Let's Ride

Chapter 29

Saturday morning and we're on our way to Powder Mountain in my Jeep Grand Cherokee, Greg offered to drive (mighty nice of him) Jessica and Brian are in the back. Greg was the only ones who had skis, I used to have a pair but I think I loaned them to someone who never returned them. We were up early, and on the road by seven, stopping at Brian's house to pick him up Greg headed towards Logan canyon. While we were rolling along Greg started singing a little song that started to irritate me, "Nikki, pretty Nikki, with your hair of raven hue. Childhood in the wildwood, like the mountain flower you grew, can you blame anyone for falling in love with you."

"Where did you pick that up from?" I asked, snickering, he said, "On satellite radio, I was surfing the channels heard this playing, he then started singing it louder, "NIKKI PRETTY NIKKI, WITH YOUR HAIR OF RAVEN HUE!" "Stop it right now!" I demanded. Greg feigned a look of disappointment, "You don't like me singing about you?" "NO!" He just shrugged, but I could still hear him still "singing" it under his breath, this time I punched him in his side, that got him to stop. Jessica and Brian were chatting among themselves in the back but keeping it down, Brian was talking about snowboards, which had Jess quite interested. "I think they offer lessons in snowboarding," said Greg. Upon arrival, we headed up to the lodge to investigate what was available, Greg and I would be starting off at the beginner's slope where he was going to re-acquaint me with skiing. Brian and Jessica would be heading for the snowboarding area, "How about we all meet in the lodge by the fireplace around noonish for lunch, I said to Brian and Jess, stay in touch, keep us informed on where you're at, we'll be on the beginners slope for at least a couple hours."

The kids headed off, while Greg headed for the beginners slope, it was crowded with kids and I felt like an i***t, but Greg assured me that no one would think anything about it. So for the next two hours Greg worked patiently with me, actually much of what I had learned came back to me but with a cost, I kept having this bad problem of falling down, but Greg kept working with me. They actually had a special class just for women, but it was only on Tuesdays so it didn't do me any good. After a couple hours of practice, we took a break and headed over to where Brian and Jessica were. Both teens were in a class of other kids learning how to maneuver and stop. We stuck around and watched until the class broke for lunch, then all of us headed to the restaurant for a bite to eat.

Both kids were excited about the class and learning to snow board, and talked about it all through lunch, I watched Jessica, and was glad to see she was having a good time. After lunch, they went back to the class, while Greg and I headed to the slopes. My first solo attempt was on a course called the "slowpoke," it was a slower course, perfect for my skills. Greg skied it a couple of times, but soon headed off to a more advanced trail. I skied the run a few more times building my confidence. After that, I met up with Greg again and watched him ski on a more advanced course the Kwickdraw and Ambush runs. I was impressed with his skill, he had told me a long time ago that his folks were exceptional skiers and taught both he and his sister how to ski. We stayed on the slopes for another three hours, heading back over to watch Brian and Jessica, who were now engaged in actual snowboarding, albeit fairly basic stuff, but still doing it themselves. We hit the restaurant again for dinner, then to the lodge for a little après ski. I told Jessica if she and Brian wanted to go find a warm place by the large fireplace to snuggle it was fine with me. Meanwhile Greg and I enjoyed a drink at the bar, wrapping up the day.

Later, as we headed home, I noticed in the rear view mirror Brian and Jess continued to snuggle in the back seat with a certain amount of innocent kissing. By the time we arrived back at Brian's house both teens had fallen asleep in each other's arms. Jessica accompanied Brian up to his door, where they shared a goodnight kiss, and embrace. Back in the car, Jessica thanked us for the wonderful day, "Oh and thanks you guys for…You know," I looked at her, "For what?" "You know, for being cool and all that, when, well…You know, when Brian and I were kissing and all that." "Well we're just glad you two had a good time is all."