Playing Catchup
So I have quite a bit of ground to cover with this one post. To kick this bad boy off, I will start with the most epic occurrence of the past three weeks. As of March 7, 2009 my sister no longer bore the name Hunt. Alas… she was converted to the much longer, much more difficult to spell last name, Stofferahn. It is sad to realize that I can no longer call her Aubrey Hunt, but no matter how many letters she spells her last name with it will still read “Hunt” to me. After all, no one pays attention to phonics these days anyway. Here are the links to the wedding photos. You get to see just how formal and crazy the Hunt-Stofferahn clan can be. (Questions? Just ask)
Upon entering the professional site, click “Proofing” and enter “Stofferahn2009” into the password box at the bottom of the page.
Alright, moving right along; a week ago today, I was ripping up the slopes at Big Sky in Montana… well, maybe they were ripping me up. Ah, I can’t really remember (that’s what happens when you hit your head to many times. Haha.).
So, Chris and I spent the entire last week in Montana, snowboarding for spring break. The week couldn’t have started out any more perfect than it did, with snow falling only about a half hour after we landed in Bozeman and continuing throughout the night and into the next day. You can bet your bottom dollar that that next day, Tuesday, was spent tearing up the 9+ inches of powder that had accumulated on the slopes of the Moonlight Resort (located on the same mountain as Big Sky). My friend Bryce, who lives and works in Bozeman and his friend Andy accompanied Chris and I that day. Bryce and I decided to leave Chris and Andy so that we could hit the really epic runs and not worry about being slowed down by them.
Tuesday flew by too fast and the rest of the week followed suit. The remaining three days, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, were spent at Big Sky. Each day Chris and I woke up early, raided the continental breakfast for morning nourishment and then pocketed what we would need for lunch (mostly peanut butter, bagels, oranges, and cereal). Next we would jump on our bikes (one borrowed and one rented) and pedal three miles to the shuttle station located at the mall. Now, this sounds much easier than it actually was. Bicycling reaches a whole new level of difficulty when you strap on a snowboard that makes you as wide as a car and try to ride down a side walk that has light poles and signs at your left and a privacy fence on your right. You suddenly become aware of good your balance is.
Snowboarding all week on a mountain that doesn’t know the meaning of the word “ice” is a beautiful thing. Tuesday’s powder became a loosely pack winter wonderland and carving through can be described with the word “butter”. However, we didn’t just limit ourselves to riding on the trails. It was a common occurrence for Chris to dive off into the woods or for us to hit some epic jumps and drops on the edge of the trail. Sometimes these features were kind and forgiving, allowing you to stick a nice 180 (which I did do!), but other times they were harsh and liked to make you (nah…mostly me) eat snow. Each day on the mountain ended with a hour and fifteen minute shuttle ride back to Bozeman and then the three mile bike ride to the hotel.
We spent many of our nights hanging with my friend Bryce. He works at an archery shop in Bozeman and we spent a few nights poking carbon arrows into paper targets 20 yards down range. One night we even got to shoot techno, which is comprised of a giant screen at the end of a large hallway. Images of animals are projected onto the screen and blunted arrows are shot at them, so it is pretty much like virtual hunting. Safe to say, Chris may be a better snowboarder than me, but I got him in the archery department. We also spent one night at the pool in the hotel… oh yes, it had a waterslide. There are so many ways to go down a water slide; you just have to let your imagination take you.
It was so nice to get away from school, even though we only slept in one day the entire week, that day was Saturday. We decided to spend the day exploring Bozeman instead of on the mountain. There was a lot to see in the downtown area, including numerous art galleries, snowboarding shops, and the damage from the explosion that occurred earlier that week. Later that night, Bryce had a small get together at his house that included cooked moose and good company.
The next morning, Sunday, found us back on a plane headed east, back to reality. Not once was I disappointed with how I was spending my spring break. I am grateful that I was the one Chris chose to accompany him on this adventure.. Thank you.
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