By the Numbers

road trip

I must have a bit of wanderlust in me. I just love to travel, particularly road trips. It probably stems from my childhood as an Army Brat ~ the fond term used for kids of military parents. Before the age of 15, I moved every 2 to 3 years as my dad was reassigned to a new base. It was a great adventure for me because I was always meeting new people, and experiencing new places and ideas.

I just got back from an adventure with my husband, his brother and two friends to experience the skiing in Montana and Idaho, with a pit stop at Lake Tahoe. There is nothing like going on a road trip in search of new mountains to conquer. Of course, these mountains have already been tamed with chair lifts, groomed slopes and hot chocolate in lodges with bathrooms, but that's besides the point. Each mountain is a new challenge to our skiing abilities, our stamina and our friendships (which run are we skiing? what's for dinner? did anyone turn on the hot tub?)

My upcoming posts will recount my observations made along the way. But first, the numbers:

5 - people on trip
2 - cars in caravan
16 - skis (yes, some of us took more than one pair)
16 - days we were supposed to be gone
11 - days we were actually gone
4 - states we traveled
2,270.3 - distance in actual road miles
680,80,93,84,86,91,20,191,75,5,205,580 - the magic numbers (highways) that took us to our destinations
1 - casino(we stopped for lunch)
1 - too many times we stopped at a casino
2 - timezones (Pacific and Mountain)
1 - extra time changes (Standard to Daylight Savings)
3 - ski resorts
0 to 41 - temperature range on the mountains
45 - degree pitch of the most difficult slope we skied (although I insist it was steeper)
a whole bunch - times we road up the lifts and skied back down
1 - hot tub frequented nightly
gazillion - photographs taken (love that digital camera)
6 - animals we "bagged" (more on that later)
29 - age my son turned on his birthday while we were gone
2 - missed opportunities
too many to count - memories

Tomorrow - the journey begins.