From the CEO
Vermont Ski Trip 2010 (Part 1)
We are brown, yellow, black, and white. One of the things you notice first when you travel with Bonnie Brae. They are dressed in expensive designer ski wear. We are wearing the least expensive of ski clothes. We have stumbled into a slope side restaurant for lunch. We had been seeking our ski house and decided to grab lunch first. When you travel with teenagers, food is always a priority. The snow and roads have quickly turned treacherous. This is a restaurant for people who own ski in/ski out condos at the end of a long and steep gravel road. To my surprise and gratitude the waitress immediately makes us all feel welcome. Surprised eyes quickly return to fruit salads, club sandwiches and other equally healthy food. We are all about burgers and fries. We are on our best behavior!
On the long road to Vermont my traveling companion bemoans the lack of new snow and my choice of country music. Where is all the snow? His concerns are quickly allayed by the fifty-nine inches of snow that will fall by the end of the week. We are eleven: six Bonnie Brae residents and five staff. Only two of us have any skiing or snowboarding experience, but we are all determined to learn. We always leave early -. preferably before dawn. A gift from my working class parents who made small vacations seem larger by leaving early in the dark. For this much anticipated trip the boys are already up and waiting in the van when I arrive on campus. One can literally sense the excitement. We are off on an adventure!
We try to eat local. Avoid fast-food chains. Another of my dinosaur days’ values. Of course we stop for breakfast on the New York State Thruway. Burger King and Dunkin Donuts are our only choices. So much for eating locally. The boys quickly remind me of my eating locally speech. However, this is the last time on this trip that we will eat in a chain restaurant. Thank you Vermont!
Travel is education. I turn off the rap radio. Point out the passing historical sites. Ask geography questions. Some are interested. Some are not. After lunch we set out again to find our house. Success! However, with snowy roads and ice beneath the snow we cannot quite reach the house. Our faithful vans get us to a few blocks from the house. We back down the mountain into deserted driveways and dead end streets. We unload our gear and march through the falling snow. We are not your typical Vermont visitors. Which is precisely the point. Our mission on this trip is to expose our group to a very different experience, a world removed from their usual routines. Given the magnitude of the snowfall, the sheer beauty of the surrounding green mountains, we have accomplished our mission before we even have our first snowboarding lesson.
Reaching the house everyone is eager to help. A fire is quickly started in the wood stove. Snow continues to fall in massive quantities. A skier’s delight! Makes me nervous about roads and provisions. Suitcases are unloaded. Beds are chosen and made. Paths are shoveled. Soon we head back down the mountain for supplies and pizza. The boys play in the deep snow. Shoveled paths are covered again. The boys are in a joyful mood.
Waking the next morning to the sound of wind in the trees and a new blanket of snow we head for the mountain for our first lesson. The staff at Killington are very patient and soon we are all out on the beginner slope. The staff fall. The boys fall. We pick ourselves up. We fall again. Everyone is happy. There are no quitters. After only two successful turns, one of the guys tells me that he is ready for the black diamond run.
More next month . . . .