Blizzard, Sort of

Saturday we went skiing with our lovely friends, Aaron and Cacey Klein, at the Donner Ski Ranch in Tahoe. Upon arriving at the Donner Ski Ranch, I had a flashback to when I was a young pupil, studying California history. Ahhhh . . . the ghostly, morbid story of the Donner Party. "So, this is where it all happened," I thought, gazing at the silent, snow covered mountains around me.

Kevin and I swished down one of the slopes (well, he swished and I plowed) and stopped halfway down to take in the scenery. We paused to enjoy a few moments of conversation. We reflected on the patchy snow. Much of it was freshly-fallen powder and some of it was pretty icy.

A: I love the virgin snow!
K: It’s more like a "J Lo. Virgin" snow, I think.
A: Ha!
(pause)
A: You look cute in your beanie hat.
K: (a look of astonishment and offense crept on his face) What do you mean "BEANIE" hat?

Suddenly Amy had a face full of snow.

A: I don’t think my "beanie hat" comment deserved that!
K: You’re right. I’m sorry. (And he did seem quite remorseful.)

But, despite Kevin’s remorseful look, a full blown snow fight soon erupted.
. . .

We forgot our sunglasses, if you can believe it. We thought about buying sunglasses at the lodge, but they were $50 a piece! So we decided to suffer it out. And, it was okay in the end because pretty much the whole day was overcast.

Well, it was okay until a BLIZZARD swept through the mountainside. (Kevin, upon reading this blog, will roll his eyes at me calling the weather a blizzard. You see, he is from Indiana and has actually experienced blizzards. Whereas, I have not. But, in all seriousness, this was the closest thing to a blizzard I have ever experienced - if you don’t count the thing you order at DQ.) I couldn’t see anything because snow and ice was flying in my face and eyes. I remember being separated from Kevin for a few runs because he wanted to try some more difficult slopes. I remember getting off the lift at the very top of the mountain, looking around me, not being able to see anything because visibility was, like, zero. I stood there for a few long moments. The wind was ferocious and threatened to knock me into the ground. Then, through the swirling snow, I made out this big white smile and a little beanie cap! It was my Kevin. My hero. His face was such a wonderful sight! He came to me. Covered my face from the snow. Gave me his gloves (they were warmer than mine) and waited with me until the worst of the blizzard had passed. What a wonderful man. Sigh . . . I just love him.

I’m glad we waited out the storm. Because, after about 15 minutes or so, the blizzard passed, most of the crowd had left, and we were able to really enjoy the rest of the day.

In the end, I had a much better appreciation of what the Donner party went through. Yikes. In fact, it almost felt sacrilegious for me to have fun skiing the day away when they suffered so miserably on the same mountainside.

We ended our adventure at the Klein home in Colfax. Cacey made some delicious soup to fill and warm our bellies. We enjoyed our time with them. It was fun to reminisce about old days, mutual friends in Oak Brook, and swap love and marriage stories.