BiblioGrind
On the Rim of a Millstone
Archive for Apple Canyon Winter '08
January 25, 2008 at 11:33 am · Filed under Apple Canyon Winter '08
This is the way to visit Disney World: no lines.
Most rides—The Tower of Terror, Rock’n'Roll Rollercoaster, Space Mountain, Expedition Everest—me and Jen walked through empty switchback line markers and on up to short queues onto the cars. I remember years back how horrible the lines were, waiting nearly an hour for a two-minute thrill. That sucked.
January cool temps and coming on the heels of holiday break, there were fewer crowds.
My Top-5 Rides were: 1. Expedition Everest (good roller coaster, neat gimmick to change up the traditional ride); 2. PhilharMagic (3-D with Mickey & Donald; very dramatic and eye-popping); 3. Mission to Mars (a centrifuge experience … don’t eat before you ride); 4. The Tower of Terror (elevator action like being in a disaster movie); and, 5. Rock’n'Roll Rollercoaster (feature Aerosmith’s music…a few loops in the dark, corkscrews, and one hell of a launch at the start!).
If you’ve never been, I highly recommend touring Epcot’s worldwide country pavilions. Two reasons: you can snack on things from different cultures, and you can drink good beer, wine and champange while you cover the globe. For many armchair travelers, the little movies and rides give just enough to whet your appetite to get off the couch, apply for a passport (come on, add to the measly 30% of USAers who have one), and get out of your potato chip comfort zone.
Maybe the cutest moment (besides being with Jen through it all) was when I ordered lunch near Space Mountain. We had cool weather, and I had bought a hooded sweatshirt with Grumpy on it. The cashier used that look to make her day less monotonous: “What would you like, Mr Grumpy?” “Do you want a drink with that, Mr Grumpy?” “That’ll be $11.50 Mr Grumpy.” “Have a nice day, Mr Grumpy.”
Yeah, cute.
January 9, 2008 at 2:07 pm · Filed under Apple Canyon Winter '08
After much fretting, and a useless FedEx tracking number (how’s that for a long hit-tail to draw people to this site?), my skis, boots and other shit have arrived in Chicago. I’m happy.
Just in time for a little ski weekend planned with Jennifer & The Mandala Gang in mid-Feb to Granite Mount, (drum roll) Wisconsin. Actually, if you check their website (www.granitemontain.com) you’ll see a nice bit of Midwestern hill just 4 hrs from Chicago. Granite has 7 lifts, a 750+ ft verticle drop, tree skiing, a designated mogul run (that’s where I’ll be teaching the plebes), a coupl’a lodges with fireplaces and bar scenes. Sorry, no heli-skiing this time around.
To spread the joy of the newly arrived skis, here’s a pic of me in Chamonix, June ‘06, when I first purchased my skis and boots.
January 8, 2008 at 11:14 am · Filed under Apple Canyon Winter '08
Typhoid Mary walked through the door,
Her name is Jennifer, the girl I adore!
She coughed, I breathed — I nearly died.
“Get-me-to-hospital-or-dig-my-grave!” I cried.
The country doctor could not take my call,
Though his trusted N.P. pitied my fall.
She called the Rx with a script, oh glee!
I waited in line, needing to pee.
The pills were not plentiful, but oh so strong.
Red and oval—like Christmas!—So who can go wrong?
I’m up and around, my throat lump all gone,
I feel like flying to good ‘ole Hong Kong.
Those doctors in lab coats are Wizards, I say.
To Hark! To Heel! It’s a brand new day!
Bring me chocolates, oh bring me champagne …
The druggist has struck; let’s dance in the rain!
January 8, 2008 at 10:37 am · Filed under Apple Canyon Winter '08
ACL has always experienced a January thaw. Not quite like this year’s, though.
Just when I thought a complete winter might take me along to experience what I had remembered of winter, Global Warming has woken up the neighborhood. Yesterday the temps nearly made it to 50. Today we’re looking at mid-40s by afternoon. And the rain has come down like I’ve been sitting in a Southeast Asian rice paddy.
The lake was perfectly frozen last week – nearly 12 inches of ice out near the center. I can still walk on parts of the lake, but that wouldn’t be wize. Nonetheless, it’s a beautiful scene, if only a couple months too soon in coming.
January 1, 2008 at 3:32 pm · Filed under Apple Canyon Winter '08
I was looking forward to New Year’s Eve at ACL … a party at the clubhouse, some dancing, lots of champagne. Jen was sick as a dog, though (with strep throat, prolly, of all things), and I was coming down with that love transfer myself. So we went out anyway, were seated next to the short side speaker of the live band, and nearly fell asleep at 11pm. That wouldn’t have been too bad, in fact.
We stuck out the last hour and “celebrated” with a dance and toast, then got the hell out of there. Once again, I (we) realized that the best New Year’s Eve was a slow, quiet night at home, watching a little tube, having a snack, and waking up to the next year instead of seeing it slink in.
Guess the eyes, win a prize? Nuh-uh!!! Allll mine, te-he.
January 1, 2008 at 3:01 pm · Filed under Apple Canyon Winter '08
I sort of knew Jennifer was selling herself short. Back in August, when I took her out to the tennis court to swing a racket (and make her run around like a field mouse), she was hitting solid forehands and backhands within a half hour. She hadn’t played tennis since high school gym class. What I saw was an athlete given a challenge. She’s competitive, she doesn’t like to lose, she has to prove to herself (at the least) that she can do anything.
So imagine what was going through my mind when she dissed her own skiing abilities. Her’s a woman who has skied since eight years old or so; has skied several times in the Rocky Mountains. She wanted me to “teach her.” Okay. I could do that.
And then I watched Jennifer ski yesterday, and thought, “What a sandbagger!” She skis like a duck swims: as natural a movement as breathing. Jen would say I’m crazy for giving her such an accolade, but she’s modest. Look here: she hasn’t skied in three years. Yesterday, within half a run (a short run at that), she was making perfectly correct serpentine turns down the hill, with good pole plants at the start of each turn, going so fast that her ski tips were nearly on the tails of my skis.
Okay, sure Jen needs some practice to get better than she ever thought she was. Don’t we all? Don’t we all want to get better? I can’t wait to get Jen out on a real mountain. Long runs, smooth turns, apres ski drinks, warm fires in the hearth at night.
Yummie!
December 29, 2007 at 11:15 am · Filed under Apple Canyon Winter '08
Okay, NW Illinois is not completely remote, but on wintry days with blinding snowfall, ten inches of wet flakes, remnants of previous ice storms covering roads, and shit tires, there’s little else left to the imagination. Getting Mom and Dad to ACL yesterday from Chicago was an adventure that turned uber-adventure when we dipped into the Little Apple River valley and nearly could not get out.
The first run at a steep rise ended in a 180-degree spin back down. Fun!! Bring the kids!! The second run was spinning tires, the smell of rubber, and a slip-slide shunter up the road. Five more hills like that and we stood at the top of the driveway. There was no way to get the car back up if we ventured down. Better to open a bottle of wine and eat cheese and bread & butter.
The best method to bring down luggage from car to house is by sled. Now we are living the Siberian lifestyle!
Later, some human-cargo sledding had to be tried just to make us feel like kids again. (pics soon!). There’s nothing quite like snow covering you from toe to head that screams “FUN!” And then there are the Snow Satans carved into the powdery blanket outside the windows.
Here’s Marv testing out his new boots and skinny skis … making headway down to the frozen lake where he can make tracks for the days ahead.
December 20, 2007 at 4:48 pm · Filed under Apple Canyon Winter '08
Shakespeare said it best, I think: To ski, or not to ski.
This is the question.
If you’ve never skied Iowa, you’ve never quite experienced skiing at its most basic. Listen, any skier gets used to pulling into a resort parking lot and looking up at the mountain, where white rivers of frozen water crystals mark the routes they ache to get at, where chair lifts packed with eager skiers zip ski-ward. At Sundown Mountain, you also enter the parking lot and see the chairlifts, but what you’re seeing is the top of the “mountain.” You could easily be pulling into the lot of your local drugstore. No matter, you think, This is the place to be!
You want to hit the steep stuff. Sundown has this. As you edge over the drop-in, you wonder just what this run will look like. Looking down the Hoover Dam? Well, not quite. Yet for six exhilarating turns, you may just as well be nailing an Olympic downhill run. Then of course the hill flattens out like the chest of a ten year old boy.
Sundown Mountain is not the mountain I learned to ski on, but it is a ski palace of a sort. When you can’t get out to the Rockies, and Chamonix, France, is a fresh, nagging, aching, raw memory filled with bliss, comraderie, near death experinces, red wine, meat cooked on hot stones, and lots of black humor re tripping avalanches, this little piece of Iowa means that skiing goes on.
I ski, therefore I am.
My new ski buddy for the Apple Canyon winter: John Mandala
December 15, 2007 at 8:38 pm · Filed under Apple Canyon Winter '08
I’m looking for ice skates in the garage, but so far without success. The lake is mightily frozen. I saw ice-fishing tents out far in the middle. I don’t want to go ice fishing. I want to take a shovel down to the lake and clear off a space the size of a hockey rink, put on some skates, and go round in circles. Should I go left-to-right, or right-to-left? If I can’t find a hockey stick, what should use in its place? If I can’t find a puck, what would serve just as well?
People have asked me if I’m lonely living out here in winter, “with nothing to do.” I’ve got plenty to do, actually. I also have myself. That’s pretty damned good, most of the time.
I was reading a novel, where an English gentleman was unnerved by Americans because they did things unabashedly, without so much inner thought about what others might think. This English guy found this sort of thinking was opposite to the British, who are self-conscious about themselves, and about how they look to others. I must ask my English/British friends then: are you comfortable with yourself? able to feel good in your own skin? This won’t be a scientific study, but a half-asses survey with likely few responses. I have my own thoughts on this, of course … based on observation.
Whatever answers I get, I think this “feel free in your skin” question is more about personality than cultural norms (or abnorms); more likely a generational thing, too. I have friends across the country who, when they talk about their friends, point out a select few who cannot stand being alone. They need people around, and they need to be talking. Imagine, not wanting to be with yourself, sitting in silence, communing with your own thoughts.
That’s fucked up.
December 12, 2007 at 8:17 pm · Filed under Apple Canyon Winter '08
Sunrise came below a blue sky. This contrasted with the last few days, where a white gloaming had settled across n.w. illinois, visibility halted below half a mile. But this sun, and the sky, illuminated all that was ice covered. And this was everything outside my window.
There was no way, no reason, for me to leave the house today. I wrote from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., with a little break for a workout. Why, I asked myself, would I need to walk up the driveway? I have ice skates.
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