Skiing in New Hampshire!

This past weekend Radu organized a ski trip to New Hampshire to stay at his US "parents" Bed & Breakfast, The Woodstock Inn. Kelly and Radu came up from Orlando, and a group of 10 of us came in from Baltimore (me, Kevin, Karen, Karen's friend Corinne, Eric, Pete, James, Darryl, Michael & Caitlin). We flew in to Manchester, NH early on Friday morning and headed up to the Inn to check in and rent gear. We decided to ski at Loon Mountain, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Friday afternoon since it was the closest and they had an afternoon ski rate. Loon was pretty good. A good amount of blue and green trails for me to ski on, but not a lot of variety for Kevin, who prefers the harder trails. It was a rocky start since I haven't skied since 2006! The first run was tough, falling a few times, but I got the hang of it again over the course of the day (and after a few more falls!). I also got to see for the first time snow actually being MADE! This was a new phenomenon for me. They get plenty of regular snow fall here, but they still make snow. That's so weird that I had to take a picture of it. It was a good first day. After skiing we all headed to the brewery for beers and dinner. I enjoyed the brown ale while Kevin sampled the pale ale and we both had burgers. After dinner the group hung out at Radu's place for a while until we all got real tired and decided to call it a night.

Saturday we were up early to grab breakfast and drive out to Cannon Mountain for the day. This place was about a half hour drive from where we were staying and in the Franconia Notch State Park. This mountain was a little more challenging since most of the runs from the top of the mountain were black diamonds, not something I would ski on! Corinne and I stuck with the easier trails near the bottom of the mountain and Kevin tagged along for a bit too, but I know he was bored with the "kiddie" runs we were doing. Just before lunch I decided to go with Kevin and Radu to the summit and take one of the few blue trails down to the base. The pic on the right is at the summit...it was cold! I took off by myself and took a long time to get to the bottom to meet the group for lunch. I was the last to arrive :( Oh well, I managed to get down to the bottom on my own, even though it was rough going on the top! I took it easy during the afternoon and rested every now and then to warm up and have some hot cocoa! Saturday night led to more beers and dinner at the Inn.

Sunday proved too treacherous for most of us as our short walk to breakfast proved it was way too cold outside! A small group did end up going skiing again at Loon but most of us just hung out for the day recovering. Besides, we were really tired and sore from the two previous days. I figure two days out was good for not having skied in so long. The next ski trip should be easier!