Abominable Snow, Man

You know you're getting old when you're (the

only) bald Black man in Vail, Colorado, and you

absolutely fail to intimidate anyone.

More likely, its just that the folks there are very, very friendly. This is my odd way of saying I had a great time on my ski vacation, even though I got sick and didn't figure out the deal on the free hot chocolate and cookies until the last day. But more on that later. First...

Ski trails. They've all got names. The 'green' or easy slopes get comforting sobriquets like Hunky Dory and Over Easy. Its just another way of saying You Really Can't Ski So Please Go This Way, So We Don't Have to Come Up Rescue You.

But it really gets interesting at the top of the mountain where the trails are the ominous sounding 'black diamonds.' Even if I was a really experienced skier I might hesitate to head down something called 'No Way Out' or 'Dragon's Teeth'. And no resort is complete without the requisite memorial trail...called something like "Face of Hal", and in smaller type, "This trail is in remembrance of Hal Johnson." That's all well and good, but I'm thinking what happened to Hal, and more importantly where did it happen? Yeah, you get my drift. No pun intended.

And let me throw this little figure at ya: 9 degrees Fahrenheit. As in that was as hot as it got last Saturday on Vail Mountain. But before you call me a weather wimp (Topper!!) you should know I stayed out there all day and now everyone says you can still live a good productive life with only 7 toes.

Then early Sunday morning, my stomach took a ski trip without leaving my body. Lets just say I was in the room all day and it wasn't 'cause I was watching football. (But did anyone see that Pittsburgh-Jacksonville game??)

It is good to be home..where snow is only good for getting the day off from school, backing up the traffic and scaring the dickens out of folks who watch the news.