Yesterday was our first day with our bikes. Now, it’s probably been a good 14-15 years since I’ve tried to seriously ride one of these death machines. Yes, death machines. Who ever came up with the expression ‘it’s just like riding a bike’ in reference to remembering how to do something was a big fat liar. I had to completely relearn how to ride. Thankfully, I have had a good two decades to sharpen my mental and physical learning abilities so I picked it back up after a small learning curve. But after figuring out how to move and control the blasted contraption it wasn't too long before I figure out just how out of shape I really am. The vain thin woman hidden deep inside of me thought I could handle this no problem. I’ve been to spinning class before; I know how to peddle standing up. Yeah… not so much. When I wasn’t about to fall off the curb or slam into a railing, I had to stop to catch my breath. This wasn’t such a big deal though since I was heading over to the hospital to take Scott his badge. One of the all time best things about having limited sunlight is getting to see spectacular sunrises at 8:30am.
That is one commute I look forwarding to making every day.
After Scott got off work we went to meet up with one of his coworkers at a great restaurant for a little food and drink. While hanging out and chatting he ended up inviting us to go hiking with him and some friends today. Half the group was hiking and half the group was skiing. Allow me to take this moment to explain skiing here. Here’s how it works:
1. Pick a mountain to climb (this was our choice) ----->
2. Strap your skis on you backpack
3. Climb mountain to the very top,
blazing your own trail in knee deep snow
4. Ski back down to tree line
Oh Toto, we’re not in Ar-Kansas anymore. Everything I thought I knew about hiking was basically tossed out the window. These people are hard core. We went virtually straight up the mountain (since it’s the fastest way, of course). The Alaskan group we were with never broke stride. Every now and then they would stop at a scenic over look and 20 minutes later (der-da-der) Scott and I came huffing and puffing our way up. When we got past the tree line and into the snow, the vain thin woman hidden deep inside of me again realized with much chagrin, just how out of shape we really are. I found it very ironic that we were hiking to the top of Picnic Rock/ Mt. Verstovia and it was by no means a picnic.<---(part of our "trail")
For those of you have never hiked up the side of a mountain in knee deep snow, let’s just say it’s challenging at best. At one point I may or may not have (but most certainly did) say we should give up, that I could see the top, but I felt pretty good about how far we had come. What a quitter. Thankfully Scott rooted me on and we made it to summit. Totally worth it. We had hiked sea level up to 2,550 feet. (part of our snow "trail")--->
There are a couple of pictures where you can’t see my hands because they are inside my coat under my arm pits. It was pretty danged cold up there but the view was magnificent. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. It didn’t feel like something you could see in the United States. It felt more like something out of a Swiss vacation pamphlet.
We hung out at the top and ate lunch and watched some of the skiers/ snow boarders head down then decided to head back down with a smaller group. The hike back down was infinitely better except for the lovely ‘jello leg’ feeling. I have the ominous sense that I won’t be able to get out of bed in the morning. All in all though, it’s been a fantastic couple of days. Tonight we’re heading over to eat dinner with some of the people we hiked with today. Everyone here is so genuinely friendly; I think it could rival the south.
(A great bay to see tons of whales in March)--->
Love to you all,
S/A
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