I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a while.  We had reservations at Hadsel-Mares Cabin in the Northeast Kingdom and plans for lots of skiing.  First, we met everyone at Craftsbury Outdoor Center.  It was hard to find parking because there was a race going on, but it only covered a small percentage of the trails and it was soon to finish anyway.  By the time we all got ready in the Nordic center, the race was over and we headed out.  We soon split up since it was obvious our skill levels and ski styles were very different, but Jeremiah and I did a 6.5-mile loop around the trails.

It was only about 10 degrees out so I wanted to be in the cabin and have a fire going before dark.  We left the center around 4pm to get over there.  I got the fire going while Jeremiah unloaded the truck, and soon everyone else arrived too.  It was nice to sit around the stove catching up all night.  When we turned in, it was so comfortable because I’d managed to cram my giant car camping sleeping pad onto the bunk.  I love that thing so much.

In the morning, Jeremiah cooked us all up some breakfast on our new car camping stove so we got a slow start to the day.  Switchfoot and Marie had specific mountains they were trying to ski so they left soon after, but the rest of us hung out and played some games until lunch, letting the fire die down.  After eating, we headed out to Willoughby State Forest.  We’d gotten more snow overnight so it was perfect, and slightly warmer than the day before, around 17 degrees.

We decided to do the largest loop, out Bartlett Mountain Road and up the Connector Trail to CCC Road, then back down.  It was snowing sometimes but the sun came out sometimes too.  Overall a gorgeous day!  We did a 4.4-mile loop this time, then headed back to the cabin to get the fire going again.

We played more games after dinner: Dobble and Farkle and Phase 10.  Phase 10 was taking forever though and we had to cut it short to go to bed at a reasonable time.

It was another slow morning as we got ready, played games, and packed up, again letting the fire die down just around lunch.  Switchfoot and Marie had more mountains to ski so they had already left earlier, and Kyle and Hillary had to be home in the afternoon so they headed back to New Hampshire, and Jeremiah and I decided to ski closer to home.

It was a beautiful, bluebird day so we met Corrie over at the new Boyce Hill Town Forest in Fayston.  The route we followed was a little steeper and narrower than I would have chosen, but I managed most of it.  I did have to sidestep down one little hill.

We skied a little less than 4 miles.  It was getting colder and close to sunset so we didn’t want to ski too much farther out before turning back.

I’m really trying to focus on getting better at skiing this winter.  Jeremiah got us Bolton Valley Nordic season passes for Christmas, and I got us Nordic ski cards to a bunch of other cross country areas, so we really need to get out a lot.  Of course, we didn’t use either of those this weekend, but we’ll get there!