7 March 2010 - Skiing

I labeled this week 'Skiing', but that was really just one minor part of what I did this week. It was actually insanely busy. Snow had postponed Jessica's science fair at school, but she finally got to present her poster about evaporation rates of fresh and salt water (which she found evaporate at the same rate).
I hadn't done a funeral in a little while, so I ended up paying the price this week. On Monday, the Washington Ward hosted the funeral for Ivor Davies, a long-time member of the Washington Ward. Many of our members were baptized in his swimming pool in the days before we had a font (or even a dedicated building). He moved to Utah more than 15 years ago, just after he retired from U.S. Steel, but retained strong roots here and returned here to be buried.

Then on Wednesday, we held the funeral for Ruth Ealy, whose son, daughter and several grandchildren are members of our ward. Ruth was not a member of the LDS church, but that didn't stop her from hosting many activities in her backyard that puts many city parks to shame. She was a good woman who loved her family very much.

Unfortunately, last Saturday, I was unable to attend the funeral of my Aunt Irene Luke, which was held in Midway, Utah. She was actually my great-aunt, but I never thought of her that way. She was just Aunt Irene to me, and memories of eating burgers, fries and frog shakes at the Timp Freeze are a fixture of my childhood memories. She took good care of us whenever we stopped in, and you could tell she was always genuinely glad to see you.

Every year, Joanne's brother Karl and I have planned to get together to go skiing like we used to. And it seems, every year, we don't pull it off. This year, especially with all the snow we've had, I was determined to make it happen, even if it had to be on the relative bunny slopes of Pennsylvania. On Thursday, I dismissed class at the usual time of 2:15 pm and walked straight out of the classroom, got in my truck, and drove 280 miles to Bethlehem, PA. Karl left work in Philadelphia and met me at our hotel around 8 PM. We found a Brazilian churrascaria called Rios in nearby Nazareth, PA for dinner. It was excellent, well worth the $20/plate price, which is about half the price you pay at most churrascarias.

The next morning, we drove the last 20 miles to Blue Mountain Ski Area in the Pocono Mountains. While not on par with resorts in the Western U.S., I was pleasantly surprised. This particular resort is one of the largest in Pennsylvania in terms of skiable acres, and has the largest vertical drop -- both measures of how much you can ski before you have to get back on the lift. Though older, less agile, and less aggressive than we used to be, we skied all day and even took a few good jumps. The sun was out most of the day and the slushy snow conditions didn't damper our enjoyment of the day. Here's a picture I took of Blue Mountain from the parking lot.

After skiing all day, we broke bread at Panera and then headed home. I drove until midnight to get home, and when I arrived, Emily had made me an EZ-Bake Oven dessert pizza. Saturday was spent resting sore muscles that just aren't used to it anymore. On Sunday, our family attended the baptism of Lauren Larsen. The Larsen family moved into our ward several years ago, and they are some of the best people you will ever have the pleasure of meeting.