Vacation!

Do you remember The Go-Go's song Vacation? Vacation All I ever wanted Vacation Had to get away It's actually a song about going away on vacation alone to forget about a guy...I did go alone, but you know it wasn't like that. I spent one glorious week (7 days) in one of my most favorite places in the world, Whitefish, Montana. I grew up taking beach vacations, but I married into a family of skiers, so you know, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. [Husband's] parents have been skiing since the '70s and so all the kids grew up skiing and taking winter vacations. About 10 years ago they gave up entirely on east coast skiing (Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire) and bought a place in Whitefish, Montana about 2 miles down the mountain from the Whitefish Mountain Resort (WMR). I'd been skiing twice (at Massanutten!) when [Husband] took me out the first time in January of 2007. His parents got me a ski helmet (yeah, it sounds a little Natalie Portman in Garden State, but it makes you feel safer and keeps your head warm) and a ski lesson for Christmas that year. We at first insisted [Husband] would teach me to ski, but to quote the WMR activities guide, "Do not allow a husband/mother/father/sister/girlfriend teach you to ski. You will not like each other. At least for a little while. And that is not a good way to start a ski vacation," (seriously, it says that). So I took my lesson and have never looked back. I grew up taking beach vacations and loving summer (still love both of those),but I a major convert/lover of all things powder, cold, and winter sports now too. Having a free place to stay out there makes the trips a lot easier on our wallet and then there's also my job. Two of the perks of my job are that I get an incredible amount of vacation and since they don't issue company credit cards to staff, I've been racking up the frequent flier miles, paying for stuff at work (hello, summer associate events). The result is that I have time to go skiing and I haven't paid for a plane ticket since 2007. I feel ridiculously spoiled sometimes, but it doesn't stop me from enjoying ever second of this:

That's Canada in the background.

Sigh, the pictures just don't do it justice!

The Big Mountain aka "The Big" as seen from town.

I will post some more pictures later.