The weekend was a blast and there was never a dull moment. Kim and I finally made it to Manchester, NH (31st visited state) a little after 9PM Thursday. We met up with Tracey and Weeba at the airport and then started the drive to Killington, VT (32nd visited state). Along the way we picked up sampler packs from both Long Trail and Magic Hat Brewing Companies. We then got checked into the hotel/condo and spent the rest of the night catching up over a few drinks.

We woke up pretty early on Friday to get a jump on the crowds. I guess the weather hasn’t been the best out there, but it was perfect upon our arrival. The temperature stayed right around freezing (while the sun was out) and snow was being made often. The only time it got bad was when the wind would gust and blow away all of the powder. Then you would be left with patches of ice to ski/board on. I only took one bad fall on Friday, hitting my toe right on one of these patches of ice. It was towards the end of the day, so I toughed it out and then iced it a bunch afterward. Friday was our relaxing night, since we still had another day on the mountain. We sat in the hot tub, had pizza from Pizza Jerks, watched some TV, drank some of the beers, etc.

Saturday was another early day for us. We needed to take full advantage of our time to make sure our bodies were full of pain. One highlight of the day was the burritos we had from the Baja Burrito stand at one of the bases. Another highlight was attempting to ski/board back to our hotel after a few rounds in the lodge bar. Thankfully we were not on a steep slope, it could have been ugly. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, Sky Box Grill, and then headed out on the town. Our first stop was the Pickle Barrel, which didn’t last long. They had a $20 cover charge, per person! Instead we went over to the Upper Deck Sports Lounge. We had some drinks there, until they switched bartenders, and the new one wouldn’t let Weeba drink because of his paper driver’s license. We then headed to Moguls Sports Pub to finish off the night.

We had to be checked out at 10AM on Sunday, which was a little earlier than I would have liked, but the stop at Blanche & Bill’s Pancake House made it worthwhile. We then made the drive back to Manchester and arrived plenty early for our flights later in the day. I’ve never been extremely afraid of flying, but a few people on our flight must think that I am. Shortly after takeoff, I started to feel a little weak, sweaty, shaky, etc. I felt like I couldn’t breathe very well, but in actuality I was hyperventilating. A very kind doctor said that I might have had a low blood sugar level that triggered this, along with the anxiety of flying. He considered it a panic attack, something that I am familiar with but didn’t think I would ever experience. And now that I might have experienced one, I hope to never experience it or anything like it again.

Despite the craziness of yesterday, the trip was well worth it and everyone had a blast! We talked about doing it again next year, either to Killington again or somewhere else in the northeast.

Killington on Dwellable