3/22/09

Day 39

Conditions: 40 degrees and hard as a rock
Location: Boyne Highlands, MI

We woke up to a harsh reality: it was cold last night and things would not be softening up any time soon. To top it off, we were heading to the flattest place this side of Nebraska: Boyne Highlands. But this was no time to be picky; we need every lame day to get to 50 at this point, and we’re not about to slack in the fourth quarter.

We trudged up to the window with the echoing scrapes of insane people trying to ride on the frozen ice rebounding through the various lodges. We exchanged glances pregnant with the desire to quit, but neither of us wanted to be the one to initiate that conversation.

When we got to the window, the ticket guy informed us it would be $51 each. Dirk immediately turned to me and started lamenting. “$51-$15 from our cards…that’s $36 each for a day like today,” he said in a tone loud enough for anyone to hear. At that point the attendant piped in to inform us that today, of all days, was one of the four days when punch card holders get to ride for free. We were thrilled. Never in my life have I received anything for free at Boyne Mountain - except for maybe a generous pour on a rum and coke at Pearson’s.

We rode for three hours as if it was the best three hours of our lives. We hit almost every chair as we toured the cold, hard terrain as if it were a powder day at Whistler.

Highlights:

- Racing Dirk through the boarder-cross course. I won, of course. He claimed he was trying to take it east to avoid injury.

Lowlights:

- It was Boyne Highlands. Even if it was free, it was hardly epic.

Après Ski:

We drove back to Williamston and got ready for the week.

Days to go: 11