Claustrophobic Crazy Naked Lady & Grace Under Pressure

 

Yes, it was me. I was the Crazy Naked Lady.

It was the last evening of our ski vacation in Jackson Hole, and after four days of skiing hard, we booked massages at our hotel, The White Buffalo Club. The masseuse was a lovely young woman named Brightly, who had only recently graduated from massage school. She seemed very sweet, and I immediately felt comfortable with her.

So, into the massage room I went, stripped down, lie face down on the table, breathed, closed my eyes, and relaxed into the nice warm heated padded table. And, so the massage began.

It wasn’t even two minutes into the massage when I was suddenly very aware of how hot and stuffy the room had become. I had Brightly turn off the heated padding and turn off the little space heater in the room, but to no avail.  I raised my head up from the table to get some air, which made matters worse, because then I became acutely aware of how tiny this room was!

Holy C%$#…this massage room was micro-miniature of what a real room should be….and it had no air!

In a panic, in all my crazy naked glory, I jumped off of the massage table, gasping for air, and screaming, “I can’t do this! I have to get out of here!” Yep…I had to get the hell out of that room!!

What happened next was a minor miracle. I was in such a panic, that I don’t even remember how she did it, but, somehow this very young, very inexperienced masseuse, calmed me down enough to stop me from running out of the room. She opened the door to get some fresh air inside, and got me to lie on the table, face up, and breathe.

And then I was OK. I could feel the current of cool fresh air entering the room, and I could see beyond the borders of this horribly small massage room. I was OK. I could finally relax and let Brightly work her magic on my tired body.

When I had my claustrophobic panic attack, I think I did scare Brightly just a bit, but she handled the whole thing with such grace and calm, as if she’d seen this a million times. After my massage was over, I hugged her, and thanked her for not letting me run out of, what turned out to be, a wonderful massage.

On the walk back to my room, I replayed the whole crazy episode in my head. And I remembered the last time I had a panic attack, that first night in our Airstream. And I remembered that I must get back to the RV Chronicles…the story of our first RV.

Post-Vacation Stress Disorder Is Messing Me Up

Day #1 back home in San Diego, following a most amazing ski vacation. There’s dirty laundry (from our trip) piled up in the hallway. There’s not a speck of food in the house. There’s a stack of bills to pay on my desk. And I’m completely unmotivated to do anything about any of it. Mentally, I’m still back in Jackson Hole, which is why I’ve posted one last photo (above) of me just about to drop into a nice long bump run.

I’m suffering from a common, but often overlooked, disorder known as PVSD. Post-Vacation Stress Disorder. This is a crippling disorder that often follows the big freakin’ let down of going home after a killer vacation.

I’VE DONE FIVE THINGS TODAY

1. Walked my doggies

2. Looked for hotels for our next trip to Jackson Hole

3. Perused my new book, “The Most Scenic Drives In America” to prepare for our cross-country RV trip this summer.

4. Looked again for hotels for our next trip to Jackson Hole

5. Perused my new book again, “The Most Scenic Drives In America” to prepare for our cross-country RV trip this summer.

The only known cure for PVSD, is to go on another vacation. Therefore, I reckon’ it’s prudent of me to be planning another trip. I should be feeling much better by tomorrow!

Where are you planning to go on your next trip?!

Powder Day Pics

Riding the gondola on an epic powder day

Nancy in the powder

In Bob We Trust…..The Hunt For Fresh Powder.

To quote pro cyclist Jens Voigt, “SHUT UP LEGS!” That’s what I had to tell myself all day Thursday as we skied powder run after powder run, while trying to keep up with our new friend Bob.

Who Is Bob, And Why Is He Trying To Kill Me?!

Bob is a Jackson Hole local. He’s a 65 year old snowboarder who shreds! We met Bob in the lift line at Jackson Hole on Thursday morning. This wasn’t just any old lift line. This was the lift line @ Jackson Hole after more than a foot of fresh snow dumped on the mountain. First lift of the day. Us, Bob, and, well, too many others!

We had the luck of the Irish with us (Mark claims to be 1/8 Irish, and he does like Guinness, so..??). After striking up a conversation with Bob in line, he invited us to follow him to his semi-secret powder runs and powder stashes.  This was the best thing to ever happen to us, ever!

Bob was the most gracious unofficial host. He took us everywhere, on the steeps and in the trees…over and over and over.  It was the most amazing ski day of my life! My quads were screaming at me! But we kept going, until my legs just couldn’t take it anymore.

When I get tired, my skiing gets real sloppy. I was running out of leg strength, missed a tight turn, and ended up in a menagerie of jagged, barren bushes. As Mark and Bob watched, I pushed back those gnarly branches, and I pulled myself forward through the mess. I was glad that I made it without ripping my ski pants or jacket. First I had a good laugh about this, but then I started wondering why our new friend Bob was trying to kill me.

When I could no longer keep up, we said goodbye and thank you to Bob. Mark and I took a break and got a bite to eat. We refueled, rested our weary legs, and then took a couple more easy runs. We were thoroughly exhausted, and ecstatic, as well as totally inspired by Bob.

It was an EPIC day! Thank you, Bob. Thank you Snow Gods!

Jackson Hole…Powder, Pizza, and Beautiful Hair

No haters please, but, it was an amazing POWDER DAY @ Jackson Hole today!! Snowed last night, all morning, and all day. And it’s still snowing at 6:45 pm. And it’s supposed to snow all night, so manana might be even more amazing!

If you’re a Facebook friend of mine, then you had your chance to join us on this trip. A month ago, I posted about this trip and asked if anybody wanted to join us. There were no takers. So now, you have only yourselves to blame.

Last winter, we did a trip to Mammoth, and it snowed so much, that we got snowed in for two extra days. And now we’re wondering if we might get snowed in here as well. Really, next time I invite y’all to join us on a ski trip, think long and hard before saying “no.”

By the way, in case you’re wondering, the pics I’ve been posting are of the two of us. Mark is wearing a black jacket and bright green ski pants, and I’m wearing a hot pink jacket and black ski pants.

ANATOMY OF A POWDER DAY….WEIRD FACTS AND DISCOVERIES

1.  In our rush to get on the mountain asap this morning, I discovered that I didn’t even need the coffee to go with my Power Bar for breakfast. Powder Day = Grab A Damn Power Bar and Get Your Ass Out On The Mountain Day. It’s funny, ’cause at home, I have to eat a substantial and healthy breakfast within 5 minutes of waking up or I become a complete terror. Ask Mark. He’ll verify.

2.  Pizza is a skiing super-food, apparently. One slice of pizza @ 11:00 am and I was ready to head back out. I eat really healthy at home, and have categorized pizza as a junk food. I must reconsider this.

3.  After a hard day of skiing, sweating, and getting snowed on…after all of that…when I took my helmet off, I couldn’t help but notice that, somehow, my hair still looked beautiful. Just sayin’.

4.  It’s 6:45 pm here, and I have yet to eat a fruit or vegetable.

Thursday will be our last full ski day here, and we head home on Friday. Will be sad to leave. Maybe we will get snowed in for another day or two!

Skied Jackson Hole? What are your favorite runs? We had a great powder adventure in Saratoga Bowl this morning. That ranked up there in all-time favorites!

I “Heart” Jackson Hole

I saw a penny on the ground today in the ski shop…shiny and face up. I didn’t pick it up, and I wondered if that would jinx my day. But, no, not only did it not jinx my day, I had a completely spectacular day all around. Plus, I felt good that I left that penny for someone else to find.

Although we could use some more fresh snow, we lucked into finding some wind-blown powder stashes. It was as if the Snow Gods were shining down on us today. Generally though, it’s hard-packed and the skiing is fast. I’m just flying down the mountain. I guess I have speed management issues.

It’s easy to fall in love with Jackson Hole. The people here are superbly nice and friendly. The food has been fabulous (in town and on the mountain), and the skiing is the BOMB!!

FOOD AND BEVERAGE HIGHLIGHTS:

“LOCAL”….spectacular delicious dinner at this in-town restaurant.

“BLUE LION”…..ditto…and, the classical guitarist in the lounge played Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. Pretty cool stuff! I almost started singing, but didn’t want to embarrass Mark, ’cause it was a classy little place.

“COULOIR”…..lunch on the mountain at the top of the gondola….the best gourmet sandwich I’ve ever had anywhere, anytime. And, the views! The panoramic photo up top was taken from our table at lunch today.

“MANGY MOOSE”…legendary apres-ski restaurant/bar at the bottom of the mountain, by the tram tower….nice Kamikaze shots, and a fun rock/retro/country band playing..fun, fun place!

Finally, on the food front, I’ve had my own little breakfast epiphany. Seems that I totally CAN get by for at least 3 hours, on a breakfast of coffee and a peanut butter flavored Power Bar. Who knew?!

So that wraps up Day #2. I have another funny little story to tell you, but I don’t want to drag on. Remind me, and I’ll tell you about the Great Chocolate Cake Discussion.

If you’d like more details about any of the places I’ve mentioned, hit me up in the comments section.

Cheers!

Skiing & Claustrophobic RV-ers

We’re in Jackson Hole, WY this week, skiing up a storm, so to speak. In fact, it did start snowing almost as soon as we arrived. Just sayin’. If you live in a ski town, and need us to bring some good snow mojo your way, we can negotiate a deal. We’re inexpensive!

Today was actually our first day on the mountain, and WOW, what a mountain it is. Big, and very vertical. In fact, over 4,000′ of vertical. Hit all kinds of runs and conditions today. Steep, mogully, powdery, icy, crunchy, plus some! Did a tour of the mountain and hit a majority of the lifts, as well as the gondola and the tram.

We met a nice couple skiing today from Quebec City, Lynn and Andre. We took a lunch break with them, and when we mentioned we have an RV, they perked up with interest. Seems they’ve talked about how much fun it would be to get an RV and travel all over, however, Lynn is worried about being confined in such a small space. Mark and I both started laughing. I told them they have to look at this blog and read about our experience with this exact issue.

And so, it was as if our day came full-circle…ski, discuss claustrophobic RV-ing, ski some more, blog about it all. A complete day, if you ask me!

We’ll be back out on the mountain on Tuesday, and out exploring the town in the evening. If you’ve been to Jackson Hole in the winter and have any “must see” things, or “must eat at” restaurants, I’d love to hear about it.