Into the woods
Experiment: Take a geeky urban girl to a cabin on a ranch miles from the nearest town where her mobile phone barely gets a signal (much less web access!) and see what happens.
This is almost on the scale of when the gals I used to go dancing with decided it would be a great idea for us to shoot paintball in a remote patch of the Santa Cruz mountains one weekend. Lemme tell you, girlyish girls against commando twelve-year olds who play every weekend is no contest, especially when the kids disregard the rules and shoot you at close range. I had several bruises six inches in diameter over the next week that REALLY HURT!
Anyway, I don’t own hiking boots or a Nalgene bottle. (I used to think these were standard issue for residents of Portland.)
I haven’t skiied in years.
The gloves I own are more dress than sport.
If it involves wearing something warmer than my cardigan sweater, you may have difficulty convincing me to go outside.
I have trouble sleeping when it is too quiet outside.
My most recent forays into nature have involved watching documentaries.
All things considered, I did pretty well. I bundled up with about fifty layers (Think StayPuft Marshmellows) and we rented gear so they could introduce me to Xcountry skiing. This ain’t no Nordic Track machine — this was a real trek through the woods! The longer we skiied the more layers came off because that is a hell of a workout. And yes, I laughed my ass off the first few times I fell. At one point we were hiking up hills so we could “faux downhill.” I used to ski downhill every weekend as a kid, so my legs did not understand the concept that my heels were not attached to the bindings and that led to balance issues. My instinct is to traverse and dig your edges in to slow down. Can’t do that with Xcountry and we weren’t telemarking! 
I was able to keep up pretty well, and fortunately I wasn’t the only newbie in our group. As we were wrapping up the trek I had to focus intensely in order to keep my balance and my skis going in a straight line. The last time I fell it was one of those “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” moments because the deep powder made it difficult to get traction. My body was staging an outright revolt because it was quite comfortable being seated in the powder, thank you very much. With a helping hand I made it up and back to the jeep without much more trouble. The lattes we picked up on the way back to the cabin were well deserved!
The cabin where we were staying was gorgeous. It’s the kind of place I would have designed as a child between the loft, plants, indoor jacuzzi, and huge fireplace — sort of like a huge playhouse! Comforting to wake up bathed in sunlight and the first thing you see are snow flocked trees out the huge picture windows. The open spiral staircase made me nervous after a few glasses of wine, though. Good food, great wine, excellent company, and stimulating conversation made my weekend complete. I learned some new recipes, too!
Maybe you *can* take the geek girl out of the city from time to time…
Sounds like a blast! I haven’t been skiing (downhill or cross-country) in years.
Cross country skiing, that sounds like a workout…glad to hear it was fun though…
Heels not attached to the BINDINGS? What is this craziness?
I love Xcountry skiing. I even own my own skis, including all the attire that goes with it. I learned cross country first, so downhill was a challenge for me! I sure miss the snow and skiing where I live now!
Where is that house?? It looks too fabulous! Is it a vacation rental, or do you have to know somebody and be invited??
I’m sooo jealous!
Alas, you need to be invited. It’s located in central Oregon.