Day 1 of the Snowboarding Trip

Jim and Beth, ex-roommates and good friends, invited me to go snowboarding at Wolf Creek Ski Area in Colorado. It is near Pagosa Springs, CO. I did not know anything about Wolf Creek or Pagosa Springs except they are in southern Colorado. I thought it would be fun to hang out with friends, get out town, and learn a new sport.

Since I do not own any ski/snowboarding equipment, I had to borrow some. Lucky for me, I have friends with equipment ready to lend. I borrowed a jacket, two pairs of pants, and a pair of gloves from a couple of friends.

Jim and Beth arrived from Tucson last Thursday night as they told me. It was about nine at night. They came right after visiting Jim's favorite hot dog place in Tempe. I could smell the restuarant on their clothes. Jim always enjoys visiting his favorite spot whenever he is in Phoenix. I just cannot remember the name to save me.

We exchanged greetings. You know, how the heck are you and stuff. I asked him when we were departing. Jim said, "we are leaving two in the morning." "WHAT," came to my mind. Jim said, "I want to get there for a half day of snow boarding." Jim and Beth went to sleep soon after to get rested. I stayed up a little longer to finish packing.

Two o'clock came way too soon. I was tired, but excited to get on our way. It took Jim and Beth another half hour to get ready. We were all ready by two thirty. Yarn. Jim drove first. I meant to stay up, but it was in vain. I woke up when we arrived at Flagstaff for refueling. I bought snowballs for breakfast. Mm, snowballs.

Jim started driving again. We were headed toward Gallup, NM. I remember Jim bobbing his head like he was falling asleep. It scared the heck out of me. I asked Jim what was going on with bobbing of his head. Jim replied speedometer is too low so he had to lower his head. Next time I woke up, we were in New Mexico. I took over at Gallup and drove to Pagosa Springs, CO. The drive was uneventful. We listened to XM radio and a CD of a comedian, whose name I cannot recall. We stopped at Shiprock, NM for a quick bite. Jim called it Sh!trock. I thought the town must not impressed Jim too much. We arrived at Pagosa about eleven. I was relieved as my right foot was starting to hurt.

We checked in at Highland Lodge Inn where we would stay for next three nights. It is the smallest cabin I have ever been in. There were areas for one bedroom, one very small bathroom, a kitchenette, and a living area. I would say this is going to be very cramped. Did I forget to mention there would be two more joining us that afternoon. Mitch and Gabe was about two hours behind us since they were leaving from Tucson. Mitch is Beth's brother and Gabe is a close friend of Mitch. After unloading, we decided to go grocery shopping and wait for the laggards. We hit Taco Hell, I mean Taco Bell, before shopping. You know, shopping hungry leads to frivolous items. We bought pizza rolls, taquitos, chips, salsa, and chocolate pie. All the nutritious stuff.

We came back to the cabin and watched a snow boarding instructional DVD. It was a little daunting to soak it all in. Beth and I were overwhelmed and a little freaked by it all. The worst part was getting off the lift. There will be people getting off the lift right after us. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Mitch and Gabe finally made it to the cabin. It was about three. We decided to forgo boarding. It would not be worth the half day lift ticket. We were talking about snowboarding and how excited and freaked out we were. Mitch and Gabe made fun of us the first time boarders. I think Mitch and Gabe freaked out Beth even more with how they were planning to spear people falling off the lift. GREAT!

We kicked back until dinner time. Some of us slept, watched tv, and/or snacked. We decided to go into town and get some Mexican food at Tequila's. It was cold outside. (Note to self: It gets cold when the sun goes down.) I ordered burrito verde, which was mediocre at best. Beth ordered a spicy chicken dinner, and let us know about it by keep mentioning it is spicy. I guess it was spicy. Mm, SPICY!

We came back and watched season ending episodes of "Arrested Development." A couple of us were very keen on watching "A.D." Jim in the mean time tried to start a fire. He was not successful. Poor Jim. I took over. It was harder than I thought. I used many sheets of newpaper and gently blew into fireplace. It took what seems like a couple of days, but I managed to get a fire going. We all went to sleep after watching tv still excited about the next day.