A Perfectly Exhausting Day

 I think I deserved a huge plate of ribs for dinner last night. After arriving home carrying my ski boots tied around my neck and my skis and poles balanced precariously in my arm, my helmet swinging from the backpack on my back and the sweat mounting on my neck and lower back, for the first time in a long time I was actually too exhausted to be hungry.

Warmed from the strenuous hike I was in the mood only to lay on my bed in my base layers and record the last few days on my laptop, catch up on the internet. When the brunt of the exhaustion subsided I was able to put my ski and snowboard things away for another long week and hopped into the shower to wash my hair. The hot water pelting my sore neck muscles is always a luxury too short to enjoy in its fullest.

After my shower I went back to my computer, towel wrapped around my hair. My warm, lotioned skin radiated heat through my sweatpants and fleece sweater and I basked in relaxation, as I so rarely am able to do, after a long and somewhat stressful day at Coronet. My day began unfortunately before my alarm went off at 8:35am since I sleep quite restlessly, still not having perfected temperature controls for my slumber, and I'm sure I was awake for quite a time before the alarm went off. Groggily I got up and started getting organized to be ready for 9:30am, hoping I would have enough time to make and eat my porridge without having to scarf it down. The gloomy weather blocking out the early light didn't help my energy level, but I figured if the weather was lousy maybe the kids wouldn't want to ski as long.

I slowly continued to get ready, thinking to myself that if they called to want to leave earlier it just wasn't going to happen. Just seconds before entering the shower I did hear my pop music ring tone go off and affirmed in my mind the fact that leaving earlier just wasn't going to happen.

“I hate to ask this but...” Simone began. Here it comes, no I can't leave earlier.

“Would we be able to cancel today? We had someone's 40^th last night and the kids are exhausted as well.”

It was 9:10am, I was almost ready to go for my 9:30am pick up time. The long audible pensive groan I let out conveyed my sentiments exactly.

“Well, I was really counting on the money to pay my rent for next week,” not to mention the fact that it's incredibly rude to waste my time and not pay me anything.

“I can give you the money today and pay you in advanced for next weekend,” she suggested.

My brain lit up. Normally I would feel at least a little guilty for taking $200 for not actually providing any services, but I didn't feel a shred of hesitation agreeing to that arrangement. In fact they should have paid me $50 for canceling since I could have made plans for the day or slept in, in addition to paying for the following weekend. Still, if they cancel again, I have the money. I don't like to burn bridges, and like to be congenial, but my time is worth money, and I have more esteem than acting like an on-call servant girl. Besides, they can afford it, and her voice didn't hint at any reservation or humility in her offer. We agreed I would pick up the cash later in the day.

So, I had the day to myself. My things were ready to go so I decided to gear-up after my shower and head to Coronet, even if it was cloudy up there. The gloom in the valley wasn't conducive to anything productive anyway. While carrying my skis down to the Snow Centre was literally quite painful, as was just barely missing the bus that Hannah and Bobbi were on, the day at the mountain was perfect. The inversion was tremendous, Coronet and the surrounding mountains a lush white paradise above a sea of salt and pepper grey clouds. It's almost a shame for the warm pre-spring-like conditions, but the weather was mild with no wind and between families leaving their holidays and being deterred by the weather in town the mountain was hardly crowded, no queues for Coronet Express and Meadows Express were almost nonexistent at lunch as well, and still bearable besides.

I rushed right for Greengates and enjoyed a mogul run, a carving run and another mogul run before cruising over to the center area. I found Hannah and Bobbi right away as they were coming back outside from a break and joined them for a few easy runs off Big Easy and the tiny lower section of the M1. I couldn't restrain myself coaching them a little bit, simply reminding them to get on the forward leg by bending it and explaining the significance.

After a while we went to the lodge – 'lodge as I loosely call it' and grabbed something to eat – both Hannah and Bobbi got burgers and I joined them outside in a bit after deciding to try the olive and artichoke with pesto and parmesan muffin. I mean, really, when else would I ever eat something like that? For $4 it was one of the most filling and delicious muffins I have ever had, wholeheartedly preferring the savory muffins to sweet any day – there were even whole olives interspersed and small chunks of artichoke heart bits. It was a little gooey in the center and would prefer it fluffier, but it was still delicious and between the muffin and my exhaustion I didn't crave food that night, and even had the patience (by 'patience' I mean 'properly regulated blood sugar') to search all around town to find just the right spot to plop down with my book for the evening and enjoy a nice meal, much like how a dog sniffs in circles, looking for exactly the right place to pee (what an analogy).

After wandering around every street in town I narrowed it down to a few choices at Pub on Wharf for $20, or a Thai beef salad for $16 and trying out Morrison's with $11 bangers and mash and a few other pub grub options. In my wandering I decided to stop into Monty's for no apparently good reason and as I turned to leave at the back of the room I heard someone call my name and turned to greet Paul and Anthony, sitting amongst the Deco crew enjoying some beers. They said that a friend at the hostel had been performing there and they all came down. I also had to apologize to Owen because I had been trying to meet up with him on the mountain at Remarks the day before and he ended up waiting for me at the top of the lift, but I pretty much felt compelled to stay with Nat and Gary or get permanently separated for the day.

After a short while longer I walked out with Anthony and we chatted as we went down the street by the water. I continued on to Pub on Wharf and he went back to Deco – the main problem with having a crew of backpacker friends is they're usually going to save the money and eat at the hostel, but I had been looking forward to sitting and reading by myself anyway.

I ordered the ribs and took a luxurious seat at a large table by the window. I leaned back against it, comfortable on my cushioned seat, and began reading. I actually made a large chunk in the book for once. Although it was about the travel journal of a woman, which I thought was an interesting parallel to writing my own journal, it was a bit dry of a read, and my life tends to be rather distracting.

The plate of ribs was quite significant, a very tasty and decent portion, and was especially well-complimented by the side salad and substituting the chips for fresh steamed veggies – very yum. I felt that for $20 it was a substantial meal, well-worth trudging up the hill with my skis and scouring town to find and enjoy all the more.

Quite satisfied with the way the entire day turned out, I headed back up the hill to get a good night's sleep and start the week over again.