Skiing in Spain

I've had the most marvelous day. I am exhausted, sore, and thrilled. I never imagined having a day like this.

Yesterday, the family packed up the car and headed north from Madrid. It took us five hours to get here to Candanchu. If you have a second to check it out on Google Earth, do. It is a very small town, but the skiing is sublime. Anyways, we got here to the apartment at 10pm. We watched three movies in the car and when we got here, my head was pounding. The kids' heads weren't pounding, so they turned on the TV, loud. It was irritating, but I was just happy to be out of the car. Also, I was able to pop online real quick to say hello to Allison and Flynn.

The apartment is small but comforable and has everything we need. It has two bedrooms, one bath, a small kitchen with laundry room, and a living room with a dining area. One bedroom is for the parents. The other room has two bunk beds for the kids. Jorge got bumped to the couch for the evening and I got his bed. He didn't seem to mind. I will post pics next week.

We went to bed early 11:30p (I've been going to bed at 1a) and woke up at about 8:30a. It was great! I slept very well. It wasn't until I woke up and could see outside that I realized where we were. The apartment is just yards away from the Reina Sophia chair lift. I can literally see up the mountain from the dining room window. I'll have pics of the view. Carlos had boots and a snowboard that were a perfect fit so I didn't have to rent. They also had sunglasses, gloves, pants for me to wear. It worked out very well. We had a quick breakfast, geared up and hit the mountain.

I was nervous because the family skis very often and it was pretty obvious they knew what they were doing. They led me up a maze of chair lifts all the while being very patient with me as I waddled and skidded around the snowboard. I think skis are much more mobile the snowboards, but I managed. I was also nervous because I haven't been snowboarding in about three years. It's been a REALLY long time. What if I forgot everything?! Well it turns out I remembered how to stand and that's about it. I moved my way down the mountain as the kids and parents skied circles around me. They were patient though and didn't seem to mind. I had a blast.

The views on the mountain were incredible. I can't wait to take pictures tomorrow. I'm just blown away by how beautiful it is here. At one point Carlos turned to me and said, "See that mountain there? That's France." How neat is that? The sky was clear and blue. There wasn't much wind and the snow was the best I've ever been on. It was an amazing day to be on the mountain. I can only pray that I will have the means to take my family skiing when I have one.

Now the children are doing their homework and the mountain is closed for the night. I am trying to drink plenty of water and stay awake. I haven't pushed my body so hard in... ages. I can't remember the las time I worked so hard. I think I am going to wrap this up and do some stretches. If I am going to snowboard tomorrow I am going to be able to walk. And if today is any indication to how sore I will be... it is going to be rough. I took a couple bad spills and really racked my body. Yes... stretching sounds good. Hmm... A hot bath sounds better, but I will settle for a shower.

Tomorrow we will hit the mountain for three or four hours (compared to todays 6 for me, 7 for the others) then drive home. My goal for monday is to muster the energy to go for a long walk. This past week I ran mon, tue, fri and would like to continue that schedule. But I think I'll need a rest after this weekend.

I thank God for this amazing opportunity to be here in this amazing place. I truly am blessed. I am so glad I did not pass up on the chance to come here and see this. Wow. It is sooo cool.

I just hope my pics can do it justice. Until I can take some. I hope these that I found online will give you an idea of what I'm looking at.

I'm glad they knew where they were going, because I didn't have a clue. And how could I? Look at this mess of chair lifts! Flagstaff only has four or five! I have no idea how many are here, but there is plenty of room on this mountian for everyone.

This isn't me. However, it does give you an idea of just what I'm working with here.