2010-02-25

Loss of Snowboarding Virginity, Take 2:









One thing that is spectacular about working for a family-owned business: They understand that sometimes a girl needs a day off to go snowboarding. They will do what they can to make that happen, before she loses her mind out of boredom and lack of excitement in the cruel world that is February in New England.
So, to my boss at Cornerstone, I love you. For multiple reasons, but also including the fact that I was able to take this Thursday off on rather short notice to go snowboarding with my good old friend from high school, Melissa.

It had been at least ten years since the last time I went. I wasn't an avid boarder by any means, but during the short time in high school where I was able to go a few times, I loved every second of it...from the very first time falling the whole way down the mountain...it took about two hours to get to the bottom and I'm surprised to this day that I didn't pee myself or die of acute frostbite on the way. To this day falling down that mountain with my friend Jess is one of my most dear high school memories.
It was very fitting that today, after a decade-long break, I ended up at the same place I lost my snowboarding virginity: Mt. Sunapee, New Hampshire.

I was a bit worried, praying to the gods that boarding would be sort of like riding a bike...awkward for a little bit if you haven't done it in a while but the kind of thing that comes back in a flash.
Aside from a rather embarrassing incident in which I took great care lacing up my boots all tight and nice, only to realize I hadn't put my snow pants on first, everything went wonderfully. I didn't fall getting on the lift, fell only once getting off it. Was able to get down the mountain in good time, with my feet strapped to a board at relatively high speeds. So, in conclusion, despite a ten year hiatus,
SNOWBOARDING SUCCESS!

The one important thing I suck at is riding toeside, which leaves me heading down the mountain face-on when I need to slow down...which really, REALLY hurts your quads, as it turns out. Weirdly enough, it's more comfortable for me to suddenly switch to goofy than kick into toeside function...this needs to be worked on. My poor flabby quads were screaming bloody murder after a few runs down. Luckily on a weekday there weren't too many people around to see me sitting in a snowbank screaming "EEERUUUUUGHH!!!@$*%!" and such...

Either way, it was lovely. On the way home we were desperate for snacks and followed a Citgo sign off the highway, only to end up deceived and lost in a random NH industrial park. We followed it through, and BEHOLD, A WALMART!!!
I was beginning to dream of fried chicken when we pulled to the front and my hopes were dashed...we had arrived at "ICENTER"...which is not the one you want when you're hungry and have already been dealing with snow, ice and rain all day. Thankfully, in the opposite direction we found a Tedeschi's with the snacks we needed. Only I dropped my entire cigarette tin in the parking lot...in the pouring rain.
But we are intelligent people with innovative ideas. Why buy a pack when you can dry yours out in the heating vent of a car? Crisis averted. And then I realized I probably could have bought a pack for less than half of what one costs in Massachusetts at that same Tedeschi's.
In the end, the memory of those nasty wet cigarettes pinched in the heating vent is worth more than the money I would have saved on out of state cigarettes.

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