Breakin' The Law, Breakin' The Law
My buddy Rich sent me an email reminding me that I used to get in trouble for playing video games, which I didn't remember. The school had strict rules against playing video games, but I took them as more of a suggestion.
After having three kids in the back of a compact car for 3 hours, I called my dad to apologize for all those years of fighting with my sisters in the back seat. While I was relating our adventure to my father, I mentioned that I skiied with RJ, then later with the girls. My dad asked, "What'd you do in the middle? play Video Games?"
Uh-what? So my dad refreshed my memory on all the details. I remember playing Pole Position, but it was pretty much hidden in the basement of the ski lodge, I only played on breaks from skiing, and rarely played more than one game. I was getting in plenty of runs on the mountain, so I didn't see anything wrong with it.
Rich thinks I got busted playing Dragon's Lair, which in 1984 everyone wanted to play. At VV/GG, the game was right out in the middle of the food court so it was impossible to hide while playing. I seem to remember the game cost $1 to play. My dad says it was raining the day I got busted. Rich seems to remember Mr. Taylor (one of our teachers) jumping off the bus and he was so agitated that it freaked my mom out, she thought something happened to me and couldn't believe all the fuss was over a video game.
Apparently, Mr. Taylor was still harboring a grudge the next day because my sister overheard him telling any teacher that would listen about how I had defied him. My dad went to the school and had a little chat with Mr. Taylor...
Labels: Dragon's Lair, Great Gorge, ski, skiing, vernon valley
Call Of The Wild
When I was in 4th Grade, the Principal of my school had an information session for people who wanted to learn to ski. Now, imagine you're that age and watching a movie set in the biggest, most beautiful mountains you've ever seen. There seemed to be just 3 colors, Blue Skies, White Snow, and Black rocks. The skiers were flying down the mountain, jumping off huge cliffs and landing in deep powder (sometimes with a twist or a flip thrown in). SIGN ME UP!
I'm guessing now that it was a
Warren Miller film, but at the time it stoked my imagination and probably was the catalyst for my love of Skiing, kayaking, climbing, and ultracycling, so-called "extreme sports" (at least they were back then).
Vernon Valley was a bit of a let down after the movie. The bunny slope had about 5 feet of rise and used a tow rope to get to the other end. I think I went skiing 10 times that year and took lessons each time. We'd leave school in a smelly diesel school bus, and chug up to Vernon Valley, take a lesson, then stop for dinner, and then back out to ski under the lights and snow guns. Dinner was like the scene from The Breakfast Club, where Emilio Estevez pulls out the grocery bag and starts unloading the food for his lunch. Sandwich after Sandwich, huge bag of potato chips, soda, cookies, and then a piece of fruit. My parents must have gone broke feeding me during ski trips. When I got to the point where I could parallel ski, I wasn't happy unless I was taking the fastest line down the mountain and if I didn't fall once in awhile I wasn't going fast enough. I used to think there was nothing like getting your bell rung at top speed. Nobody was wearing helmets.
I took Q for her first ski lesson on Wednesday at Ski Liberty in PA. She was amazing. They use a conveyor belt now instead of a tow rope and she was able to go much faster than I ever was when I was learning. Since we went mid-week in the early season, Q was the only one there, so she got a private lesson. She's got the snow plow down, and she can turn, but she can't link turns yet. In the second half of her lesson, the instructor lead her over to the chairlift and I got real emotional. My baby was going on the chairlift for the first time.
The instructor said she was "the most athletic 5 yo he's ever taught." After her lesson, I supervised her for about an hour, then she called it quits for the day. She was starving, very tired, and hooked.
Nearly everyone on the mountain and around the lodge was wearing a helmet, from the little kids to the greybeards.
Labels: ski, ski liberty, vernon valley, Warren Miller
