Last weekend, Nick and I spent a gorgeous weekend with our friends, Tom and Vanessa, at a condo located at the base of a beautiful Hunter Mountain. A skiing mountain was the perfect backdrop for a restful weekend with friends. A lot of talking, laughter, good food, lots of alcohol, and nature’s restorative energy embraced our time in New York.

Tom and Vanessa live in New Jersey and this was the perfect midway point for all of us. Nick and I were Hunter-bound by Friday evening and got stuck in city traffic. The elevation messed with our heads a bit, but that didn’t stop us from getting there, ready to relax.

The no-skiiing rule was put into effect rather quickly as Nick retold his skiiing stories of when he ventured this sport two years ago with his brother Keith. If you’re surprised that Nick is not a good skiier, that means you haven’t heard his skiiing stories. When a skiier has no ability to shift to the left, this poses signficant navigation problems. This happened to be Nick’s problem. As he tells it, his fear of runing over the children at the bottom of the hill forced him to “slide like it’s second base.”

Ineffective theory for skiers.

I hardly have room to talk. To prove my ultimate badass coolness, I joined the Ski Club in highschool. In retrospect, why in the world would I join the Ski Club when I have never skiied before? To make a 6 week story short, just know that falling off the ski lift, almost having my legs amputated from frost bite, and crying while face down in the snow is not my idea of a good time.

I also tried cross country skiiing about 6 years ago. Yeahhhh, that didn’t turn out so well either. That adventure resulted in me taking OFF my skis and WALKING the rest of the journey with my friends cajoling me the entire way home.

Regardless of our inept skiiing skills, we had a tremendously wonderful time at Hunter Mountain. We owe a million thanks to Tom and Vanessa for their generosity, friendship, and warmth. When’s our next visit?