Jordan Prader
Melinda Schroeder
English 101
10/7/2016
I’ve been sitting in the stuffy suburban for three hours, the air is stale, my legs are stiff, and it stinks of dog. My contacts stick to my eyes as I blink, just waking up from a nap, the uncomfortable sensation causing me to rub my eyes and smear mascara across my face. I hear the dogs whine from the seats ahead of me, they are staring out the window as my dad unlocks the garage door and enters the house. I look outside at the familiar wood house, the tall weeds are hidden in fresh snow, and the only evidence of life are footprints left by my dad leading to the house. Climbing over the seats, I sit next to the dogs, leashing our new puppy and leaving the other to roam as he pleases. I quickly open the door, moving out of the way as the dogs scramble to jump out, knowing how they will dig their nails into me as they rush. Stepping out after them, the cold air envelopes me along with the smell of redwoods and chimney smoke from the neighbors. Grabbing my bag out of the back, while holding onto my dog’s leash, and I make my way slowly down the driveway, enjoying the feel of fresh snow crunching under my boots. It’s cold inside, but I hear the heat starting up and know that it will be warm soon. My bed is bare, but I jump onto it, forgetting how hard the beds are in the cold. My knees hurt from the jump but I spread out on the frozen tempurpedic bed trying to soften it with my body heat. This room is small but the bed is big, and I know I’ll only have it for one night until my sister arrives, then I have to move to the “kids room”. It’s winter, the only time we can consistently come here, and I love it.
When I’m here in the winter it’s very cold, but it only snows sometimes. But every time we come here during this season we go skiing. We drive for around 30 minutes to get to the ski resort, and when we get there it’s freezing. The hardest part is getting out of the warm car to put my snowboarding boots on. The wind is feels like ice and I stand behind the rest of my family as I pull on my boots, trying to shield myself from the cold air. Then I struggle to put on my gloves, I need help from my older sister to put the second glove on. From our parking spot we can see the mountains, they are all white with new snow and the sun shines on it, just barely tinting it. Once my gear is on, I grab my hand-me-down board I got from my cousin, it’s black and red with a skull stomp pad, and I walk down the frozen parking lot. I step carefully trying not to slip, I avoid the icy areas and step in snow piles or salted concrete. After my dad buys our lift tickets, my sister and I break off from our parents and snowboard together. We’re both slow and not very skilled. We head to the first lift, strapping in one foot and limping to the line. It’s crowded this year, due to the amount of snow we got. When it’s our turn we wobble out to the loading spot, look behind us facing outwards, and grab the lift while sitting down. The lift is my favorite part, you can see everything, I watch below us as others ski or snowboard down the mountain. The wind hits us hard, but while my sister holds on tighter I ignore it, it was getting warmer out and the wind felt great on my exposed face. At the top of the lift my sister and I carefully get off, we never mastered the getting off part, and my sister holds on to me as we both struggle to not fall. Somehow I manage, even with my sister pulling me to her side. We both strap in our second foot and start the run. This run is basic, so we have no issues with it. The run is covered in fresh powder, the redwoods around us are all white, there is only some green poking through. The powder builds up on my board and I’m going down the mountain quickly. Turing here and there, being careful not to fall. It’s cold again, I’m in the shade, under the trees, but I see the sun up ahead and I know the run is almost over. After the run, we go again, and the rest of the day is over quickly. We all head back to the car, and I sit in the back after removing my gear as my sister has a beer with my dad. Back at the house we all shower and my dad starts dinner while my mom picks out some music, this part of the day is the best. We all relax, eat, dance, sing, and play card and board games. It’s great here in the winter, but it’s even better when it’s summer.
In the summer, it’s blazing hot. It feels like you could catch fire as soon as you leave the house. The air smells heavily of smoke due to a nearby forest fire, but it won't hit us. During the summer we spend our days at a nearby lake, but only if we had a good snowy winter, otherwise there is no water in the lake. We wake up early again, and try to leave the house by ten so we can be the first few out on the lake. The dogs join us and we drive thirty minutes in the opposite direction of the ski resort to a lake. My dad stops at a marina before we hit the lake and we purchase some drinks for the day while he fills up the boat. Our boat is old, it’s blue and white but the white seats are fading and becoming duller every year. It doesn’t reverse to the right and it dies often, but it floats. When we reach the lake we can see the smoke from the fire, but it’s almost out. The lake is low, and there are rings of different colors leading down to the water, showing how high it used to be. We stop above the boat launch, and everyone gets out of the car. Now comes the hard part, getting the dogs in the boat. First, my dad lifts our new puppy into the boat and I get in to keep her there, holding onto her harness. Next, my dad tries to lift our older dog in, but as soon as his arms go under Rio (older dog), he growls loudly and places his mouth around my dad’s arm as if he was challenging him to try. On my dad’s orders I grab his muzzle from the boat and my dad places it on him. The next try goes much smoother. My dad launches the boat and drives away, while my mom steers around the no wake zone waiting for my dad to come back and take over. After he comes back, we find a day camp spot and spend the next thirty minutes setting up. Our spot is flat and fairly clear, there are a few logs, some rocks, and a lot of mud, but it’s OK. I step into the water and feel the mud with my feet, going in farther I swim a little, calling to our puppy I try to coax her into the water. The water is cold, but due to the heat it feels good. After swimming some, we make sandwiches and snack on chips for lunch. My parents and my sister drink some beers while I sip on some water. And finally it’s time to go out on the water. My parents water ski a little, but I don’t pay attention to them, I just wait for my turn. After some skiing and wake boarding, it’s my turn. My dad blows up the tube and I try to wait patiently, then it’s time. I sit on the tube with my sister, my life jacket tight as I turn to lay on my stomach. When my dad accelerates I hold on tight. The force blows my wet hair back and it feels great. The first turn comes up and it’s on my sister's side, I lean to my side and so does she. It’s a strategy we use to stay on as long as we can. When the turn on my side comes up, my dad goes harder trying to get me to fall, so I dig my elbow into the leftover handle and push off of it. My legs slide out over the water but I ignore it and focus on keeping my top half on the tube. Luckily I stay on, and even luckier my bottoms don’t fall off. Eventually, my legs fly off the tube and I go with them, it hurts but not enough to care. It was fun, it’s always fun. The day passes quickly and we all get burned from the sun. But it was worth it. The rest of the day is spent together, and I know I’ll miss this when we go home.
We go every year, but it hurts to leave. Once we get back home I rarely see my sister, and my parents work all day. We don’t eat together, we don’t talk a lot, we don’t have fun. I love it there, because of my family. It’s feels like the only place where we are truly together. And I can’t wait to return again this year.
I posted on
Atokena's blog and
Justine's blog.
