Question: To ski, or not to ski?

Posted on by JC Rizk

Whoa! Two posts in one week? Unbelievable! As promised, I am back with information about where we skied and our thoughts on each resort. These reviews are from both my husband and me; bear that in mind when reading, because we have vastly different skiing abilities and viewpoints on the locations we skied.

A little background on both of us and our skiing abilities… I skied for the first time during college and then did not ski again until my husband took me, about three years ago. I’ve skied at Seven Springs in Pennsylvania, Jackson Hole {Wyoming}, and now at several resorts in Utah. I am not sure the exact number, but I have maybe a total of 15 days skiing under my belt. That is the extent of my resort knowledge: I love to view the scenery, take pictures along the way, and I am a green/blue slope skier {maybe a double blue on a good day, but only one or two runs of that a day}.

On the other hand, my husband grew up skiing in Vermont and probably could not begin to count the number of days he spent skiing. He can ski double blacks and back country and enjoys doing so, which is terrifying to me. He’s skied out West, East coast, Japan, and Europe — and loves to challenge himself with the toughest terrain! He is extremely experienced and it seems as easy as breathing to him.

Alta Ski Resort: Alta was the ski resort we skied most together. It is also where Hubby introduced Bird to her first skiing experience. Seeing their happiness when skiing together made my heart soar!

My Review: I thought that Alta was a good course for beginners. There were some areas, especially on the greens that were almost flat. However, there were plenty of places where my hubby could pop off into the woods and many harder slopes as well, but they seemed easier than some of the other mountains and I felt I could practice these slopes with confidence. My rating: ⛷⛷⛷⛷/5

Hubby Review: There was some of the best snow on this mountain that I’ve ever seen. Alta is a kinder mountain than Snowbird, with easier access to back country. Alta truly has a ski resort feel, although the jokes about snowboarders {snowboarders are not allowed} get old fast. ⛷⛷⛷⛷/5

Brighton Ski Resort: We only skied here once, on our last ski date together before leaving Utah. Unfortunately, as we began the day, Hubby realized that a pin was broken on his ski, so he had to tread lightly {my style}. That being said, we were here on a blue bird day and the views were phenomenal.

My Review: This was definitely a smaller resort and had a funky set up for the ski lifts, including one that you could only get to by skiing on flat land right next to the parking lot, but overall, was awesome! Again, this is a resort where I felt comfortable with the amount of space I had; I think these slopes (blue) were a bit harder, but I felt a lot of confidence with the room I had to go faster than I would have at other resorts. My review: ⛷⛷⛷⛷/5

Hubby Review: This is an old school ski resort with beautiful views. Brighton is on the smaller side, but a local hidden gem. ⛷⛷⛷/5

Deer Valley Ski Resort: This was by far our favorite resort in the area. The mountain itself was huge with tons of options for slopes to ski. The staff here was friendly and went out of their way to help with any questions you had or to provide their favorite slopes.

My Review: I think these slopes are probably on the easier side {greens/blues, as compared to some of the other resorts mentioned here} and I even felt comfortable skiing on some of the double blues. The views were gorgeous and the mountain was so large that no matter how many people you skied with, it felt spacious. ⛷⛷⛷⛷⛷/5

Hubby Review: Deer Valley is a groomer paradise with scenic skiing. This location has the quintessential upscale ski resort feel. ⛷⛷⛷⛷/5

Snowbird Ski Resort: Hubby skied here several times, and skied here previously. You can ski through this really neat tunnel in the mountain from Alta into Snowbird Mineral Basin area. The tunnel was really cool and showed the history of the people who built it and who first worked on the mountain. I only had one experience at Snowbird on a day that, despite the clarity in the first picture, had very low visibility. We went with our friends, visitors from back home, who are also avid skiers, and as a group, we had a lot of fun!

My Review: We skied here after a ton of powder dropped and there were a lot of people on the mountain. The slopes on this side of the mountain were definitely harder than at other resorts, plus Hubby accidentally sent us down a Black Diamond, which knocked the wind and confidence out of me a bit. Due to this experience, I would have to say this was my least favorite place to ski, but I know that Hubby really enjoys it and I would definitely try it again! ⛷⛷/5

Hubby Review: Snowbird is the place to push the limits, with advanced terrain and incredible snow. This is some of the most challenging skiing I ever attempted, but once completed it is truly rewarding. At Snowbird, you are surrounded by high level skiers and great views. ⛷⛷⛷⛷⛷/5

Solitude Ski Resort: No picture for this resort as only Hubby skied here with a friend of ours. Hubby says this is another hidden gem; it is a smaller resort with great back country and the next best thing to Little Cottonwood Canyon {where Snowbird and Alta ski resorts are located}. Rating: ⛷⛷⛷/5

Overall, we absolutely adored our time skiing in Utah, and our adventure in Utah in general. We will definitely return and check out these slopes, and maybe some news ones, in the future.

Where is your favorite place to travel? To ski?Stay tuned for more adventures and more thoughts du jour!

On the road again…

Posted on by JC Rizk

Hard to believe, but we are approaching the end of our adventure here in Utah. I can tell you that it won our hearts over, but more on that in a later post. This post is much more functional, as we start to pack up our belongings. Having a two year-old and a nine month-old, preparing for 36 hour drive across the country, organization is crucial. Here I am going to share my packing plans, as well as items to keep two young babes entertained and comfortable for the long days ahead.

First and foremost, it is time to pack. Sometimes it is the bane of my existence, but I am in organization mode, so I started off collecting all the clothes that we will not wear on our way to the east coast. We are making a pit-stop in Florida to visit the abuelos, so I plan to pack one bag for the family for the 3 days of hotels and traveling, as well as a separate bag for Florida. Putting aside a handful of outfits for the remainder of our days here, I started packing the majority of our clothes.

Something I do at home, and really found beneficial when packing, is the KonMari method of folding clothes. I was able to fold and pack a gigantic pile of clothes into our suitcase, then at the end I included accessories that we will not need for this last week.

By the way, the pile of clothes on the bed actually doubled in size before I was able to start folding and packing clothes! Fortunately, we are driving and do not have to worry about luggage weight because this suitcase is heavy! There are three layers of folded clothes in the big section and little accessories, belts, and socks in the thin section. Today, I also packed our paper items {kids’ scrapbooks, art supplies, tax paperwork, etc.} and some of their toys into the big bin and into the grey toy bin pictured above. More toys can be fit into the grey bin, but that can wait until early next week.

Here are the other items groups of items to pack:

  • Electronics: husband’s work computer, PS4, our family computer, cables, FireStick, etc.
  • Food items: canned goods, spices, other pantry items {I resigned myself to not cooking for the next three days, other than what we have in the refrigerator already – yay!} Baby snacks are already in a reusable grocery bag, but this needs to go in the car with us!
  • Frozen/Refrigerated items {this will wait until Tuesday night after we fill our large cooler with ice}: mostly just venison and condiments this trip!
  • Ski gear: hubby and I hope to get one more ski day in on Tuesday before we leave — fingers crossed!
  • Cribs: we will disassemble the day before we leave; Bird gets to sleep in a bunk bed for a night and Lulu will sleep in our pack and play, since we need that for the hotels anyway.
  • Miscellaneous: books, the last bit of toys, dog food and water bowls, the last bit of clothes we are wearing for the next several days.

I already started to pack what I could of the above items. Now it is time to prepare the kids’ activities for the car.

Pictured here are some of the toddler’s favorites on the ride to Utah. My favorite activity book is the scratch and sketch ‘Furry Friends’, as Bird will sometimes chew on the writing implement you give her, especially if she is frustrated with still being in the car. Having her chew on a wood stylus is highly preferable to the magic ink pen in this case {it, thankfully, has not splintered or shown any signs of doing so, otherwise that would change things considerably}. We also always have a plethora of books on hand. I am hiding a few of Bird’s favorite books, so that they seem new again when we get in the car next week.

In addition to the above activities, our friends also gave Bird some shape and color flashcards, which she really enjoys — this will make the perfect quiet activity for the car. We made whole punches in the top corner of the card and connected it with a metal ring, creating a little booklet of sorts, which I think she will really like! Also, other friends gave her a mini etch-a-sketch, which she loves! This is also packed into her unicorn backpack for the ride. For our 9 month old, who is such a chill baby {thank you, universe!} I packed a musical toucan toy, some books {that are chew proof} and teething toys. Of course, add to all of this many, many snacks and we should be good!

Our travel days are going to be about 9-10 hour driving days {meaning that does not account for stops}, so we try to leave early, after breakfast for parents, kids, and dogs. We stop once midday, which is usually the longest so Bird can run around {she likes to help Papa walk the dogs}, and I can feed Lulu. Then we all have lunch together, Bird walks the dogs with Papa again, we change what diapers need to be changed, and get back in the car. Late afternoon, we make a quick pit-stop for diaper changes, dog walk, and Lulu’s bottle, then finish off the drive with dinner once we get to the hotel. It’s quite the experience, but we were very fortunate on the ride from Maryland to Utah; the kids were absolute champs and were pretty low maintenance! We are very, very grateful and keeping our fingers crossed that this Utah to Florida trip is no different.

Preparation mode continues on my end: any suggestions on activities for 2 year old and 9 month old children in the car? Any snack suggestions?

Also, would you consider or have you completed a long road trip with the family? Where did you go and how did it go? Look forward to hearing from you all!

Starting anew…

Posted on by JC Rizk

Generally in the new year I get the same itch: to start writing, to read more, to eat healthier, to be more physically fit; basically, to improve myself on all levels. As a new mama, with two children under two, I find myself focusing a lot on the babes, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. However, I also know that to be the best mama I can be, I need to work on my self-care. I often find that when several days go by where I practice little-to-no self-care, I get crankier and less patient, which is unfair to my babies, my husband, and myself.

I think I’ve started the year off right so far – only five days in and in addition to re-vamping this blog, I already finished a book since the new year, which makes me happy – check out my Goodreads updates on the right hand side to see what I am reading, along with my reviews! Also, I tried some new recipes, and signed up for some yoga classes. It’s a start!

I should also tell you that my family and I are on somewhat of a grand adventure: we decided to spend the winter away from our east coast home. In fact, we are staying in Utah for three months! Currently, we are about three weeks into our adventure and are loving the fresh air, the snow, and especially the majestic mountains.

This is the view from the local park we frequent with the kids and the dogs. It seems not to matter where we are, even someplace as simplistic as the grocery store has amazing views of these mountains!

My husband is an avid skier and has been skiing already a handful of times, and the really exciting part is that he has taken our daughter, who is not even two yet, up to the mountain. Our daughter, E, is absolutely fearless and loves this time with her papa; her favorite thing to tell him when he stops at the bottom of the hill is, “Go!” It is remarkable seeing her thirst for new experiences and her willingness to try new things.

I really enjoy cooking and especially since the kids were born, do so on a regular basis. We started the new year off right with some venison tacos!
To brag on my hubby a bit more, besides being an avid skier, he also enjoys to hunt deer and goose during their seasons back home. Before we left, he was able to get two deer, which now leaves us with a freezer full of venison. Naturally, since we drove out here, we decided to fill a cooler full of our venison and bring it with us to Utah.

This morning, we took the kids to the mountain and gave the baby his first smell of the mountain air, while the hubby took E on a few ski runs on the bunny slopes. Then the kids and I returned home while he continued to ski. For me, it was the perfect afternoon to whip up some venison stew!

It was a hearty choice and the venison was the most tender I’ve cooked yet; not sure if you’re familiar with venison, but it can dry out very easily and quickly. This was a new recipe I tried, but it will certainly go into the keeper pile! Stay tuned for a page dedicated to new recipes like this one; it’s one of my goals for the next several weeks.

Now that I feel caught up with everyone, and full from venison stew, I think I will go get some shut-eye. Tomorrow is another day and another adventure awaits!