3rd Annual Ski Trip

The events portrayed in the following post occurred from March 27th to March 30th.  The reason I’m only posting now is because I’ve been lazy to write any blog posts… Don’t judge, this is something I’m working on.

Spring is here and to me it means one thing… Spring Skiing!

I like to ski, but I don’t like skiing when it is -1,000 degrees outside.  Having to wear 77 layers and having frozen toes – and frozen snot – is not an enjoyable time for me.  That’s why we like to go skiing in March.

We live in New Jersey, which means we don’t really have any mountains worth skiing.  Whenever we want to go skiing we go to Pennsylvania, but even there the skiing is just meh.  Our best option in the East Coast is Vermont, and that’s why we decided to make an annual ski trip to Vermont.

First Vermont Ski Trip

Let me just start by saying that since I came from Dominican Republic when I was 15 years old, skiing – or snow – was not part of my childhood.  I started skiing 6-7 years ago and even though I can now do black diamonds – and some double black – I am in no way, shape, or form an expert skier.

I enjoy skiing any hill, regardless of height and/or length, and I really don’t mind skiing the tiny NJ/PA mountains.  But Kate and most of my friends grew up skiing and find NJ/PA mountains to be kind of small and pretty boring.

So three years ago, they mentioned that we should make a trip up to Killington, Vermont so I can see what a decent size mountain looks like.  I was okay with that idea, and we decided to make it a weekend trip because it is a 5-hour drive for us.

Six of us then decided to rent a place, drive up to Vermont on Friday after work, ski Saturday and Sunday, and then drive back on Monday.

During that first year, I skied all of Saturday, but my little legs were so sore the next day that I could only ski for half a day on Sunday.  But it doesn’t matter because it was an awesome weekend anyways.

So awesome in fact that we decided then and there to make it an annual thing… and so we did!

2nd Annual Vermont Ski Trip

Last year we recruited a few more people, and I surprised Kate on top of Killington Peak.  I asked her to pose for a picture with me on top of the mountain, but asked my friend to record a video instead.  Here’s the video of how it went down.

What else can I say?  That was the best ski trip ever!

3rd Annual Vermont Ski Trip

Lodging

Unfortunately, some of the original ski crew weren’t able to make it this year, but we were able to get new recruits and rented a pretty nice place for nine people.

I don’t know how many times I must say this, but AirBnB is the shiznit.  We booked a condo for about $67 per person per night. It could have been $52 but two people couldn’t make it at the last minute so we ended up dividing the total between seven.

The condo was very nice and spacious, there were beds for 12 people, and space for air mattresses everywhere.  Guess where we’re booking next year?

If you’re going on vacation make sure you check out AirBnB for places to stay.  If you use this link, you and I get $25 credit on our next stay.

Food

We brought groceries to make breakfast and sandwiches for lunch in order to save money.  However we decided to just go out to dinner so we don’t have to try to figure out what everyone wants to eat and waste time in the kitchen.

One of our friends goes to Killington all the time, and recommended a few places to go eat.  We settled on the Lookout on Saturday and The Pasta Pot on Sunday.

The food at both these places was excellent, but the ambiance could not have been any more different.

The Lookout is more of a local hangout spot.  It is very crowded and very loud because everybody is just having a good time after a good day of skiing.

The Pasta Pot is more homey.  It is very quiet, cozy place where you can have a nice, quiet, candle-lit conversation.

If I was in Killington for just one night, I would choose the Pasta Pot, but if you are there for more than one day, the Lookout was pretty good too.

Lift Tickets

Skiing is an expensive sport and the reason why it’s expensive is the lift tickets.  But don’t you worry, there’s always a way to get cheaper tickets.

You can check out Liftopia for discount tickets or – in this case – the Killington website.  We got out tickets way in advance from the Killington website and were able to get them for about 30% off.  It pays to plan ahead.

Skiing

The skiing was awesome and if we are able, we’ll try to make this trip every single year.  I guess my little legs are getting stronger because I was able to ski all day on both days.  I was sore for a long time, but it was worth it.

This ski trip was not too expensive, but money was definitely spent.  I’m all about saving as much money as I can, but I’m also all about enjoying my life and spending money on experiences. These annual ski trips are good for my soul because I get to spend time doing something I like and time with my friends for a whole weekend.  As we get older and have more responsibilities, we find ourselves spending less time together than we used to, and this is an opportunity to catch up and hang out.

Overall, this trip was amazing and now that my legs have recovered, I can’t wait for our next trip!