Si Trip to Liberty

My mom and Micah on
the beginner slope

Today, after a snow dusting in Maryland, we decided to drive up to Liberty Mountain Resort in southern Pennsylvania. Since we had decided not to go on a trip to Wisp Resort in western Maryland last weekend, we decided to go to this resort, which was much closer, on our snow day. On a regular weekend it would've been crowded, but today there was almost nobody. Plus, we got a first-time-skiing package, which was much cheaper today than it would've been on a weekend. It seemed as if they had also had a dusting, because the surrounding mountains were covered in snow. It took just an hour to drive there, and it took even longer to get the passes and put on our ski gear. We had to wait half an hour at the base of the beginner slope for the lesson to start, but it did start. They divided us into groups, and my mom ended up in a different one. It was a bummer, because her teacher taught much quicker, while ours went through every detail quite slowly. While he was taking us down the slope, he declared that i was "perfectly capable to go down by myself." It was probably because I had been skiing before. We met up with our mom, did that slope a couple of times, and then ate our bagged lunch. Mom and Micah spent a bit of time using the "carpet," which was a conveyor belt that carried skiers up a segment of the slope. When we all had the hang of it, we all skied down the slope, and limited our falls to almost zero. We took videos and pictures, and then drove home. Good thing Eli and I are going skiing at a nearby resort from March 6-8 with our youth group!

Only one inch of snow
cancelled school in
Montgomery County

Eli and I on the lift

Us after we got our
skis on

Snowstorm in D.C.

Mom is outside, about to go
for a walk

Micah on the field in the
"Down Park"

It started around mid-morning, and then got heavy. See, there was already a good two inches on the ground from Tuesday's snow, but, so far, it has snowed four or five inches on top of that. In most places, the snow is almost eight inches. My brothers and I played a football game in the snow, bringing back memories from December 2013, when Grandma was here for Thanksgiving, and when her flight back to Oregon was cancelled. We went sledding next, and took great videos, even from on the sled. After that was jumping off the swings into the soft, powdery snow that covered the wood chips. We had an opportunity to go skiing at Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland, but passed, because they were to get a foot of snow. Getting snowed in without being able to drive back would've been a terrible experience. Right now, the snow is still coming down very hard, dumping much more than expected. We can enjoy this weather while we have it, because predictions say that March will be warmer than average in the northeast, so this will probably be our last snowstorm. We are exited about spring, though, especially after seeing the pictures of Oregon. Mom and Dad are on a walk to wherever, and our street hasn't been plowed. Dad says it's because Washington D.C. doesn't handle snow very well, so spring should welcome us!

- Daniel

Footsteps from the football
game cover the backyard

The backyard as seen from my
parents' bedroom