365 Days (Part 1) | ✓

104. Vacation

104. Vacation: Write about a vacation you took.

Skiing is one of those sports that, when you look back on it, you have to shake your head and wonder who invented it and how. The idea is somewhat ludicrous: whoever first thought of zooming down the mountain on two flat boards? Someone probably had too much to drink.

When I was younger, around the age of nine, my family decided to try this sport. We rented a large cabin in the mountains, packed everything in a rented van that sat fourteen, and drove to New Mexico. I had never skiied before, but several of my brothers had, and they were wild about the sport. Or rather, they were snowboarders. At that time in my life, I was a figure skater training for Olympic greatness, so I thought skiing would come naturally to me. After all, both were winter sports?

My reasoning at age nine was so faulty I wonder how I ever even passed each grade.

The first day of our skii trip, I was placed in a class teaching kids how to skii. I think the only useful things I took away from it was how to stop, and even that did not prove particularly helpful me later on. The way you were supposed to stop was called the 'Pizza.' It involved moving your skiis into an angle, with the tip of your skiis together. To this day, I am not sure if that is its official name of if that is what that one place called it for the benefit of pizza fanatic little kids.

By the second day, I was eager to actually do some slopes. The easiest run you could go on was called the "Bunny Hop." There is a beginner's ice skating competition with the same name that I placed in, and that is also a simple ice skating move, so I did not question that everything seemed like it was named by a child.

The bunny hop was soon mastered, and from there I went on the next level, the Green. Around noon, we were getting tired. Skiing requires so much energy that we only ever skiied for a few hours each day. Once, getting back from skiing, I was so tired that I took a nap and fell of the bed. I knew it at the time, but I was so tired that I just said to myself, Eh, whatever, and continued to sleep. Because I had landed in between the bed and the wall, my brother Matthew couldn't find me when he wanted to play Harvest Moon on my DS. He alerted the rest of my family and they launched a mini manhunt for me that I obliviously slept through. Eventually my dad found me. I am just glad they let me rest.

After a few hours, we were preparing to head back to the cabin and eat some grub. I was standing there with my mom, in the area where all of the ski lifts loaded, when two snowboarders zoomed up to us. One was dressed entirely in black; the other in dark brown. They slid toward us with such frightening speed that I thought they were going to crash into us. In a brief panic, I skiied a little down the mountain to avoid any potential collision.

When I looked back up, they were stopped in front of my mom and speaking to her. I realized, while mentally facepalming, that the two creep snowboarders were my older brothers, Michael and Matthew. Duh, I said to myself. Mom had not realized I was not right next to her, and I would prefer to avoid ridicule for not recognizing jy own brothers, so I quickly made my way up to them.

Or I tried to. The part of the mountain we were on was quite steep. When climbing up it, you were supposed to awkwardly walk sideways with your long skiis. However, I wanted fo return to my family, so I walked up the mountain as I would any other place: forward.

Bad choice.

I started to slide -- backward. Wait, this is not what I wanted. I picked up speed and, being too young for poles to help push me along, I had no way to stop. "MAMA!" I screamed, as I skiied backwards with truly remarkable speed down the mountain.

I remember passing a large yellow sign with the words SLOW on it and thinking that I was most definitely not going slow. A group of people were gathered near it, and at my shrieking, turned to watch my descent. Mom cried, "Hannah!" but down I went.

I glanced behind me, and saw the edge of the mountain, which had been sectioned off inna rather flimsy way by orange caution tape. I was pretty certain that going through the caution tape would not end in my happiness. In a split second, I bent my knees and made myself fall.

I wasn't hurt from it, unless injured pride and destroyed dignity count. The worst part was, my brother Zachary and my dad were on the ski life above us, so they saw the whole incident from prime seats.

I still have not heard the end of it.