Dogsled race and more skiing..

Friday night was the kickoff for the 2008 Wyoming International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog race so of course we ventured downtown to get our first look at dog sled racing. By the time we arrived the streets were already packed so we really weren't able to get a good look at the dog sleds but the atmosphere was a blast and we saw a ton of our friends....it seemed as if the whole town came out for the event....

Megan, Rachael, Simpson and me waiting for the race to start...

One of the dog sled racers taking off.

I wish you could see the cliffs we are standing below better but trust me when I say they are insane AND they are considered inbounds skiing. We are actually standing just below Corbets Couloir, which is considered the hardest inbounds ski run in North America. We of course did not feel like going to the hospital on Saturday so we decided not to actually ski Corbets and just went to the bottom of it to check it out....believe it or not, this was actually the first day that Megan, Rachael and I all got to ski together.

Megan and me atop Apres Vous before we headed down Saratoga Bowl for the first time.....a run that we probably should not have done...

Our friend John high atop Saratoga Bowl.....he is actually trying to help direct us around the cliffs...YIKES!!!

you know it is cold when....

You know it's cold when you get to the gas station and you can't release the gas hatch on your car because it is frozen shut. This is a fun predicament when you are already late for work and you coasted into the gas station on fumes....
How to fix it.......
1st attempt: pry it open with keys
2nd attempt: pry it open with the edge of an ice scraper
3rd attempt: go inside the gas station filled with about 15 construction workers and ask for help...proceed to get laughed at
3rd attempt: punch the center of the panel in an attempt to dislodge the ice buildup
4th attempt: use a credit card to break up the ice around the edges of the cover = success!

A New Definition of Cold

Have you ever heard of a school district canceling school because it is too cold??? The thought sounds ridiculous to me but that is exactly what happened today. I woke up to subzero temperatures (-10, -27 windshield) and to reports of school closings all around....They rarely ever close schools for incliment weather here but they do close if the temperatures in the morning are cold enough.....crazy!!
So to start of my day I had to get bundled up (baggy jeans today so I could put thermals 0n underneath) and walk to the bus stop to go to work...not only did I have to walk in the freezing cold but I got up to the bus stop just as the bus was pulling away which meant I had to stand outside for 12 minutes to wait for the next bus.....Awesome! my first time missing the bus is on the morning of -10 temperatures.
It's funny because earlier this winter I was hoping and wishing for sunny days because it just kept snowing every day and I missed the sunshine....now however I hate it when I see that it is going to be a sunny day because sunny days in the middle of winter here mean subzero temperatures so it ends up being a beautiful day outside but way to cold to do anything outside which is such a tease! Cloudy and snowy days here are usualy much much warmer, typically around 20-30 degrees which is super nice here.

"cold" and "freezing cold" now have new definitions for me!

SNOWSHOEING

This week Rachael and I packed our backpacks and loaded up my car to go snowshoeing in Grand Teton National Park. We haver never been before and we were excited to get outside and do something new and different all by ourselves. Since we were by ourselves we didn't exactly know where to go. We researched some trails and found a moderate difficulty trail that would supposedly take us to Phelps Lake inside the park. We unloaded and started on our journey but the trail we were on quickly disappeared and we were left we no clue as to which way to go to find the lake. Therefor we pretty much just ended up breaking trail and going whichever way we felt like it. We weren't worried about getting lost because we knew we could always just turn around and follow our tracks back. We never found the lake but we did have an amazing time on a beautiful blue sky day in some of the most spectacular wilderness I have ever been.

Being the Georgia girls that we are we of course stopped to make snow angels along the way. Press play below to see the video of me making a snowangel.



We had no trail to follow so we just wondered around on our own, hoping all along we wouldn't run right into a moose.Breaking trail

I decided to take my snowshoes off and see how deep the snow was at one place. This was one of the shallower area. It was amazing how the snowshoes let us just walk on top of the powder that we would have otherwise sunk down to our waste in.

HOLIDAY PICTURES

Long overdue but I finally got some pictures from the holidays. Megan, Justin, Trey and I were treated to a blue sky, powder day on Christmas Day! We could not have asked for better conditions on the mountain

The girls in the hotel room before going out for New Years Eve. Luckily through work we get $30 rooms at the economy hotel in the Village so we all chipped in and got 2 rooms for New Years Eve so we wouldn't have to make the 13 mile trip back to town. Plus we were already at the mountain to go skiing the next day.

Galen and me at the Mangy Moose for New Years

Rachael, Megan and me waiting for midnight.....if only we had Jenny with us the night would have been complete

CHRISTMAS IN JACKSON!!!!

Christmas Eve we were treated with one of the heavier snowfalls thus far. For dinner Megan, Justin and I went to the Cadillac Grill for dinner and took pictures at the arches in the town square.

We could not have asked for a better Christmas Day as we had blue skies and about 10inches of fresh powder. Justin fixed Megan, Trey and I breakfast before we headed to the mountain for a wonderful day of skiing and snowboarding.

Megan and me at the base of the Gondola

Justin and I riding the Gondola up the mountain on Christmas Day

Megan and Trey on the Gondola

Trip to Georgia!!!!

After only being gone for a couple months I was already so homesick that I decided to come home for a couple days before Christmas...of course it helped that I found a super cheap plane ticket out of Jackson. My first night home I went out in Athens and got to see everyone (except Cleve). I had an awesome time with everyone and I can't wait to come back to visit again.

Also, CONGRATS TO KIM ON TURNING PRO!! Now I'm definitely never going running with you. Check her out at www.kimdunker.com

The girls at transmet..

Heading out from transmet to the Chapel....

Michelle and me trying on clothes at the mall and being idiots!!!

lots and lots going on....

It's funny how during the off season I was really good about updating my blog but once the mountain opened my posts have dramatically descreased. Alot has been going on the past couple week so I'll try to keep it brief.
The week before Christmas I decided to fly home for a couple days. Only my mom knew I was coming so it was a ton of fun surprising Jeff, Tyler and Lexi. I flew in on a Wednesday and Casey picked me up at the airport and drove me straight to Athens where we ate dinner and went out with a bunch of friends. I was thrilled that everyone I wanted to see in Athens came out for the night (except CLeve)....even Fetty who was sick showed up for a bit. I love all of you guys and I had such a great time seeing you all!! Don't worry Shannon I will put up pictures once I find my camera cord!!

After spending the night in Athens Casey drove me back to Atlanta where I spent the rest of my trip mainly hanging out with my family and doing some (ok alot) of shopping. Casey and Michelle defintely win the best friend award. Casey not only picked me up from the airport but she also drove me all the way to Athens and then drove me home to Marietta the next day. Michelle drove down from Nashville Friday afternoon just to hang out with me for the night and then drove back to Nashville early Saturday morning....not many friends are willing to drive 4 hours each way just to hang out for a couple hours but I think it was worth it. I love that we can go months and months without seeing each other and then pick right back up where we left off last time we saw each other.

My trip was way too short and it would have been perfect had I not had to fly home on Christmas Eve......As I was packing to come home I was treated to an early Christmas gift when Jackie called me to tell me that she just got engaged to the guy I set her up with and asked me to be in her wedding...congrats again!!!!! I love you both!!!

Which brings me to Christmas......Christmas started off really hard because it was my first Christmas not with family and Rachael's flight got stuck in Denver so she wasn't going to make it back to Jackson and Jenny of course was still stuck in Atlanta awaiting knee surgery. Luckily Megan was still in Jackson and was my lifesaver (of course!). Megan and Justin let me tag along for dinner on Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day we opened presents together and Justin made us breakfast before spending the day on the slopes.....we were treated to a ton of fresh powder and blue skies on the mountain which was amazing!! It was one of my most enjoyable days on the mountain thus far.....

A couple days after Christmas I signed up for a free cross country skiing lesson through the JH Nordic Center. It was alot more difficult then I had imagined it being but I had an absolute blast. There was another couple in the lesson with me and they happened to be here on vacation from Atlanta and are Georgia grads. They took the pictures below and emailed them to me when they got home. I am signed up to take a women's skate skiing clinic next saturday and afterwards I will probably purchase either a cross country or skate skiing set-up.....since I can't really ride my bike outside this will hopefully serve as a nice subsititute....

I have alot more to write and a ton of pictures to post and will do so this week!!!
I love you all!!!

Christmas Tree time.....

Last week our friend Dave took me out into one of the National Forests to cut down a Christmas Tree for our house which we then decorated with the "12 Days of Christmas" ornaments the my grandma sent me.....don't laugh at our tree!! I know it's a little sparse but it is ours that we cut down and we love it! (thanks Rachael!!)

No More Skiing/Boarding on Sunday's for us...

Things here are starting to really pick up as the winter season is almost in full swing. There is an excitement in the air like I've never felt before and everyone is constantly looking towards the skies and watching the weather report hoping and praying for lots of snow. It snows pretty much everyday (although not a ton) and I have only been outside on one sunny/blue sky day in the past 3 weeks. Everyday more and more runs open on the mountain and hopefully soon the majority of the mountain will be open. I have been going snowboarding about 3-4 times a week and have started to see some slight improvements although the terrain here still takes my breath away.

Last Sunday Jenny fell on the cat track and had to be taken down on the snowmobile. She twisted her knee really bad and is most likely done for the whole season. She ended up flying back to Georgia last Thursday because her insurance is not good in Wyoming and she need to get an MRI. The doctor's think she completely tore her ACL (which means surgery) but we won't know the full extent of her injury until she gets the results of her MRI this Wednesday. We definitely miss her here in Jackson and Christmas won't be the same here without her but hopefully she will get to come home to us soon!

This past Sunday (yesterday) was my first day going up on Sublet which is one of the higher lifts on the mountain. It services a ton of runs but all the runs are blacks..... I had a deathgrip on the chairlift going up because looking down was so intense. I could not believe that people skied some of the terrain I was looking at much less that the mountain allowed people to ski it. It was Rachael and our friend Chapman going up and Chapman was going to take us on a "secret" run through some powder fields. We ended up on some black terrain that was super steep and narrow and we were constantly dodging trees and rocks. I didn't really turn much going down cause if I took a split second too long to turn I was going to nail a rock or tree and I didn't really feel like doing that. The powder was amazing up on this run ranging anywhere from knee to waist deep. Once we got down we decided to go back and do it again.....bad idea......Right near the top I hear Rachael screaming and look right behind me to see her completely wrapped around a tree. My first thought upon seeing her was "oh crap, the snowmobiles can't get in this area to get to her, how the hell are we going to get her off the mountain"....luckily though she ended up with just some massive bruising and muscle soreness in her leg and should be fine. Obviously she was hurting and scared to continue down so it took us forever to get her off the steep slope and back to the easy cat track. Luckily she wasn't hurt too bad and will be fine but we both decided that Sunday's aren't too good for us and that maybe we should stay clear of the slopes on sundays for awhile..... :)

LONG OVERDUE PICTURES OF MY NEW PLACE

I figured it's about time I posted some pictures of my new place...I've been telling people I would do it for a long time now....

My new bedroom....

The outside of our place....it's a townhouse and ours is on the end
(left side as you are looking at the picture)Our dining room

Our living room

Last Thursday after our first powder day of the season.....

Jackson Hole Opening Day & New Job

Saturday was opening day....finally!!! There wasn't many runs open yet (only 3) and the snow wasn't that great but it was still fun to finally be out on the mountain that I have been staring at for the past 6 weeks. I also started my 2nd job on saturday as a cocktail waitress at the local bar at the base of the mountain....we specialize in $6 pitchers of PBR for employees so as you can imagine it got pretty busy with all the locals. There's defintely places I could make better tips but I really enjoy working somewhere where all the locals come and I can hang out with my friends at work.

Tomorrow I group of us are going back over the pass to Grand Targhee to board....the snow conditions are the best there of anywhere in the US so it should be another great day on the slopes.

1st day on the slopes

With opening day just around the corner here in Jackson (Dec. 1st), a friend and me decided to get in some early runs at Grand Targhee which is about 1 hour from Jackson. Jackson Hole has a deal with Targhee that lets employees of each mountain ski free at both mountains which worked out great for us. Originally we had planned to go on Thanksgiving but since the mountain opened the day before we decided to wait a few days and hear how the conditions were. As it turns out Targhee has the best conditions anywhere for the time being....as quoted in online.....
"Grand Targhee Resort currently offers 1,500 acres of skiable terrain, more than any other resort in the US Rockies which includes Utah, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. Ranking second in skiable acreage is Grand Targhee’s neighbor to the North, Big Sky Resort, who opened with 854 acres and third place honors go to Copper Mountain in Colorado reporting 159 skiable acres in operation.
The snow wasn't amazing but for the time of the year and considering the lack of snow in Jackson and elsewhere it was pretty dang good....

Seeing as it was my first time on my new board and I hadn't even rode for over two years I was a little apprehensive about my first run...just my luck we ended up going down the blues from the very start (never touched a green)...I was surprised how quickly I picked it back up: I guess it is just like riding a bike....I was however still a little tense on the board which made me nervous to go too fast....I'll have to get over my new found fear of going fast quickly seeing as the terrain at jackson is much steeper and unforgiving....We are planning on going back to Targhee on Thursday then partaking in the opening weekend festivities at Jackson this weekend.....

BRING ON THE SNOW!!!!

Me and me new board sitting at the top of my first black diamond of the year (yeah, it took me awhile to get down it but but I didn't fall)....the Grand is the tallest peak you see behind me and is what I plan on climbing this summer.

Another view of the Grand Tetons (the Grand is the tallest one again)

Me at the observation deck at the top of the mountain....

On another note........Megan and Jenny went to Targhee the day after I did to teach Jenny to ski..I think she had a rough first day, but she's super athletic so she'll be flying down the blues and blacks in no time!

Megan's Birthday and Hot Tub!!!

Megan turned the big 26 on Friday and Rachael is turning 25 on Tuesday so we decided to do one cake and one dinnner out on Sunday.......We went to the sushi restaurant in town so of course I didn't eat anything (I will note for the record though that I DID try sushi this year....just didn't care for it).....after dinner we went back to the house and had funfetti cake.....I'd like to say that there is cake left, but no....the 4 of us managed to finish the whole thing in less then 24 hours.

Goofing off for the camera before heading out to dinner.

Below is a picture of the house where Megan has been dog sitting (a.k.a. The Mansion) and thus we have taken full advantage of their hot tub, cable TV, and massive kitchen.....

Sunrise in Jackson as seen from The Mansion

Hanging out in the hot tub....

Thanksgiving #2

My roommates and I kicked off Thanksgiving my going out the night before....we ended up goofing off at our house for hours before heading out....since we have no cable we have to think of creative ways to entertain ourselfs....the entertainment choice of the night consisted of sitting on our kitchen cabinets talking for 1 1/2 hour because we have no chairs to sit in and then trying on our skis/snowboard set-ups.....atleast we didn't put our ski outfits on as well....
After we got bored of entertaining ourselves at home we headed out to Cuttie's for the weekly Whiskey Wendesday......It is defintely almost ski season time because the place was packed for once...I guess the rest of the seasonal staffing has arrived
(Me, Robbie, Jenny, and Rachael at Cutties)

After our fun night out we got up early Thursday morning to prepare for our second Thanksgiving dinner of the week....Our first stop of the day was to our friend Robbie's house where we hung out most of the day with a bunch of our southern friends.
(The girls at Robbie's house)
Joseph preparing the goose that he shot earlier in the morning....
(the whole group at Robbie's.....for once there are more girls then guys)
The view outside Robbie'sAs much as we wanted to stay at Robbie's and eat the AMAZING looking food we had already made prior plans to go to our bosses house for Thanksgiving dinner and celebrate with a bunch of people from work. Amy (our boss) had volunteered to make the entire meal which is a huge undertaking....

One thing that I found really amusing was the difference between the two meals we experiences. As I said, our first stop of the day was with our southern friends and the Thanksgiving menu consisted of: fried turkey, goose (that was shot thanksgiving morning and gutted on the porch while the Turkey's were frying), a variety of casseroles that were made with no less then a pound of butter each, a keg of beer, garlic mashed pototoes (again with a pound of butter), stuffing, gravy, and whiskey.......In contrast, our second stop of the day was with mainly northerners and the meal was prepared by a true northerner. The menu there consisted of: baked turkey, steamed broccoli, steamed asparagus, mashed pototoes (no butter), and wine....
hmmmmm....notice a difference in the way the southerners eat???

Regardless of how fattening or healthy the meal was, Megan and I still passed out within 20 minutes of eating.....we were such party poopers!!!!!


After Megan and I slept for an hour we finally arose and decided to head out. Luckily Megan was house sitting at the "Mansion", which is a huge house in the Village that Megan frequently house sits for. Therefore we all decided to spend the night there and enjoy the huge outdoor hot tub the Mansion has.

(Getting ready to run outside to get into the hot tub.....did I mention it was about 14 degrees outside??)
After the hot tub we all put on the plush terry robes the Mansion has and settled in to watch some cable TV...it's amazing how much more we appreciate cable now that we are too broke to have it at our house. ...didn't matter much though because we were all in bed by 9pm...

Megan's birthday was the day after Thanksgiving....Here's a preview of the pictures from her birthday!!