So, Keaka became the King of the Slopes up in the French Alps. Sophia became a scratch when she was done in by the high altitude. Marlene was scratched due to a series of ailments. I retired from skiing a long, long time ago. All except Sophia battled colds during the high altitude adventure, so adding a headache from the altitude didn’t really make things more comfortable. That really meant that sitting around and drinking beer all day was not something that made a lot of sense.
The family that loaned us their condominium is already talking about taking Keaka skiing there again before the season ends in about four weeks. Keaka says he is all in. We’ll see. The same family has invited us out on their boat. In this part of the world, going out on your boat means going out in the Mediterranean. Now, having been out on the big body of water in Hawaii on a calm day many years ago, I have no stomach for challenging the rock and roll experience. I’m being assured that the Mediterranean is calm. Can it be calm enough?
There is absolutely no way photos can do justice to the beauty of the Alps. But, as always, we’re giving it a try. Keaka and Sophia looked stylish in their ski gear as we got an early start on Saturday morning, with ski and snowboard lessons at 9:00 am. Sophia looks a bit bewildered by the idea of two feet being locked onto one board. Her snowboarding days may be over. I’m just guessing that the ski station we were at had close to one dozen chair lifts, rope tows, etc. You see a few in the photo at ground zero/the base camp. I did get on what the French call the Bubble, which I call a gondola, which is an enclosed capsule that in this case takes you from the base at 5,300 feet to the 8,300 foot level. There’s a restaurant up at 8,300 feet and also an entirely new series of ski slopes not visible from down below. I think we got pretty good shots looking down at the ski station and the village of Barcelonnette down below. You see Keaka gliding off the rope tow, while still skiing on a fairly easy slope. There’s a photo with a lone skier, and if you look closely you’ll see a small village way down below from this spot at the 8,300 foot level. And, you get a look at Keaka in all his glory. It’s safe to say Keaka was quite pleased when he went up to the top of a mountain and skied down, and eventually reduced total time for the trip from 25 minutes to about 12 minutes. Hey, he can’t be too far away from ski racing!
We’re down to one more trip ------ maybe. We leave April 18 for Rome, Naples and the Amalfi Coast. It’s a plane and train trip. Meanwhile, Marlene continues to suggest she’d like to go back to Amsterdam for a few days and she’d like to take the kids to London and she’d like just the two of us to go to Paris for a few days. And, I’d like to be rich! Oh well, we’ll try.
The Wilsons
