Playing in a Winter Wonderland

We are in the midst of another frigid, flurry-filled, Utah winter. We have been pounded by a seemingly endless stream of snow storms over the last month. These massive storms have already depleted many cities’ plowing budgets and left scores of Utahans very weary of the current season. While others dream longingly of the distant spring with each falling flake, Jas and I decided on a different cure for the winter blues-taking a little retreat.

I know the words “winter retreat” usually conjure up visions of warm sandy beaches and palm trees swaying in delicate breezes, but Jas and I had something else in mind. Our retreat was a bit like going from the frying pan into the ice box.

Milo thought dumping snow into my tube was oodles of fun!
Milo thought dumping snow into my tube was oodles of fun!

We decided to spend a weekend in Midway and Park City. We went tubing at Soldier’s Hollow accompanied by my brother Drew’s family and the Rowleys, who were visiting from New Jersey.

We rocked the tubes!
We rocked the tubes!

Most of the little kids in our group had a blast tubing, except for Jadon, my brother’s three year old. He refused to even sit in a tube and spent nearly the entire time taking a nap on his mom’s lap instead.

Jadon taking a snooze.
Jadon taking a snooze.

Although the weather that day turned out to be sunny, a rare occurrence as of late, as soon as the sun started going down the temperature dropped very quickly.

Silas was a happy tuber.
Silas was a happy tuber.

After tubing we headed up to Park city to eat and shop. We ate at a tiny Mexican restaurant called El Chubasco. The salsa bar there was delish! Then we found some good deals at the Tanger outlet stores. While we were in Park City the temperature plunged to a glacial -2 degrees. Man, I haven’t been that cold in a long time! But we warmed up nicely afterwards back at our Midway condo as we played hours and hours of geeky board games.

Geeking it up with some Dominion.
Geeking it up with some Dominion.

Despite the ridiculously cold weather, we had a lot of fun on our little break. I’m glad we got a chance to actually enjoy our heaping snow instead of just cursing it as we slip and slide through it on the roads.

After all, if you can’t beat the snow, you might as well jump in it!

Back to Boardom

I’m officially back in the game. With my doctor’s consent, I started running again last week and Monday Jas and I did our first snow boarding of the season.

Being active again after a 4 month hiatus feels unbelievably good and it’s given me the chance to test out my new and improved ankle. Wow! What a difference!

Yippee!!!!!!
Yippee!!!!!!

Ankle pain has been my constant companion for nearly a decade now. It has tainted all the activities I enjoy-though it certainly has never stopped me. The first time I went running last week, my first time doing weight-bearing exercise since my surgery, something seemed out of place-unnatural. It took me a bit to realize that it was the pain that was missing.

While my ankle is still achy and stiff, this is insignificant in comparison to the ever-present throbbing I had grown accustomed to. The most remarkable change for my ankle is how it now behaves after I have exercised. It used to hurt for days after I ran or boarded. For an active girl like me that pretty much meant I was in pain all the time. But now I don’t pay for exercising with days of persistent misery. Although my ankle is still healing and protests a bit when it’s getting a workout, once I’m done it feels relatively normal. It still seems so odd to me-being nearly pain free-odd and extraordinary! I didn’t realize just how much pain I had become acclimated to until it was gone.

Rowley and me enjoying the snow.
Rowley and me enjoying the sweet snow.

Now that I can be active again I am finally enjoying the fruits of my surgical misery. Now I can say it was worth it. It WAS worth it. So for any of you out there who are about to have this surgery, or have had it and are suffering through the unbelievable nuisance of crutches and boots, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! You’ll make it through and when you can go back to playing that sport you love-minus the pain-you’ll feel just as giddy as me. Hallelujah! My ankle is back!

Boats and Bikes

As the date of my surgery quickly approaches the long list of things I need to get done beforehand continues to grow. Although I could definitely keep myself busy with these endless tasks, I’m also trying to make sure I make time for some fun too.

Last weekend Jason and I squished in a lot of recreation! We went boating on Utah Lake with Cam, Fran, Jim, and Cindy. Cam and Fran bought a new boat and we were more than happy to let them show it off to us. Jas did a little wake boarding and I got to demonstrate my minimal knee boarding skills. Jas, Cam, and Jim took a couple spins on the tube together. Those three large men sandwiched together on one tube looked absolutely ridiculous, but they seemed to rather enjoy it (silly boys).

Oh the manliness!
Oh the manliness!

Although we were burnt (very burnt in my case), tired, and sore after boating we weren’t ready to stop. We played our usual Saturday soccer game and I couldn’t let the whole weekend go by without doing some mountain biking.

Jas is sooooooo tired!
Jas is sooooooo tired!

We decided to go up American Fork Canyon and bike from Tibble Fork Reservoir to Silver Lake. Aaron, our biking buddy, joined us. Those of you who have journeyed between these reservoirs know that the ride is a very steep one. We opted to go on the horse trail heading up to Silver Lake instead of taking the dirt road. This turned out to be a very bad idea. The dirt on the horse trail was extremely loose due to the equestrian traffic. This, combined with the steepness of the slope, made most of the trail impossible to travel on a bike. We ended up hiking-a-bike through the majority of it. The boys were a little disgruntled by what they termed a “Rachel trail”. So half way up we decided to abandon the trail and continue on the dirt road. The rest of the climb went much faster.

I wouldn’t recommend that horse trail to anyone riding a bike. The dirt road is a much better option. There’s not much traffic on it and personally I am always in favor of pedaling, rather than pushing, my bike up the mountain.

We took the Old Sheep trail coming back down. This single-track trail proved to be a lot of fun and worth the miserable uphill experience.

The Old Sheep Trail
The Old Sheep Trail

Aaron has become one of our regular biking companions. He’s tolerated the “Rachel trails” very well even though he has been riding the old Trek 800 I got for my 16th birthday. I think he probably got twice the workout we did dragging that heavy contraption up to Silver Lake. Way to go Aaron!

Jas is weak again?! At Scott's Pond on the backside of Sundance
Jas is weak again?! At Scott’s Pond on the backside of Sundance

Yesterday we were ready to hit the trails again for one final ride before surgery puts an end to my biking season. This time we went to Sundance Resort. It was awesome! Except for the part where we got lost on the wrong side of the mountain due to some poorly marked trails. That wasn’t so cool. But otherwise, it was a nice final day of riding for me.

Off the cliff!
Off the cliff!

I would recommend Sundance for those who like to do technical biking without the whole strenuous climbing up a mountain thing, since lifts take you and your bike to the top of the mountain, there is relatively little uphill biking required. It’s funny how many mountain bikers don’t actually like biking up mountains. I enjoy having to work for my downhill, but if you don’t, Sundance might be the perfect biking spot for you.