My near-death experience

 Sooooooooo..who wants to hear about my snowboarding trip? Or should I say falls? ;) 

Let me tell you know - I wasn't great. In fact.. I fell a lot. But, I had fun because of the friends I was with! I made many memories, and I may just try it again next year. So, onto my funny stories! 

 This is going up the bigger hill (I started out on the kiddie hill..I actually made it down that hill fine the first time! I don't know what happened afterwards). Anyway, on my way up the larger slope I was freaking out. I had been told by many friends that getting off the lift was one of the hardest things to do. I braced myself and got off fine the first time! Score! Let's just say my confidence was up pretty high.. at least until I went down the slope...

I told my friends in the snowboarding group "do NOT leave me!". I was pretty scared of breaking something and being alone.. They told me not to worry "it will be fine!". So, I started down.. I did pretty well, until I came to a "fork in the hill". There were 3 choices - I didn't know where to go! So, I went on the easiest looking one (turns out that was the hardest..oh great, Julia!). Before I knew it, I was going extremely fast! I didn't know how to slow down very well... 

Boom!

I wiped out. reallllly badly. I could taste the blood in my mouth and everything. I quickly took my glove off and felt my face for any blood..thankfully I only slightly bit my tongue. I was so shaken up that I took off my snowboard and admitted defeat. I was done. I did what I was so scared of doing on my first run! I walked back to the ski lodge where I knew some of my friends were hanging out. (Oh, and by this time my snowboarding group was freaking out because I disappeared...apparently I went down the wrong slope?! No kidding! ;) ) 

By the time I got back to the lodge ( I realllly went the wrong way!) it was lunch time. My group found me and gave me a good scolding (haha!) for leaving them after I told them not to leave me! I told my friends about my wipeout and how I didn't think I could do it anymore. (after-all, staying in a ski lodge isn't that horrible, is it?!) 

 This is how my poor friends found me. See? Very shaken up! (start the sad music ;) ) Let's just say, I have smart friends. They let me warm up and calm down a bit before they encouraged me to go back out. I finally gave in because someone else in our group told me that he would teach me how to snowboard. I guess I needed a new teacher? ;) I went out there a bit scared...I'll admit it! But, I wasn't going to give in. I had a moment of defeat...I wasn't going to go home saying I spent the whole day in the lodge..no! 

I was going to snowboard. 

So after more learning and fixing my snowboard strap (I guess -12 is too cold for plastic?!) we were back on the ski lift. Yes, I made it off the lift once again with no problems. Yay! In the picture above I am getting my courage up before going down the slope for my second time...thanks Bree for getting that shot! ;) Can you tell that I am saying "you can do this..you can do this!" to myself? 

Well..I think I wiped out 10 or so times going down that second time. I would get very scared once I started going fast...I actually never did figure out how to slow down! haha! I was very thankful for my patient snowboarding group...they wouldn't give up on me, so I wouldn't either. I had a few people (including my sister who was skiing) try to get me to switch to skis...but nothing doing. I am a stubborn person when I set my mind on something. 

 After a while (and I was doing better by now!) my group said we should go to biggest hill. I was told the view was amazing - I just had to see it! I was a little scared about going down the slope, but I figured I could work my way down slowly. Guys, seriously, it was so beautiful up there! But, it was also 10 degrees colder up there...and being that the temp was already 10 below, it was really cold. We all strapped on our snowboards and started down....................

I made it ..okay, I'm not even going to tell you how far..it is too embarrassing - anyway, I made it not too far from where I started and I wiped out really bad. I heard my neck crack! NECK CRACK! :O I was told later by my group that it looked like a really bad wipe out - my worse out of all. Believe me..it hurt. I once again took my board off and walked down the rest of that part of the slope to where my group was waiting. I did put it back on though! I actually finished the the run! 

So, as you can see, snowboarding and I didn't mix very well. But, being the Julia that I am, I can turn my painful day into a funny tale. I like telling stories, can you tell? ;) 

I got up at 6 a.m and got home around 8 p.m. I was so exhausted that I was falling asleep on the couch! :D And, if you've ever been snowboarding, you know how you feel the day after. I think the worst part for me was my neck. I couldn't move it for days! And if someone asked me to go snowboarding again on that day I would have said no. In fact, I did tell my sister that I don't think I could do it again...but looking at these pictures and remembering the memories I made, I've changed my mind. I'll go again.

You hear that hill? I will beat you! 

Have you ever been snowboarding? If so, tell me a funny story from your adventure! How did you like the ski lift? And, would you go snowboarding if someone asked you after reading this post?