Sunday, January 25, 2009

My week of Inauguration...

Below are a few pictures from my week during Inauguration. Some of you know I am slightly terrified of insanely large crowds. Since I live in the District, I decided I did not want to fight the crowded metro, lack of parking, and just mass of people in general that was inevitable during Obama's swearing in...

SO, I headed out of town to Somerset, Pennsylvania to go skiing for the week at Seven Springs resort. I was a little hesitant about skiing on the east coast since mountains in Washington state are larger and filled with more powder than on the east coast. However, the week we headed out it snowed almost the entire week in Somerset. There was a ton of snow on the mountain and it just kept coming. Monday was insane because it was MLK day and the crowds were somewhat large on the mountain that day too. Because it was the first time in about 5 years I have snowboarded it took some time for me to get comfortable with being on the board again. I did fall pretty hard half way through the day and bruised my tail bone, but overall it was a fun day.

We headed back out to the mountain on Wednesday and it was amazing. Empty and lots of powder. As the day wore on it got a bit icier and my muscles started to protest, so after a good long go on the mountain we called it quits. For an east coast mountain it wasn't bad. There was an abundance of trails, a lot of trees and powdery areas, and a fairly huge backside of skiing. Probably about 10% of people there were snowboarders and I am more familiar with being surrounded by fellow boarders, so I did feel a little in the minority, but overall it was fun. I would go again...

I have to add that the weather hit a high of 13 degrees while we were in PA. The lows with the wind were in the negatives. It felt even worse on the ski lifts on the mountain. When we got back to Maryland with a high of 34, it felt downright balmy...

Below are a few pictures from the trip. Enjoy and until next time...

Well, the first one is of Maggie, but she looked so cute with her ripped up tennis ball. The lake is outside of Hagerstown, Maryland. We stopped for a leg breather on the way to PA, and this place looked like a fun place to wander around.

Testing the ice on the lake. It was pretty thick, but I don't think it was ice skating worthy...

The drive from where we were staying (Somerset, PA) to Seven Springs Ski Resort. Some of the roads were pretty icy and very heavily packed with snow. A beautiful drive.

The bottom of the slopes. The lodge is to my back. The second shot is at the top of one of the runs. The snow blowing in the background is actually a snow machine... first time I have ever experienced that.

Getting ready to head down the mountain for the first time in ages. And him at the lake with coffee in hand.

Outside the lodge at the top of the mountain, and another shot on the drive out to the ski area.

Icicles hanging from our hotel ledge... very sharp. (Not ice cycles)

More icicles and a bush near the hotel that was iced over and frozen to itself.

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