Ski Trip!

Ski trips and I have a great track record (see "Leaving on a Jet Plane" - and there’s a lot more to that story than what’s posted), and for the last year I’d been looking for a buddy to join me in hitting the slopes with one of the local ski clubs in Chicago (yes, I hate doing this kind of stuff alone, which is why I had to find a friend to go with me – and lost a year of skiing in the process!).

Luckily, my new running buddy likes cold-weather sports, too, and we couldn’t wait to spend a weekend at Granite Peak with a bus-load of what I was sure were going to be new lifelong friends!

We boarded the coach bus on Friday night, armed with a bottle of wine and several beers to help us survive the 4.5-hour ride to the “mountain” (it’s the Midwest – we use the term loosely around here).

I didn’t want to be overly pushy as I made my new friends, so we chose a seat toward the front figuring we’d have all weekend to get to know people. What we DIDN’T know was that the six middle-aged couples surrounding us were going to be the rowdiest crowd on the bus – and by that I mean DRUNK. No doubt if we’d been at a bar, I would have thought they were hilarious, but in a confined space the 50-something guy that was going up and down the aisle to hit on girls while his wife yelled stories to anyone who would listen rapidly lost its amusement factor.

Somehow, Kelly and I managed to make it to the hotel without bitch-slapping anyone, and piled onto the elevator with all our gear…and three very cute boys!

“Party in room 327,” we called to them as we all separated down the hallway, and as an aside I told Kelly, “THAT’s who we’re hanging out with this weekend.”

We were slow to get moving on Saturday, but that was ok since we had big plans for the evening. Once we got to the lift, we spent some time getting our “ski legs” on the bunny slope, before bouncing around the mountain with several pit stops for beer and hot chocolate – I forgot how COLD skiing in the Midwest can be.

All in all an uneventful day until it was time to après. Kelly, being the social butterfly she is, conveniently snagged us a prime viewing spot in the bar next to a friendly older gentleman we could chat the time away with until something better opened up.

An hour later, we were comfortably ensconced at the same table as a group of guys (NOT the same as in the hotel – we’ll call this Group #2) we’d been eyeing earlier in the day – at the time trying to figure out why they weren’t eyeing back. Turns out, they were much friendlier after skiing, and we were quickly fast friends.

In the interest of transparency, I should probably mention that I think they were all about 22, but we weren’t exactly being picky at that moment! As we continued to flirt, I was itching to do a couple night-skiing runs, but Kelly was done for the day and these guys all had their boots off.

Lucky me, but who should I notice at the table next to us? Group #1 of guys from the night before – and they’d been joined by the guy that I’d thought was VERY cute on the bus. Even better – their boots were still on and I was a few beers in, which allowed me to casually invite myself along for their next several runs. By the time we hit the lift, we were all fast friends, and becoming even more so thanks to an illicit bottle of Jim Beam.

After an exhilarating hour of buzzed skiing (don’t try this anywhere but the Midwest!) and chatting up my new friends, we all headed back to the hotel where it was time to hit the…you guessed it…HOT TUB!

Kelly and I headed down, well swaddled in our towels to limit the view of our shark-bait-white bodies, and slipped quickly in the wonderfully warm water. The numbers were in our favor –did I mention that we’d invited Group #2 back with us??? – and we were quickly SURROUNDED by boys. Yep, us two girls and eight guys in a hot tub that has a capacity limit of eight. BIG SMILE.

What’s not to love about this situation? Just one thing – it was decision-time. With so many choices, who should we cozy up with? And this was where it got a bit tricky – Group #2 were headed back to Green Bay that night, but they also seemed a bit more interested. On the other hand, Group #1 had long-term potential – these were my new lifelong friends who I wanted to spend every weekend skiing with!

Ohhh, the pros and cons of each – and trying to weigh them after several sips from that pesky Jim Beam bottle!

Luckily, it was easy to immediately rule out one of the boys from Group #2. No boy over the age of 12 should be seen in public wearing bikini briefs – even if they are black rather than the oh-so-not-attractive tighty whitey variety! Ugh – I’m still grimacing at the memory.

With options narrowed down, the choice was eventually made when one of the boys from Group #2 settled in next to me in the hot tub and quickly got cuddly. Remember – only 22, but I wasn’t being picky! Things were getting a bit steamy in the testosterone-filled tub so I hit the pool to cool off and the boy followed – along with his other friends, including Bikini Briefs.

At this point, things somehow deteriorated into a bellyflop contest, once Bikini Briefs demonstrated he didn’t know how to do one (a demo I certainly DON’T want to watch again). After sharing my own spectacular technique, I found myself in the arms of the cuddly one from the hot tub, and next thing I knew we were enjoying a very nice, PG make-out session.

After putting on a show for a minute or two, I looked up to see that Kelly was making her own luck with one of the boys from Group #1 – she definitely chose better than I did, as the following day she had a nice cuddle-buddy on the bus back to Chicago! Apparently, though, I left the cuddly one grinning ear-to-ear. Kissing is so much fun!

Finally, Group #2 decided to pack up and head home – and I wasn’t exactly sad to see them go. For one thing, I did not want to deal with the awkwardness of them hanging around all evening! And for another, I did NOT want to discuss sleeping arrangements later. Making out with a 22-year-old, yes, other stuff – not so much. Turns out, though, they left because the boy Kelly was talking to “killed it” for them – they couldn’t deal with the competition! Hilarious!

All in all, a very successful ski trip – and the slopes weren’t bad either!