Weekend in Shaver!

Friday evening Matthew came home from work, we loaded up the car, and headed out stopping at McD's on the way out of town.

Oh, also before we left, I opened my birthday gift from Matthew!

A Camelbak!  I finally get to carry more than just my water.

It is very comfy and can hold a lot, and 3 liters of water.

Super excited =)

Arriving at the cabin in Shaver.  It is one that Ron built.
No, that is not a shower head behind us but a cool lamp shade!

Really nice place, but definitely want to go back with more couples or family.
We were rattling around in there just the two of us!
(We slept in the nook!)

Got up early Saturday morning to go skiing.

Made a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast.
(BTW, if you want a cup of tea or coffee, start the kettle about 30 minutes before you want it!)

Some of you might have seen this picture on Instagram.
When Matthew put on his helmet and goggles, my heart started pounding!
Wow, it brought back memories.

This is at the top of Chair #1.  It was a beautiful day!

The station at the top of the mountain.

This was an interesting piece of machinery!  Does any Newfy know what this is?  It is a snow maker!  Can you imagine?  Crazy, huh?  I'd love to know how it works.

I did my hair in two braids, but they kept getting snagged on my jacket's velcro.  It was mid-way through the day when I noticed a little girl's pigtails flipped up like this.  Problem solved!  Thanks little-girl's mother!

We went down the bunny slope once for me to get the feel of it again, and of Austin's skis and boots (thanks a ton, bro!).  Then we went down Academy a few times.  I told Matthew I was ready to try something else, take me wherever he wanted.  

So we went right off of Chair #1, down a slope that I thought was almost vertical.  It levels off though, and then drops off again.  Then, where it gets even steeper, Matthew was going to take me on a trail that leads off to the left....but it was closed due to not enough snow.  Therefore the ONLY way was down, and that slope really WAS straight down.  I mean, in the summer time with no snow, you would not choose to even scramble down that!  But it was the ONLY way. So I started out, all the way to one side, and then almost straight across, back to the other side!  Fell once or twice and was losing nerve as people flew past on skis and snowboards.  Then I got going pretty good, back and forth, not too fast not too slow, and then faster, and faster, and faster, and it only got steeper and steeper.... and then I wiped out heading toward the right side of the trail.  I slid backwards closer and closer to the side, which dropped a few feet off the groomed trail. I finally got my ski behind me enough to stop me, right at the edge with part of my ski hanging over.  It wouldn't have hurt to fall off, but I would have kept sliding down further away from the trail.  I didn't get back up and Matthew came down and stopped right above me. An old timer went by about then and said something about if it was easy nobody would be snowboarding,... but that looks harder to me!  Anyway, I chickened out then and was a baby, but there was only one way down!  So back up on my skis and I think I only fell one more time, but went really slow.  It took a few runs down Academy for me to regain the small amount of confidence that I had!

http://www.skichinapeak.com/trailmap.aspx

The sun was strong and by noon there were slushy patches and the patrols were going around putting cross sticks in front of the rocks that were being uncovered.  We had a quick lunch around 12, more for a break rather than being hungry!  After a few more runs, the last part of Academy was all slush.  Especially the flatter part and we'd have to pole almost the whole way.  We rested a few times at the bottom watching a stunt competition that was going on.  Little 9 year-olds out there spinning around, jumping, crazy!  We quit around 2:30 or 3:00.  It was so slushy by then it was like snow and water skiing at the same time!

Sunday

I made pancakes and bacon for breakfast.  There was only a round thing that goes on top of the stove for making them and it took a long time, but they were mighty good.  Then we cleaned up the cabin and got all packed up.  Matthew had looked for trails around, but the neat ones were a ways to drive and then like 6 or 7 miles long, and we could hardly move we were so sore!  So we drove through Shaver and found a trail that seemed to head in the direction of Shaver lake.

It doesn't show up in this picture how
bright green the moss or lichen is on these branches.

Not sure what type of big tree this was, but it was really big!

So neat to be just walking along and see two of them standing together.

The water was incredibly clear, and that is coming from a Newfy gal!

Interesting to see the stumps where trees grew so many years ago before they built the dam.

Here you can see the normal water level on the rocks.  Crazy.

Slightly crooked, I just realized, but still one of my favorites!  It was interesting to see all the kinds of tracks going down to the water.  I'd love to set up a night camera!

There is something about a perfect pine cone...
I can't think of how to put it in words.

Little streams here and there show how this lake gets its water!
Usually there is a lot more snow than this.

We rested at this quiet cove for awhile.  Very peaceful, except for the constant air traffic of jetliners!

We found a place partly out of the breeze and still in the sunshine to eat our lunch, and then headed back out to the car, and then down the mountain.  We made it back to town around 6, stopping to drop Austin's gear off and visit with him for awhile, distracting him from his homework!  Then home to unpack and clean up.  That evening and the next day I was miserable.  Partly from the cold I came down with at the beginning of the week, partly because of strange eating over the weekend, and we think a bit of elevation sickness on top of being SO sore from skiing!

Great weekend full of fun, the great outdoors, and being together with the man I love!