Haha, yeah right...! Austin took me snowboarding for Valentine's day!!! I have never been so excited to see snow in my life!! I've been so bummed out because we finally decided to go up to Alpine Valley so he could teach me, and then all the snow melted and it was like 50 degrees all week... we had totally made other plans for the day and everything... then I woke up, and everything was WHITE!! I was soooooo excited!! We packed a lunch and headed out. Alpine's only about a 40 minute drive from my house, so it really was great and we were there for the whole afternoon and a good part of the evening.Austin was so patient with me, I was so impressed! He got an all access pass, so he still got to do some real snowboarding during the times I
needed a break from falling (which I did way more of than snowboarding...) but I went down that bunny hill over, and over, and over, and over... I fell a whole lot, but had soooo much fun...! My best run was actually my very last one, where I was finally starting to get the hang of it (kind of) when I fell way too hard on my poor tailbone, which had broken about as many falls as it could handle (see? being skinny DEFINITELY has it's disadvantages - no padding!!!) Actually, I went down so hard on my last run that I wasn't convinced until this morning that I hadn't fractured something... it was pretty bad... I felt so bad because there I was lying in the snow bawling my eyes out and poor Austin's sitting there with me probably trying to figure out whether he was gonna have to carry me back to the car or not...In the end, I think I at least did far better than he expected of me on my first day out, and I felt pretty good about it (minus the pain), and I can't wait to go again! He said when I graduate from the bunny hill we'll take a trip out west to the real powder... I think maybe I should have started there, may not have hurt so much! ;o)
I bought a pair of Oakley goggles (like Austin!) coz the ski shop has everything 50% off one day only for Valentine's day... I thought that was a pretty good indicator that I actually do want to learn how to do this, not just go once and say "ok I tried"... I had sooooo much fun, I just wish it were a little cheaper to go! It was $80 for the two of us (one bunny hill, one all access, one snowboard & boot rental) which I have no idea how that compares to other places, and I'm sure it's pretty reasonable, but on our budgets, it's a real treat... we'll be super lucky if the snow lasts til next pay and we decide to splurge two months in a row...! I'd hate to only get one day of learning in before next winter, but we'll see how things go!I made Austin take a few photos of me, they're up here: http://imageevent.com/snugglebear83/rachellearnstosnowboard
He also took this most amazing video (I can't believe he actually continued filming while snowboarding down to meet me after I kept falling... had I tried that, I would have for sure ended up in the ER!)
Now compare skill levels... here's Austin:
But you don't make snowboarding look fun at all. Actually, you look like you are having fun, but it looks really challenging.
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