Oregon Trip - Part 7: Skiing

One of the days we were in Oregon we just had to take a ski trip. There was no snow to be seen in Medford, but just a few miles out of town at Mt. Ashland was a winter wonderland.

These first few pictures were taken on our drive up the mountain. We were all very excited. This was the first ski trip for Payton and myself.

The roads weren't actually all that bad. There were plenty of people chaining up their tires though. We had no problem making our way there and back in Gregg's Tacoma.

Payton and I decided to try snowboarding, Gregg skied, and Austin sat up in the lodge with Casey since she didn't want to brave the cold either. Here are a few pictures Gregg and/or I took with our cell phones. Quality isn't the greatest, but you get the idea...

We did plenty of this: face plant straight into the snow. This picture happens to show Payton showing her face plant style. I did my fair share of this too. Going was good, turning and stopping however, those were a different story.

I believe this was after our first run down one of the slopes. We had two hours of free time trying to get the hang of the boards before our lesson was scheduled. It was... interesting.

See, I can snowboard. Turning turned out to be a challenge for me because of my previous gymnastics experience.

Here's Payton in action too. She did great.

Here I am up top attempting to make my way around some stopped snowboarders.

I must have been talking in this shot, I don't believe this is a face I often make otherwise. These stupid snowboarding boots were SO uncomfortable.

After our lessons (which were crap I might add), we made our way into the lodge for some food and to defrost. Here are Payton and Justin just hanging out.

Mike had to work so he didn't make it out to the mountain with us, but the boys had a good time snowboarding. Although one of their friends broke his arm on his first or second run of the trip.

Still warming up. Austin enjoyed playing his DS and people watching. He had a good view from this spot too.

I'm surprised she enjoyed herself so much with all of the face planting in the snow. She even had one fall in which she face planted and then the board (attached to her feet still) bent her backward so that her board almost slammed into her head.

I would have been laid up for a week had that been me.

It was a good time though. I was sore for 2 days after this experience. I'm still glad I went. Payton is looking forward to going snowboarding around here soon.

Gregg took a few photos from on his way to the very top of the mountain.

Looks quite beautiful, Payton and I never made it up that high though.

A need to say a big thank you to Casey who sat up in the lodge with Austin for hours on end while we and her children skied and snowboarded. THANK YOU!