Mango Escapades: Monarch Skiing Escapade

After many failed attempts we finally hit the slopes. So we decided to shred the gnar!! Monarch Mountain was our destination. Laurie and I went to Blindside to rent our gear. The owner was kind enough to let us rent some top notch gear. I got to rent the #1 women's snowboard for 2011 and Laurie go to rent 1400 dollar skis. Our friends Jessica and Richard went along for this escapade.

Richard was kind enough to drive us in the caddie. We all met at Casa de Jenkins around 7 am. Laurie showed up with a delicious treat. She found out it was National Nutella Day, so she made Mango Nutella Muffins.

Who knew you could combine two of Maria's favorite things?!

Mango + Nutella = Surprisingly Delicous

We got the car packed and we were on our way to Monarch. When we finally got there, it was starting to snow, we could tell this was going to be a cold day. Before hitting the slopes Maria wanted to practice on the bunny slope. After a few attempts she felt ok enough to try the lift. She was always scared of the lift considering she had always fallen. We rode the lift to the top, Maria fell immediately and was informed that the chair almost hit her. This freaked her out but decided to try the lift again. Once she was up and going it felt good being on the board looking at the beautiful scenery. Jessica hung out with Maria on the slopes and they took their time and stopped for breaks. After a few more times we were all freezing, our faces were numb and turning odd colors. We decided it was time to head inside and warm up.

Jessica and Maria got a table and some drinks. We ordered some food as well to keep warm. Richard and Laurie finally joined and they warmed up a bit as well. They decided to go back outside for some more runs.

Laurie likes to pretend her fancy skis magically made her good enough to handle the black diamond.

Jessica and Maria decided that staying in the lodge to drink some more was a better idea. After a few glasses of wine Maria was feeling much warmer. With the weather only getting worse, we decided it was time to call it a day.

We still had quite a bit of fun on the way home however. We thought it would be a good idea to let the random animal join in on our Mango Escapade. They got to enjoy some Mango Nutella Muffins too!