There are a couple of trips you absolutely need to take in your twenties.
The college euro trip.
The Southeast Asia backpacking trip.
The solo trip to some zen place to find yourself.
The wild Vegas trip with your girlfriends.
And the one that had somehow eluded me all these years:
The classic large group ski trip.
A group of nine of us headed to Breckenridge, Colorado for a long weekend and it was everything my ski trip dreams were made of.
We rented out the most gorgeous secluded cabin in Blue River, with floor to ceiling views of snow covered pines.
We hit the slopes at Keystone and Breckenridge during the day, and drank cheap beers in the hot tub to ease the sore at night.
We cruised through the mountains taking in the views and enjoying the Rocky Mountain high. The John Denver song, of course.
We wore cozy furs and Nordic sweaters, wandered the cute ski town streets, and indulged in buttery crepes and midday wine flights.
Okay, so objectively, I just listed a bunch of clichés and at least three of you are rolling your eyes (even though you know my ski sweater was really freakin cute.)
Yeah, we did all of the things that you should do on a ski trip, but without a key ingredient, I’ve just written out a glorified generic itinerary.
And that key ingredient is actually pretty simple.
Good friends, good fun.
There is no rush quite like speeding down your last ski run of the day, in the dark, surrounded by your best friends whopping and hollering the whole way down.
That’s magic.
Ugly gut laughing as one of your sweetest friends reads off the most dark and twisted responses to Cards Against Humanity?
That’s magic.
Gathering around a big breakfast spread with the gang, grateful to be there with friends that have known you either all your life or at least through the last few years…
Magic!
While I’m certainly glad to no longer be wearing ski boots, which are actually athletic torture contraptions, I’m looking forward to a new tradition with my friends:
The classic ski trip.