV room under original family room. Haven’t figured out how to get iPod/Laptop to play throughout house yet. I used a metal spatula and and a flashlight to see the connectors in the back of the Lexicon. Craig, my stepdad, who's corporate success made this awesome house a reality, will not be pleased with my fiddling.
While the music played, Victoria unpacked her suitcases and loaded her clothes into the drawers and closets of what’s come to be known as the “Fish Bedroom.” It’s the bedroom directly under the kitchen – sought after for it’s private bathroom, large closets, full size window and walk out glass doors. We said to the folks while in Vegas we’d be happy to shift rooms should visits from friends and family require it, but Craig said, we wouldn’t have to because we’ve got, “squtter’s rights.” Maybe that’s what I’ll name the blog???
We headed up to the Mountain Mall to do our employee paperwork a little after 12pm. Got lunch ($22 for sandwich and a half & cup of soup). Signed lots of tax forms, agreements, direct deposit form, and wrote a couple checks; 1 for discounted memberships to the Local Cross Country Ski Trails Network, and 1 for a series of fitness classes held somewhere in the base area – yoga, pilates, some other shit that will hopefully keep me from destroying my muscles, ligaments, and tendons while throwing inverted aerials all over the mountain this winter. 1st class is tomorrow…Victoria just told me we’ll miss it cuz we’ll be in town getting supplies. Fair enough…I guess classes pick up after the 11th.
I can’t believe I have a SEASONPASS!!! At this moment, the MoFo is in my pocket. My picture’s on it, and I’m gonna use it tomorrow! Gotta make sure it’s legit. Gotta find my gear…I’m sure all my crap’s in the garage. Oh, heated garage, how you preserve our gear, snowmobiles, ATV, lawn mower, and giant car – I mean, truck. Seriously, the SUV is huge – I guess that’s kind’ve an obvious thing to say. Well, the truck we’ll be driving all winter is an absolute behemoth. I hope we don’t get spoiled – who am I kidding??? After this winter, we’ll be forever spoiled. God bless it!
We met nice peeps up there today. The Human Resources Director is super friendly – we gave her our whole story. We also met the Assistant HR Gal; also very friendly, and reminded me of Victoria's sister in law. She walked us around a little bit to make sure we got signed up for the fitness classes A.O.K. Some other girls from accouting and concierge also helped point us in the right direction. We met the guy who manages the bar where Craig likes to play live poker when he's up here, and a couple of the gals who will be waitressing there this season. Victoria and I are hoping to develop our poker skills at the live game, but don't know if we're allowed to as employees.
Went grocery shopping at a local joint within the resort after getting squared away with all our sign-ups. Got enough stuff for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow: eggs, chicken breast, sunflower seed oil, 6 of Deschutes Organic Beer, tomato, broccoli, green pepper, bread, milk and coffee: $52. On our way out, our Taxi Driver came in – happy to see us, smelling like booze. Said he noticed I left open a garage door as he pulled away last night. I lied and said I caught it and shut it before bed (closed it this morning). “Good,” he said, “cuz bears won’t even hesitate to head in there to stay warm.” When Victoria and I pulled into the garage moments later, I was just a tad vigilant. No bears though.
Victoria and I were a bit restless after unloading the groceries – we wanted to get a workout in as it’s been weeks since either of us have, but couldn’t find any workout videos we’d assumed would be in no short supply. “Did I put the TaeBo video in the box we shipped?” I asked. “Think so.” She said. We’ll find out Thursday when our shipped items are to arrive. In the Memorial Gym, here at the house, I found a DVD that accompanies the mega-BowFlex down there. Hopefully I’ll get some use out of it and the exercise cycle thingy. I say “thingy” because it’s one of those that sits longways on the floor instead of upright, like a regular bike. I used the bowflex for 5 minutes, then came upstairs to see how dinner was coming along and to check Facebook.
Victoria had Ritz Cracker breaded chicken, redsauce w/ peppers, and steamed broccoli in the works. Smelled awesome, of course. Before dinner was ready, I IMed on Facebook for a little with a friend from high school/college – first “direct” contact we’ve had in god knows how long. Her big news: she’s engaged. How ‘bout it. Guy seems cool…he proposed to her this past weekend while they were on a climbing/camp trip. I told her that’s just how I would’ve pictured her engagement. I think it’s great and hope she and him can come see us this winter.
Dinner was f-ing great. Vic rules the kitchen. There was a bottle of Bogle Syrah in the underused cellar and I just finished it’s last drops. Thinking about grabbing one of those Deschutes. I’ll wait. We got all winter. Gonna try to get in more “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.” It’s black and white and not crazy cut so, it’ll be a battle, as I’m starting to fade and Vicki has already headed down.
Tomorrow holds a possible morning trip to the slopes for me – Victoria is still gearless, but we’ll have to get to town in time to get groceries and maybe her gear, and possibly drop the snowmobiles at the dealership for a tune-up (depending on if I get the green light to trailer them up from Craig), all before dinner with college friends by 6. Gonna meet this new baby girl of theirs. Oooh, and I gotta take them the flies I got for ‘em forever ago. SHIT! They’re in the box with TaeBo – maybe.
