A "Weekend" Getaway

Bo and I just got back from a 2-night stay at my parents' Wintergreen house. It was the first time we have left Jack for an overnighter, and it was really strange! We missed him a lot, but we had a great time.

We decided to go up to the mountain for a few days because I had always wanted to try tubing, and so that Bo and I could go skiing together. Now, I hate skiing--I hate everything about it--but I decided to take one for the team and accompany Bo on the slopes for an hour or two. We also planned to go swimming at the spa and just generally relax.

At first, we had planned to go skiing when we got up there on Monday, for the "Twilight" session, which includes afternoon and night skiing. When I researched prices online, I found that there would not be any night skiing on Monday, so that idea was thrown out immediately. So then I thought maybe we could to tubing for a couple of hours on Monday and just ski on Tuesday....but there was no tubing on Mondays either. So then I thought maybe we could just go and have a leisurely lunch at Blue Mountain Microbrewery, which is on the way out to Wintergreen. I got on their website to research their hours and found out that they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Finally we settled on Devil's Backbone Microbrewery, which was actually OPEN!!! Yayyyyyyy.....

So then when we got up to the Mountain we went right away to buy Bo's lift ticket for Tuesday and to figure out what would be a good time to go tubing. The lift ticket was purchased without a problem...but then we found out that they would not be offering tubing on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, which were the only days we would be up there. GREAT. A little disappointment ensued, but we decided to make the best of it. Later Monday night we decided to go to dinner at the Edge (where I used to work) and then go for a night time swim at the Wintergarden Spa. Typically, the spa is open until about 10pm, but we decided to call and make sure of their hours. Good thing we did because they decided to close at 7:45 that night. So.....we decided to do the spa first, then dinner.

Tuesday morning we got up and got ready to hit the slopes. The plan was for Bo and me to ski together until lunch time, then have lunch and Bo would go back out on his own (since I hate to ski). So we went through the whole ritual: finding ski pants, hats, mittens/gloves, skis, boots, hand warmers, foot warmers, etc. around the house. Then, we layered some clothing, put our ski boots on, and were ready to roll. Bo loaded up the skis and poles into the car...and then I had to re-do my ski boots. Then we were ready to go. We got in the car, and *click click click* the car wouldn't start. We tried several times and got nothing. Skiing postponed.

We called a local auto shop and they said they could get a tow truck up the mountain in 3 hours. We called Wintergreen and they told us there was a shuttle to the slopes that could pick us up at the end of the road...but that would entail walking to the end of the road in ski boots. Not happening. So Bo put on his tennis shoes and walked down to the shuttle so that he could get a rain check for his lift ticket. When he got back, we relaxed a bit, and then he decided that he would try to start the car again. It worked. Strangely enough, the car started with no problems! Praise God! We called the auto shop and cancelled, then settled in to watch a movie.

Later that afternoon we decided to get out of the house and go get some soup at the Black Bear Cafe. It's a cute little coffee shop near the spa, and they serve great little sandwiches and soups. We pulled up and found a sign on the door saying...you guessed it...that the Black Bear Cafe was closed until further notice.

That really was the last mishap of our vacation, with the exception of the vacuum breaking in the midst of our clean-up time. I have to say though...it wouldn't be a Cobb family vacation without a few mishaps. Or several.