Friday SuperSweetCo took the company up to Mount Hood Meadows for a ski/team-building day. We had to get downtown to the office by 7:20am to get on the bus, aiming for a 7:30am departure time. Thankfully, Kelly was able to drive me in and we left the house pretty much as planned to get to the bus on time, but about a quarter of the way in I realized I'd left my phone on the dresser so we had to turn around and rush back home. I was going to need it for this weekend, so it wasn't an option to leave it. Fortunately, while I was late, I wasn't holding the bus up, as others were still filing in as I got there. Whew!
The bus departed at about 7:40am and shortly thereafter, out came the beers and booze, and while I just sipped my coffee, the ride was a fun one. We also got to watch one of my favorite movies on the way up. On Thursday, one of my managers had asked me what would be a good movie to watch on the bus's entertainment system. I said "well, if you're going skiing, you've gotta watch Better Off Dead", a classic 80's movie starring John Cusack. My manager replied "Oh man, do you have that on DVD? Bring it!" It was a hit on the bus… many people hadn't seen that film in years, and some had never seen it before.
We arrived at the mountain at about 9:45am, rushed to our private room (the Finish Line) in the North Lodge to drop our stuff off, and then run down to the rental area to pick up our rental gear and head out for whatever lessons we'd signed up for. SuperSweetCo was covering the rentals and lessons, so I decided (with a little push from Kelly, heh) to try my hand at snowboarding. I got my gear on and head outside to begin my lessons. The instructor was very friendly and patient (a 58 year old man who started snowboarding when he was 40), and I was able to pick certain things quickly (turns), and other things slowly (stopping without falling). I fell a few times, once fairly hard, but I kept at it. After about an hour we took the lift up the 'bunny slope' and practiced all the things we were taught (turning, stopping, 'falling leaf') and by the end of the lesson I was starting to get the hang of it, but I was getting exhausted. Having to stand with knees half-bent for 2 hours was giving me wobbly legs, so by the time the lesson ended I was done, and it was time for lunch.
I got up to the room at about 12:30pm, met up with Ghost Dog (who took the day off to ski and was invited to hang out with us), ate a bit of food and sipped on a beer. I was feeling totally spent, so I didn't go back out. Instead I relaxed and chatted with other coworkers who were spending the afternoon hanging out. Around 2:00pm we found out that one of our crew had smashed into a tree and broken his arm in three places (yikes!) but despite everything he seemed to be doing OK. Some of my coworkers played 'speed quarters' up until they all had to file on the bus at 4:00pm to get back to Portland.
This wasn't the end for me however, Ghost Dog gave me a ride off the mountain so I could meet up with some friends. A good friend Tyson is getting married at the end of this month, and his friend rented a cabin for the weekend outside of Rhododendron. Got to the cabin a little after 5:30pm, unpacked, and started in on the beer drinking. There were about 11 people there at one point, including Tyson's father and two brothers. Lots of food, music, games, and of course, drinking. I was totally exhausted from the snowboarding, and held on for as long as I could (apparently about midnight) before having to go sleep in the cabin's open loft, while everybody else kept on going until 4:30am or so. Apparently everybody was surprised that I kept sleeping through all the loud partying, but I was dead to the world.
I woke up to beautiful sunny morning around 9:45am, feeling pretty sore but refreshed, and despite the beer count I had no hangover, unlike everybody else. 🙂 I helped clean up the mess, did some dishes, and helped Tyson cook up some breakfast. Nothing like some bacon, fried eggs, and toast to set you right in the morning! One of the group was heading back to town at around 1:30pm so I got a ride home early. I wanted one night in my own bed, and one full day at home before starting another work week, but it was a really fun time at the cabin. I had a great time, but I'm now feeling VERY sore all over.
