22 years. That’s how long it’s been since the last time I went snow skiing. It was 1985 and the youth group trip I was on with friends consisted of a 14 hour bus ride from Houston to Vail/Beaver Creek. It was the 2nd time I had been skiing and I loved it so much the first time I couldn’t wait to do it again, even if it did entail having to put up with a long road trip accompanied with smelly feet and over-enthusiastic youth counselors wanting to sing the Gilligan’s Island theme song every hour on the hour. Oh yeah, the Brady Bunch theme was mixed in there too….joy! Luckily for me, I was armed with my cassette tape walkman and warm gummy bears. It was a good thing at the time we were on a bus because we needed all the room we could get since everyone carried that extra piece of luggage – the briefcase sized cassette tape holders that housed one’s entire album collection which of course contained the likes of Van Halen and The J. Giles Band. In fact, there was a girl on the trip that I had my eyes on ever since my friend, who went to her school at the time, told me about her tendency to get quite friendly when she heard the Journey song, “Open Arms”. Needless to say, I had that tape fast forwarded to the beginning of that song in the hopes that when I reached my Jolt cola and gummy bear high, I would garner enough courage to go sit by her. Alas, that’s a story for another time.
Now as much fun as those 2 trips were back then I would have never thought it would have taken me this long to return to the slopes. This time I was bound for Aspen with family and friends and I had been looking forward to the trip for almost 2 months with reserved anticipation. Of course, it has been 22 years and time has a cruel sense of humor when it comes to bones, body, and muscles that aren’t used to doing certain types of things. Sure, everyone says it’s like riding a bike, but I was afraid this particular bike was going to be a unicycle!
I took a half day lesson the first day with Harwin, a laid back ski bum who probably attended the original Woodstock back in the day. He couldn’t have been nicer. Surprisingly enough, I was amazed at how much I did remember. Harwin pointed out that skiing has actually become easier to learn than it once was because of the many improvements in the design of snow skis. The shorter, rounder ski now gives the skier better balance and an easier ability to turn. He pointed out that because I had learned with the older skis, I had a tendency to use the old style “hockey stop” as opposed to letting the skis do the work by simply turning uphill until you stop. I appeased Harwin for my lesson but I continued to use my “hockey stop” style for the duration of the trip due to the “coolness” factor.
While I was getting my ski legs under me again and learning how I was going to tear up the mountain for the remainder of the trip, I learned later that day that during lunch one of my cousins who will remain nameless (cough...Preston...cough cough), was tearing up the mountain is his own unique way. Apparently, he decided to bring along a little friend to Colorado in the form of a nasty stomach virus that just happened to hit while his group was on top of the mountain having lunch. Ralph, I mean Preston , proceeded to ski down the mountain and head back to the house where he remained toiletside for the next 12 hours. The bar at the base of the mountain became our usual meeting place so we all met there at the end of the day for bloody marys while Preston lay in bed back at the casa learning from Oprah and Dr. Phil on how to conduct an intervention with a loved one – something that might actually come in handy during the trip with this crowd!
I pretty much spent the next couple of days skiing by myself and going at my own pace while gradually progressing to expert status (wink, wink) and I had a blast! Aspen tends to draw many celebrities and although I didn’t see any on this trip, a few of the ladies decided to take a day off from skiing to enjoy a celebrity home tour. Some of the homes they saw were those of Kevin Costner, Mr. Trump, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson to name a few. Considering it cost about $10 in Aspen just for a napkin, it didn’t surprise me to find out that some of the cottages were priced over the $100 million mark. I guess that means I can only afford 2….ha!
The nightlife in Aspen was interesting to say the least. The house we stayed at was just outside of town and since no one wanted to play designated driver you could have the shuttle come right to your door to take you the short drive into town. Once there, everything was only a few blocks apart so you could easily walk everywhere. We certainly left our mark at a few local watering holes and if it wasn’t for the fact that we didn’t want to be completely out of commission for the following day, we probably could have left a bigger mark. Thank goodness we had some semblance of moderation…yeah, right!
Unfortunately the stomach virus wasn’t through wreaking havoc on our group and 2 more people caught the illness before all was said and done. Luckily for me, I wasn’t one of them. A few Tylenol and a red bull and my minor illness was subdued and I was ready to tackle it all over again. St. Patrick’s Day welcomed the last day of skiing and also marked the time when I graduated to Johnny Miller skiing status. Short of running the downhill course and the half pipe, I was able to pretty much cover the entire part of the mountain with which I had yet to explore. In fact, I think I could have used 1 more day to feel completely satisfied with getting my fill of Snowmass, but I suppose I should save some for another time. After all, I don’t want to show off all of my secret skills in one skiing session. You gotta leave ‘em wanting more, right?
All in all, this was a trip filled with great company, good food, good drink and wonderful skiing! I don’t think I could have asked for a more fun filled time. And although the bus and the walkman was replaced by a private jet and a video ipod, one thing remained the same. I love skiing. I can safely say I don’t think I will wait another 22 years!
Thus, it was a nice break from the grind to be able to hang with the fellas as not one, but two annual traditions fell in the month of November this year. The first, NFL Weekend as we like to call it, brought us to Music City as Nashville was the venue for our latest party with the pigskin. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised with all that Nashville had to offer in the form of late night debauchery. 
Having lived in Austin for 3 1/2 years, I was fully familiar with all the fun that could be had in a good dive bar with some live music. What I wasn't accustomed to was that fact that I could literally wake up from a previous night of soul searching to some good tunes and a bottle of my favorite potion, have breakfast, and step back into said bar and it still be packed to the hilt and the sounds of a different band be playing before lunchtime. And EVERY bar along the block was the same way! It was amazing! When in Rome... 
Oh yeah, and there was a football game too. Tennessee (my dreaded ex-Oilers) were playing host to the Carolina Panthers who had the unfortunate non-luxury of having David "I still know what it's like to lay face first in the turf" Carr at the helm. Enough said. Tennessee 20 Carolina 7. 
The 2nd "guys" excursion occurred just last weekend when a couple of my friends joined my cousin's buddies for a hunting trip at my aunt and uncle's beautiful ranch in Junction. I wouldn't necessarily call it "roughing it" as the accommodations there are truly first class. Their newly acquired chef, Toby, fixed some outstanding meals and seeing as how he told me he has an invitation from an insider with Hell's Kitchen for an audition in February, Gordon Ramsey will have a top notch competitor should he make the show. 
In between lavish meals, poker bets, and drunken lies, there was a little hunting going on. Most would awake in the mornings/afternoons and be driven to blinds. However, on Saturday a group of us decided to go to a spot I have hunted before which allows for a little more relaxed atmosphere. It's a great spot atop of a cliff overlooking a large field with a feeder in the northeast corner approx 200 yards away. Once the feeder goes off, the shooting commences.
