In the past 3 or 4 years, my family has established a new tradition of going sledding sometime in the week after Christmas. For those of you that know me well, you know that when I say family, I don't just mean my mom, dad, and brother and sister in law, I mean my "family" to include my aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, grandparents, and whoever else you'd like to throw in the mix there. The whole Cordova clan. I consider my extended family my immediate family. I love them all dearly and spending time with them is always the highlight/reason of my Colorado visits.
The day started well enough, all 14 or so of us gathered at my house for some homemade chili soup, cornbread, and Bonda Sandwiches (it's a Cordova thing) before heading up to one of my favorite mountain cities- Breckenridge, Colorado (elevation 9,600 feet) to sled at one of the best sledding hills in the state- Carter Park.
We were armed properly with our cheap plastic sleds (they go the fastest), gloves, scarves, hats, and everything else that you might need to brave 20 degree weather. It was gorgeous! There were snow flurries, and though today was the coldest I had been in a long time, it was all completely worth it.
And the Sledding! Now those sledding aficionados know that the more packed the snow is, the faster you go. Well the snow was pretty darn packed and people had even been nice enough to make a few bumps and dips along the way. This is where the trouble started. Whew, buddy. Those dips were rough on the tailbone. My cousin Nikki on her second run, unfortunately hurt her ankle and had to retire to the car for some hot chocolate. My mom actually braved the dips too. Not on purpose of course, but the sleds are hard to steer so she hit them. She quickly retired to the car for some hot chocolate as well. My little cousin Isaiah is a 4 year old trooper, but the cold can overtake the little ones quickly- he ditched us for the hot chocolate too.
The rest of us decided that we would continue conquering Carter Park hill, one awesomely fast sled run at a time. We were flying at ungodly speeds; often hitting the dips; narrowly missing sacking other sledders who weren't aware that you shouldn't stand in the middle of the hill; and going on two, three, and four person sled trains. Those are always fun. Then came our brilliant idea to do another train. This train consisted of my dad, my brother, his wife Tiffany, and me.
We started out well enough, then we went a little to the left.
Then we started going alot to the left.
Uh oh, now we can't stop going to the left.
Now We're completely turned around and I, who was once in back, am now in the front going backwards.
Now my hat has fallen over my eyes and I can't see.
Now we've suddenly stopped and my spine has made contact with something hard and tree-like.
Oh wait, it's a tree. Needless to say, I'm hurting right now.
Our train ended up somewhat disastrously. I hit the tree dead center, my dad's head hit the tree a bit, everyone else wiped out beyond all belief. But luckily, we were ok and laughed awhile about it....laughed and sat there for a bit while regaining the ability to stand.
Overall, it was a rough day to be in the Cordova Family, physically speaking. But the family that bruises together, stays together.
For Pictures from the day and others in Colorado, you can visit my flickr account here
And for videos of a few of our sledding adventures, you can visit my youtube account here
No comments:
Post a Comment