After going to bed at 1:30, it was hard getting up, but I did manage to be up by 6:15. After my shower and making a fresh pot of coffee, I rolled Randy out bed at 6:45. Finally, after last-minute preps and packing up the car, we were on our way by 7:30.

The day was sunny so the roads were dry. There were not too much traffic on the road. Of course, since this is Friday and most able-bodies folks were working, the ones who were out were the homemakers and retired folks. When we did run into traffice, there would be a cluster of slow drivers. Sigh!

We made it to Heavenly close at 10:30. By the time we got up on the gondola and changed, it was after 11, so we decided to have an early lunch. After lunch, we split up - Randy to the intermediate and diamond slopes and me to the beginner and intermediate slopes.

The lodge takes you out to the Patsy slope (the bunny slope). I boarded down to the lift and checked my map. The Waterfall lift was right next to the Patsy lift and promised a longer beginner run with intermediate runs off of it. I went down the beginner Maggie's run a couple of times. The third time up, I decided to try the blue Powderbowl run to the left. To my surprise, I had no problems going down the run. The run was wide with no one on it, so it was a dream slope for practicing S-turns. I managed to make it down the run without falling. At the "SLOW" sign, I decided to try the steep short run that led back to Maggie's and promptly wiped out. At the bottom, I meant to turn back onto Maggie's but took a wrong turn and went back further down Powderbowl, ending up at the intersection of Swing Trails, Mombo, and Waterfall (a Diamond run). I consulted my map and decided to try Mombo's. Mombo's led me through some narrow roads and, because the day had stayed sunny and warm (in the 50's), some spots that had turned slushy. The run itself was longer than I wanted and mostly boring because of the long flat areas. I did Powderbowl a couple more times, managing to make it down that short steep section where I wiped out initially. The correct turn onto Maggie's after that section was uphill and flat, and unless if I was able to maintain speed, usually made me come to a stop, making me paddle the rest of the way to get to a section where I could board again. The third time down, I decided to try the Sky Chute blue run which led down to the Skydeck and bathrooms (!). The Sky Chute run was steeper than I expected, so I wiped out a couple of times going down. There were a lot of people at Skydeck since it was so gorgeous out. I stopped only long enough to use the bathrooms. The Sky Express lift was right there. Since there were only blue and diamond runs off of it, I decided to hike back uphill to Mombo's. The hike took around 10 minutes. Going back down the run next (and I am feeling quite comfortable on Powerbowl now), I decided to try the Cat Track blue run at the bottom. The trail was narrow so I had a hard time since I did not want to go too uphill and I did not want to end up down the cliff. Also because the trail was very slushy in areas, when my board catches on the sludge and I fall, it was very wet going down (yuck!). I tried Cat Track a couple more times before I decided that the challenge does not outweigh the yuckiness of falling on sludge. I stayed on Maggie's after that, but still did Powderbowl towards the top. One time down the short steep run off of Powderbowl, I fell hard and hit my head on the snow. I was really glad that I had a helmet. With the helmet, I could hardly feel the bump. Thank goodness! At 4, I went up the Patsy lift to the lodge to meet Randy. 

Randy showed up shortly after and we made our way to the hotel. After showers, we had dinner at the Taj Mahal Indian Cuisine which was right next to the hotel. Randy said that the posted hotel owner names were Indian so his guess was that they also ran the restaurant. It did seem like a family affair, with Mom and son and uncle waiting the tables and Pop and another uncle cooking the food. The food was great if a bit on the spicy side.

After dinner, Randy went for a walk to check out other hotels in the area, but I decided to stay in and read. I get enough exercise when I am not vacationing! Thank you very much!