By Kelan Reilly
Staff Writer
This
year, as always, I thoroughly enjoyed my spring break. My family and I went to
Steamboat Springs, Colorado, a town known for great skiing. Our vacation started at 5 in the morning on
Saturday, March 24, when we woke up, got ready, and headed to the Philadelphia
Airport.
The
day we flew out there was obviously the most tiring. For starters, I woke up at
about 5 a.m. so I had sufficient time to get ready for our flight to Dallas,
which departed at 8:15 a.m. Since we could not get a direct flight to
Steamboat, we connected through Dallas-Fort Worth on American Airlines. After
we landed in Dallas, I got to step into the cockpit of the plane, where the
pilot demonstrated some of the plane's warning systems and told me which
colleges had good flying programs. This was a thrill for me because I want to
be a pilot.
Once we
were in the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, my father, who is a die-hard Eagles fan,
saw a Dallas Cowboys shop and tried to jokingly pick a fight with the man who
worked there. Little did he know that the man was a Chicago Bears fan. When my
father congratulated him, the man said he was a Bears fan, "because they
beat the Eagles."
Our
flight to Steamboat was generally routine. We flew on a Boeing 757, my favorite
type of airplane. I recorded the landing, which was cool because we were very
close to the mountains. After we landed, I stepped into the cockpit again but
this time, the pilot recommended that I join the Air Force, because it would
get me a good job in a commercial airline. The ride to The Lodge, the name of
the place we stayed, was very nice through the mountains of rural Colorado.
Once we got to The Lodge, I decided to go in the hot tub, which was next to our
room. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken into account the dehydration factor -- not
only from being in a hot tub, which dehydrates you, but also from the high altitude
and dry air. After about ten minutes, my mouth was dry, and I was feeling
somewhat dizzy, so I got out before I nearly passed out.
We ended
our first day with an outstanding dinner at a restaurant called The Ore House.
I had a prime rib, which was phenomenal. That concluded our first day in
Colorado.
The
next day was our first skiing day. The only two people who had skied earlier
this year were my father and me. It was the first run of the year for everybody
else; therefore, we had to do easier runs to begin with. Fortunately, everyone
warmed up quickly. There were a few wipeouts here and there, which I didn't see
because I was ahead of everybody else. We stayed out until about 3 p.m. When I
got back to The Lodge, I brought down three drinks (water and Gatorade) for
myself, because the day before, I got severely dehydrated. After a few minutes,
my cousin came and told me I should come into the pool because there was
another kid named Will there who was learning how to fly. Upon meeting him, I
realized that we were around the same age. According to my father, we had the
same sense of humor, but I am not so sure about that.
For dinner
that night, we went to a restaurant called the 8th Street Steakhouse. This was
my favorite restaurant because you get to grill your own steak. My cousin was
affected by the high altitude and got a headache, but he made it overly
dramatic. After that incident, he and the rest of his family went back to their
hotel, and we went back to The Lodge.
Two
days later, the weather was not in our favor. It was sunny, but the wind was
gusting severely. The wind was so bad that the resort started closing ski lifts
early. When we got to the bottom of the mountain, my cousin, who's pretty small
and light, got knocked over by the wind. This was the last day that my cousins
were out there.
After we
got back to the Lodge, we went back to the pool. Our friend Will was there,
too. We were all throwing a ball around when a man rode by on his bike. We were
talking about how funny it would be if the ball accidentally hit him. After
that, another family came down to the pool. We were quick to invite them into
our game, and we got along with them very nicely.
My cousin was
nicknamed Elvis because when he got his hair wet, he folded it back and it
looked like Elvis Presley's hair. After a while, our parents were yelling for
us to come back up to the room and get ready for dinner. We went to an Italian
restaurant where the food was outstanding.
The
next day, our cousins flew home. Because our cousins weren't there, I had a ski
lesson. I could go on and on about what I learned, but that wouldn't be
necessary for this blog. I skied for about three hours before I went back to
The Lodge. When we got back, my brother and I went down to the pool with our
friend Will. We brought the deck chairs into the pool to sit on. When my father
came down, he asked why there were chairs in the pool. We told him that a man
rode his bike by the pool, got off, threw the chairs into the pool, and left. He
actually believed us at first. After that, we went to a new restaurant at the
bottom of the mountain. The steak that I had was outstanding. When we got back
to the room, my father, my brother, and I pigged out on desert, mainly fudge.
Thursday
was our last full day in Steamboat, so we made the most of it. We got out to a
later start, so we went skiing in the afternoon only. I had to deal with more
than my fair share of reckless skiers. An example of this was when I was about
to go over a small jump. I was just about to hit the jump when all of a sudden,
somebody skied about three inches away from me at about double my speed and hit
the jump the same time as I did, almost taking me out. I had a few choice words
for him, which I didn't get a chance to say, because he was already long gone.
After that,
my brother and I decided to try a different part on the other side of the
mountain for the first time. We could easily say that was our favorite run,
because there were so many opportunities to go off the main trail and ski
through the trees. We stayed there for the better part of an hour. After that,
my father bet my brother $200 that he couldn't ski on moguls (bumps) without
falling. My brother succeeded, but my father never paid up -- and still hasn't.
However, I did fall on the bumps. It was the first time I fell in about two
years.
After
skiing, my brother and I went to the pool, but unfortunately, Will wasn't
there. My brother and I still had fun, though. For dinner, we went to a
different Italian restaurant. The atmosphere wasn't that great, so my father
wouldn't stop complaining to us. However, the food was incredible. After we
ate, we walked around downtown Steamboat and shopped.
The
next day, we flew home. We left for the airport at about 11:45 a.m. It was
about a half hour ride through the mountains up to the tiny Yampa Valley
Regional Airport. When we got dropped off at the front of the airport, I saw
Will's plane leaving the gate. Once we were waiting for our plane to arrive, I
saw his plane take off. It was a long wait until we actually boarded the plane,
but when we actually boarded, it was very quick. The plane was only about half
full, so my brother and I had the whole row to ourselves -- we were on a larger
plane, a Boeing 757. That flight was probably the best one of the trip. After a
three-hour layover in Dallas, we boarded our flight back home to Philadelphia.
That plane was a much smaller MD-80, and the flight was booked solid. The coolest
part was when we flew next to a thunderstorm at night and we got to see the
clouds light up.
When we
were landing in Philadelphia, all I can say is that the pilots were flying the
plane as if it were a sport car. They were turning the plane incredibly
steeply, and continuously revving up the engines. At one point, I heard the
engines go up to about full power for about two seconds. When we touched down,
it was so hard that I thought that the landing gear might have been severely
damaged. Then I felt us dramatically slowing down. On the way to the gate, the
flight attendant messed up on the announcement, saying, "Have a rest nice of
the evening," instead of, "Have a nice rest of the evening." At
that point, I realized that my spring break was over, and what a spring break
it was.
