Santa Fe Skiing: Where Costumes Meet Skiers

    Yesterday, my family, the Kamen family, and I arrived in Santa Fe, New Mexico! My parents have been here before only on a weekend, which turned out to be a disaster. Their flight was delayed and they had to arrive on Friday, instead of on Thursday. It was late on Friday so they couldn't do anything. The next day, my dad started feeling sick and he didn't feel up to do anything fun, but later decided to go out. Later, they got a call from my grandparents who had been staying with Eliah and I while my parents were gone. Apparently, Eliah was very sick and wasn't getting any better. On Sunday, they're flights were delayed a little more and finally, they arrived home, only to be left with a very sick child who was in the hospital. Anyway, we flew American Airlines to Dallas and then to Albuquerque. There we drove to Santa Fe where we were staying in Clay Corley's grandmothers house. The Kamen family flew to St. Louis and then to Albuquerque. They also drove to Santa Fe and stayed in one of the Corley's house. We had something planned almost every day.

    Earlier today, my dad, my two brothers, and I woke up at around 7:30. We drove to the top of a Sangre de Cristo mountain, where they had Ski Santa Fe. A little earlier, I had just got back from an amazing ski trip in Jackson Hole. I knew Ski Santa Fe was not going to be as great as Jackson Hole, but at least it would be better then Perfect North. The weather was supposed to be pretty warm, but extremely windy. It was the last day of skiing there, and surprisingly, it wasn't crowded. It took us about almost an hour to get everything set up and ready to go. Since it was the last day, Ski Santa Fe had a tradition that people would wear a costume and ski in it. I saw a couple of weird costumes, including a guy in a speedo, Black Swan, and a hula dancer. It was pretty cool because they're weren't just a couple of dressed up skiers, they're must've been at least 65% of the people there dressed up. It was probably the creepiest, but coolest day of skiing I have ever had. 

    When we first started to ski, the snow wasn't bad at all. There wasn't powder or anything like that, but I didn't expect anything like it since it was in the middle of Spring. We had to go to the top of the mountain because that was the only place there was snow. We started on a couple green slopes so my little brother, Avi could get warmed up. Then we moved on to the blue slopes. A couple of them were pretty challenging, but overall, the blue slopes weren't very hard. The reason why some of them were hard was because it was slushy outside. Since it was Spring, most of the snow was melting. There were a couple of spots where the snow was melting so much, there wasn't any snow. I did a black diamond trail a couple of times, but other then that, I did no other black diamonds. During that day, I thought I had gotten a little more experienced, which would help if I go on next year's ski trip to Jackson Hole.

    In Santa Fe, there are many things to do. You can go skiing, hiking, biking, all kinds of things. A relative location can describe landmarks around an area. Some landmarks in Santa Fe are the Sangre de Cristo mountains, volcanic rifts, and the Bandelier National Monument. In Bandelier, there are also volcanic rifts as well as the Caldera, which is where the volcano exploded many years ago.  There are also petroglyphs, cool writings from Native Americans a long time ago. In Santa Fe, there is a lot of  Movement. Street Vendors originated from all over the world, including Mexico and Korea. From there it moved all the way to Santa Fe. Since then, Santa Fe has moved street vendors all across the country, too. Wild West stereotypes, including cowboy boots and small sombreros, have been in Santa Fe for a long time and Santa Fe has moved that other places, too.

                So long for now,

                This is Asa Hiken signing off and,

                So long, Louisville, Kentucky

DO NOT FLY AMERICAN AIRLINES!

    I had so much fun skiing the last three days. It was by far the greatest school trip I have ever been on. I was so excited to tell my family about how much fun I had. Little did I know, the next time I was going to see them would be a long time. My flights to Jackson Hole a week ago were a little rough. Instead of leaving around 6:30 from Louisville, we had to wake up at 3:30 and drive to the Lexington Airport and take off at 5:45. I was so tired I almost fell asleep in the shower. I thought we would never make it. Our first flight was in such a small plane that I had to duck to walk. I was just so happy that we got to Jackson Hole that literally in the first twenty minutes at the inn, I fell asleep. The trip home was probably the worst plane experience I have ever had.

    We were supposed to leave around two o'clock to go to Chicago. We arrived at the airport and heard that our flight was delayed to six o'clock. We went back to town and ate some lunch. After lunch we walked around town a little bit. Unfortunately, most of the stores were closed. We ended up just hanging out in the 49'r Inn for a while, which was very boring. Since we were so bored, we decided to go back to the airport and just hang out there until our flight took off. At the gate, I watched the movie Airplane! with Clay on his iPad. That was probably the highlight of my day. When we were boarding the plane, we almost couldn't get on because the airport was going to ground us. Luckily, we got on and made it to Chicago. There was one problem, we missed our connection.
    I was so happy that we actually got out of Jackson Hole. By the looks of it, we were going to stay there for eternity. When we got to Chicago, apparently we missed our connection to Louisville. So American Airlines (the worst airline in the world) gave us vouchers to the Candlewood Suites. When we finally got on the taxi to take us there, the driver told us there were no more rooms. He drove us back to the airport and so we learned that the airline gave us unusable vouchers. After waiting in the airport for a while, Clay's parents booked us in another hotel in Chicago.We got to our rooms and ordered pizzas. Right when I laid on the bed, I instantly fell asleep because it was three in the morning. The next morning we flew to Dallas and then back to Lexington where we had to drive back to Louisville. What a terrible way to end a wonderful trip!
    While traveling home, we stopped at many locations. The first place was Jackson Hole, which is in Wyoming. Wyoming is bordered by Montana, Idaho, Nebraska, Colorado, and Utah. Next, we stopped in Chicago, which is in Illinois. Illinois is bordered by Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Montana. Then we landed in Dallas, which is in Texas. Texas is bordered by Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Finally, we ended up in Lexington, which is in Kentucky. Kentucky is bordered by Indiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, West Virginia, and Virginia. Since we were in the airport a lot, we went on a bunch of planes, which is usually the transportation to go to far away places. The geographical theme Movement discusses transportation in places. We went on many different planes and it shows that all these places that we went to all have a common transportation, planes.
         So long for now,
         This is Asa Hiken signing off and,
         Stay Classy, Louisville, Kentucky

Skiing: Insane Slopes (In My Mind)

    I have to admit, yesterday was amazing! I knew no other day would be better then yesterday. The third day wasn't as great as the second day but it still was a lot of fun. It snowed a little bit but not that much. I woke up a little earlier so I wouldn't almost miss the bus this time. When I went outside, I knew by far it was the coldest day; ergo, I ran back inside and grabbed about 5 hand warmers. When I came back down I just remembered I left my camelback. So I ran upstairs and got that. When I finally arrived at the bus stop, I could not believe it. I left my wallet in the room. Breathing heavily, I sprinted back to the room, double checked I had everything and ran back downstairs. Luckily, the bus was a little late so I made it. I knew this was not going to be my day.
    When we got to the slopes, it was packed. You couldn't go five feet without walking into two people. My first run, I felt so tired. I almost fell twice but luckily I didn't. If I did fall, it would of hurt because the snow was pretty hard and there was very little powder. I made a promise to myself that I would do a blue run the last day. At lunch, I quickly wolfed down my delicious chicken stir fry and went back down the Gondola. I went up the Apres Vous chair with Mark, Ben, and Drew. From there we skied down to the traverse. Little did we know was that we went down a double blue run. It was very challenging. After the traverse we went up the Casper chair and skied all the way down to the lodge. Even though most people were doing black diamonds, I was really happy that I did a double blue and a blue run.
    After I did the blue run, I was out of breath. Apparently we did one of the longest blue runs on the mountain. I just experienced one of the most exhilarating winter events in my life. On the ride back, I was really mad that skiing was over. I would love to do blue runs all day if we stayed another day. When we got to the 49'r Inn, we relaxed for a while and went out to dinner. I chose to go to Bubba's Barbecue. I had amazing pork chops with a delicious baked potato on the side. We went back to the inn and I got into the hot tub. Sometimes we would run out in the snow and would roll around with no shirts on and come back and jump into the hot tub. It was so much fun. I had a great sleep, although my dream was that I went off Corbet's Couloir and broke my legs. What a great way to end a ski trip!
    When you think of Jackson Hole, you probably think of farmers everywhere and a lot of snow since it is in the Wild West. Half of that is true. There is always snow in Jackson Hole, but not usually a lot of farmers. The geographical theme Place can describe physical features in an area. An example is the mountains in Jackson Hole are always snowy. Another example is the hills and forests are always very populated with animals. There are also not a lot of urban areas, there are more rural places. Since there are many mountains, this makes Jackson Hole very rural. The transportation in Jackson Hole usually consists of buses and cars. This is part of the geographical theme, Movement. Every day when we went skiing, we would take a bus to get to the slopes. The airport we went to in Jackson Hole is the only airport in Jackson Hole and is very small. We also walked to shops and dinner because everything was so close together, which was a great way to help the planet.
               So long for now,
               This is Asa Hiken signing off and,
               Stay Classy, Louisville, Kentucky

POWDER! There Is Powder Everywhere!!!

    Yesterday was a blast! I thought that no other day would be better then yesterday. I was totally wrong. I heard we were supposed to get a couple inches of snow but not like this. Early that morning, I looked out the window and saw it was flurrying. When we went out for breakfast, I was completely shocked. The snow flurries were so thick that if you were to stand outside for about 5 minutes, you would be covered so much you would literally have a snow camouflaged jacket. I quickly scarfed down my routine breakfast, a bowl of Frosted Flakes, a sausage, two blueberry muffins, and a cup of apple juice. Then I donned on my ski clothing and camelback and was ready to go. I knew that this was probably going to be the greatest day of skiing I would ever be a part of.

    When we arrived at the slopes, I couldn't see a single thing. Snow flurries were everywhere. I knew I wasn't the only one pumped for the snow. People were gasping with amazement, yelling out cheers of excitement. There was one problem. We chose today to arrive early at the slopes. So I had to wait 30 minutes until the slopes opened. The snow was taunting us. Hurling itself at our faces. Almost whispering to us to come skiing with them. It was torture, but a good kind because I knew that the clock was ticking down and when the it reached 9:30, I was going to have the time of my life. As soon as the clock turned 9:30, I skied as fast as I could to the chair. When I got off the chair, the powder was unbelievable.
    I started down the mountain and my first time skiing in powder would not be forgotten. There was so much powder I couldn't see my skis. I felt like I was gliding. It was like nothing I've ever experienced before. The whole day was like that because it never stopped snowing. This was by far better then the first day. The whole day I was with Donavon, Drew, and Hank. We went on the terrain parks a lot. We would have contests on who could get the best air. Then we would exit the terrain park and go to the trails which were so awesome. The best one was the black diamond trail in which you could right or left. Either way you would end up on a very narrow trail and swoop down on the sharpest turn I have ever seen. This was my favorite ski day of all time.
    The weather allowed everyone to ski with a lot of fun. The people relied on the powder to ski smoothly. The geographical element HEI was in Jackson Hole. It was that the climate let everyone ski much more steadily on the soft powder. If you went skiing on hard snow or slush, you could lose balance more easily or go too fast. The powder also could almost break your fall with it's soft surface when hard snow would just bruise you. Another geographical element for the second day of skiing was Region. Wyoming is part of the High Plains. They also have a very wide mountain range including the one I skied on, the Tetons. Since they have a lot of mountains, they obviously get a lot of snow on the peaks. This draws in a myriad of people. The snow drew me in and to my surprise I had a great time.
              So long for now,
              This is Asa Hiken signing off and,
              Stay Classy, Louisville, Kentucky

Skiing: Jackson Hole Style

    Today was the first day of skiing in Jackson Hole! What a step up from Perfect North to Jackson Hole. When we got there I put on my boots and instantly felt a sharp pain go through my feet. Little did I now that it was possibly cutting off my circulation little by little. Luckily, with a little advice from Mr. Pollitt, I grabbed some boots a size larger and was ready to go. My plan was to go up the mountain and explore a little bit until around 12:30. At that time I would go back down and start my half-day lesson. This was all going right until I actually got to the mountain. I was pretty intimidated when I first saw the slopes and then I got really freaked out when I learned that what I was looking at was the green and blue slopes rather then the black slopes. So I registered for a full-day lesson and got started.

    When I first got on the slopes, I was pretty nervous. All my friends were there and this was the place to show how good you really were. My instructor's name was Jake and apparently he was a well known back country skier. He said he liked to hike up the mountains and ski right back down them. The first day's snow was pretty nice. Not too slushy, not too powdery, just right. Hockey stopping wasn't too challenging the first day and also because I wasn't going down very hard runs. Luckily, the snow was carved really great and it wasn't too slick. I was put in a group with some kids a little younger then me. One kid I will definitely remember. Mucus constantly running down his nose, his voice barely audible, and glasses the size of baseballs. His name was Sam, and Sam I will never forget.

    When I first started skiing, I knew that this trip was going to be awesome. The snow was so fun to ski on. The slopes weren't too hard and I was having so much fun that I lost track of time. We were supposed to meet up together at 12:00 and ride up the Gondola to lunch. When I went down to the meeting place, I didn't see anyone and I didn't think it was smart to ride up the Gondola and find that no one was there. I met back up with my instructor and he said I could have lunch with him and the other kids at Ski School. I had 4 sliders and a Rice Crispy Treat and got right back to skiing. We had to stay on the green slopes the whole day but most of the time we did the terrain park and the trails which were awesome. At the end of the day we got on the bus to go back to the 49'r Inn. After we relaxed a little bit I went to Mountain High Pizza Pie and had some delicious cheese and barbecue pizzas. What a way to end an awesome day!
    In Jackson Hole, there are many unique things. This makes up the geographical theme place. First, the Tetons. These beautiful mountains seem to always be completely covered in snow. So many tourists who come to Jackson Hole go skiing at the Tetons. From the small green slope, Eagle's Rest, to the nearly impossible black slope, Corbet's Couloir, any level skier can have fun. Then there are all of the  different types of restaurants that you can go to. One of these is Mountain High Pizza Pie. Here, you can enjoy a fresh baked barbecue pizza that is to die for. You can also eat a massive cheese pizza that is extremely delicious. I loved the barbecue pizza because the meat gave the pizza an amazing taste.
    The first day I skied at Jackson Hole, it was very cold. It looked like the kids on the trip I was on were the only ones really cold. That's because the people who live in the area have adapted to the environment. This is called HEI, which is Human Environment Interaction. The people are used to the weather and how there is constantly snow everywhere. Also, the people who live there have seen snow there whole life. They know what to expect when they go there. They also rely on the weather to make the snow so they can ski on it. Since Jackson Hole is mostly famous for their weather, which includes snow, they have a lot of HEI. This is why the people have adapted to the climate and are used to the weather.
             So long for now,
             This is Asa Hiken signing off and
             Stay Classy, Louisville, Kentucky