For spring break, we decided to go back in time and relive my youth by taking a road trip to Snow Mountain Ranch in Colorado. I have many fond memories of skiing at Winter Park and staying in the cabins at the Y camp. So we loaded up my parents minivan with xc skis, boots, snow gear, my parents, and headed west. After a night in a small motel in Nebraska, we awoke to a blizzard. There would be no getting over the pass outside of Denver and to our cabin in the mountains. We were lucky to make it to Denver. It was hours of white knuckle driving. With my mom getting antsier and antsier in the back of the van with Theo. He took it like a champ.
As we rolled (slowly) into Denver I used my phone to find a cheap hotel for the night. Jean piped up from the back about a restaurant we had stopped at back in the 80s. She remembered mexican food and cliff divers. In a restaurant. So I googled 'cliff diving restaurant' and sure enough it was still around, and just down the road! I checked out the website and saw that they had a whole afternoon of 'shows' for our enjoyment. If we stepped on it we could make it not just for a cliff diver, but for cliff diving GORILLAS. What? We stepped on it. Further scrutiny of the website showed that the 2pm cliff diving show had a little asterisk by it. I looked at the key to see what the asterisk could possibly denote and sure enough found out that on weekends, *Substitute pirates. What? There were substitute pirates? That so beats being a substitute teacher.
We didn't make it in time for the gorilla. We did see the substitute pirates, and I see why they are not the real ones.
But the cliff divers were young and brave and a little bit funny. And the faux tropic environment plus never ending basket of chips was just what we needed after driving through hours of swirling white.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Night Sledding
In early March my family headed back up to Dunord. This time for the board retreat. We brought along my parents as well. They got to play with Jon and the boys while I sat in a meeting. I felt my time at in the board meetings was meaningful and useful, but I also stared wistfully out the window at the freshly falling snow and was jealous of the rest of my family who had no agenda for the weekend but to play.
On our last evening, after a day long meeting and a nice dinner, I was ambling back to the cabin for perhaps a game of cards before heading to bed. But then Theo asked to go sledding. It was chilly, snowing, late, dark. But I said yes. We bundled into our outdoor gear and headed over to the hill. As we walked along in the deep dark, I thought we would last one run. But then we came over the ridge and saw a magical scene. The sledding hill was softly lit by strings of christmas lights. The snow was downright sparkling as it floated down on the scene. We grabbed some tubes and took off. Sledding in the dark adds a dimension that brings the experience to the next level. You couldn't really see the bumps and dips, but you felt them. I think my favorite part was when our tubes took us extra far, down around a corner toward the dark lake, out of reach of the twinkling light. As soon as our tubes came to a halt, Theo would be up and running back toward the light. And I was right behind him. Something about moving from light into darkness. Suddenly you thought you could hear wolves, see red eyes peering at you, some sort of benign evil (I know, contradiction) closed in on us out there on the dark end of the sled run and we made a dash for safety. It got the blood pressure up, but at the same time you knew you were really ok. Which is the best kind of thrill out there.
On our last evening, after a day long meeting and a nice dinner, I was ambling back to the cabin for perhaps a game of cards before heading to bed. But then Theo asked to go sledding. It was chilly, snowing, late, dark. But I said yes. We bundled into our outdoor gear and headed over to the hill. As we walked along in the deep dark, I thought we would last one run. But then we came over the ridge and saw a magical scene. The sledding hill was softly lit by strings of christmas lights. The snow was downright sparkling as it floated down on the scene. We grabbed some tubes and took off. Sledding in the dark adds a dimension that brings the experience to the next level. You couldn't really see the bumps and dips, but you felt them. I think my favorite part was when our tubes took us extra far, down around a corner toward the dark lake, out of reach of the twinkling light. As soon as our tubes came to a halt, Theo would be up and running back toward the light. And I was right behind him. Something about moving from light into darkness. Suddenly you thought you could hear wolves, see red eyes peering at you, some sort of benign evil (I know, contradiction) closed in on us out there on the dark end of the sled run and we made a dash for safety. It got the blood pressure up, but at the same time you knew you were really ok. Which is the best kind of thrill out there.
DuNord. With 14 boys.
Back in February we ventured up to DuNord in the middle of winter. Well, retrospectively, it was only really the beginning of winter, as winter stretched out all the way to May this year. But it was gorgeous there. The cities were quite brown and drab at that point but we arrived at our cabins to find pristine ski trails passing right outside our doors.
We had gathered a group of 8 families for this trek. It was some point before we left that this crew included 18 kids between the ages of 8 and 13. And 14 of those 18 were boys. Good luck girls. The crew got along famously- bouncing from skiing to trekking out to the middle of the lake, to cards in the loft, to sledding, to board games. And then they slept hard.
The skiing was downright perfect. Tons of snow, beautiful forests and lakes, and even pictographs! On the cold days the sun was so bright that at one point Eli proclaimed, "Man, if was any hotter, we'd be in trouble!" It was 6. Degrees. On the snowy days the temps were warm enough to lure us out into the woods were the silence and beauty was astonishing.
A highlight, beyond good company, was the late night sauna. Temps were in the single digits, the ski was full of stars, and the hole in the ice did look a lot like a watery grave. But after roasting in the sauna I did jump in. Surprised myself. While sitting in the sauna I put my odds of actually launching myself into the icy lake at 5%. But I did it. Once. Probably never again.
It is hard to believe that the stars will align so perfectly again- everyone healthy and available, the combo of sun and snow and perfect trail conditions, but we are hoping so.
We had gathered a group of 8 families for this trek. It was some point before we left that this crew included 18 kids between the ages of 8 and 13. And 14 of those 18 were boys. Good luck girls. The crew got along famously- bouncing from skiing to trekking out to the middle of the lake, to cards in the loft, to sledding, to board games. And then they slept hard.
The skiing was downright perfect. Tons of snow, beautiful forests and lakes, and even pictographs! On the cold days the sun was so bright that at one point Eli proclaimed, "Man, if was any hotter, we'd be in trouble!" It was 6. Degrees. On the snowy days the temps were warm enough to lure us out into the woods were the silence and beauty was astonishing.
A highlight, beyond good company, was the late night sauna. Temps were in the single digits, the ski was full of stars, and the hole in the ice did look a lot like a watery grave. But after roasting in the sauna I did jump in. Surprised myself. While sitting in the sauna I put my odds of actually launching myself into the icy lake at 5%. But I did it. Once. Probably never again.
It is hard to believe that the stars will align so perfectly again- everyone healthy and available, the combo of sun and snow and perfect trail conditions, but we are hoping so.
Avalon in the news!
This past year at my school we undertook a campaign we called ReadBrave. The entire high school read a book together- out loud, in small groups. The book, Everybody Sees the Ants, dealt with bullying. There were parts that were tough to read. And certainly,at my school, at any school, there were kids who could relate, and painfully so. We read, we talked, we laughed, and some of us cried. It was a good experience. Somehow we connected with Lady GaGa's Born Brave Foundation and the kids started making and recording Public Service Announcements in order to try to catch her attention and lure her to Avalon. It did not work as planned, but it did get us on several news channels and the word got out about these videos where kids were talking honestly about their experience in other places, and how they had a found a home at Avalon and could be themselves here. It was sweet and reaffirming. In the end, several students scored tours of Gaga's bus and front row tickets to her concert. One reports that the Lady herself passed by so near him he could have touched her. He will never be the same.
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