The time warp that is traveling to New Zealand can leave anyone a little confused. How, exactly, did I completely skip a day? August 29th, for me, simply didn’t happen. And that’s really strange. On the return trip, I will get to live a day twice and, technically, I will be in two places at once. I always did love the movie “Back to the Future”. So here I am, en route to New Zealand, ready to ski to my hearts content for a full 2.5 weeks. But before I go all travel-crazy on you, let me recap the last week of summer!
4 plane tickets, lots of travel...and ready to roll! (photo by Jason Cork)

4 plane tickets, lots of travel…and ready to roll! (photo by Jason Cork)

When I left Stratton, Vermont, I was ready to be done with the hot, humid days of summer. Training in the heat has never been my thing. To be honest, I was born to be a winter athlete, and my engine runs too hot for optimal performance in the summer. Much like the phone or computer you’re holding…overheating means imminent shutdown. So how did I make it through the last week with a few scorcher days? I was stoic and suffered in silence. Just kidding! I complained about being too hot, which didn’t actually DO anything but possibly made me feel a tiny bit better. And I focused on proper hydration before, during and after workouts, using Nuun tablets to get enough electrolytes to replace everything I was quickly sweating out (and no, I did NOT get paid to write that, so you know I really believe in the product).
We had an open clinic hosted at the Stratton Mountain School where anyone could come train with our pro team for a bounding and agility workout. It was fun seeing some new faces, and familiar faces too!
Demonstrating long jumps in our agility course (photo by Coach Pat)

Demonstrating long jumps in our agility course (photo by Coach Pat)

Tire stepping! (photo by Coach Pat)

Tire stepping! (photo by Coach Pat)

Andy demonstrating good bounding technique and arm swing (photo by Coach Pat)

Andy demonstrating good bounding technique and arm swing (photo by Coach Pat)

Running through some slalom cones (photo by Coach Pat)

Running through some slalom cones (photo by Coach Pat)

Taking time to garden, grow delicious food and then cook new dishes has always made me really happy. Probably in part because as a skier, I eat nearly as much food as a man twice my size. So whatever I learn to cook, you can be sure that I’ll be eating a lot of it! Having a garden is something I grew up with, so the last couple summers in Vermont I’ve had herbs growing in pots on the deck. I stroll out to water and check on them daily, usually with my morning coffee in hand. And yes, sometimes I give them a little “growing pep talk”.
A bee hovering around the basil starting to go to seed.

A bee hovering around the basil starting to go to seed.

This summer I bought basil and what I thought were cherry tomatoes…until I realized that the little labeled popsicle stick wasn’t correct and I was about to have 4 large pots growing all over the railing with about 30 little green tomatoes starting up! A few of them turned ripe just in time for me to cook with them before heading out of town, and my new favorite easy-to-make meal is pasta with a sauce made out of nothing but chopped tomatoes from the deck, a large handful of basil, and salt all simmered together until the tomatoes break down. Totally delicious.
My beautiful red tomatoes!

My beautiful red tomatoes!

Obviously, I was psyched about it.

Obviously, I was psyched about it.

I also turned 25 last weekend! I can finally rent a car without financial penalty! Not as cool a bonus as turning 21, but I’ll take it. My boyfriend Wade came to visit me, and I had an absolutely wonderful birthday filled with skiing (of course), swimming and relaxing at the snowmaking pond, and going to the Bondeville fair. It’s one of the cute, small-town fairs that travel around and we go watch the truck-pull and ride the rides nearly every year I’ve been out east. When we got home from the fair, my teammates came over and we had a bonfire over which we roasted s’mores. I don’t know about you, but it’s really hard to beat a good s’more, especially when you use fancy chocolate, so that’s what I had asked for instead of birthday cake this year. We wisely paired the s’mores with sparklers and had a lot of fun!
Wade and I on a ride at the fair!

Wade and I on a ride at the fair!

Mallows and sparklers...what a nice night! (photo from Erika Flowers)

Mallows and sparklers…what a nice night! (photo from Erika Flowers)

Blowing out my marshmallow candle! (photo from Erika)

Blowing out my marshmallow candle! (photo from Erika)

Now, I’m headed up to the Snow Farm. I can’t wait to get on the trails, see our friends who run the awesome training facility, see if the toilets really DO flush the other direction, and take lots of photos (of the mountains, not the toilets, silly)! So check back here soon for an update.

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