snow globe 2007

Every year, the G takes everyone on a ski trip. Ours is to Squaw Valley, in Tahoe. They rent out all of the resorts up there, and in the middle of the Village they have firepits and smore fixins and hot chocolate and a huge snowglobe. You get one free day of skiing (or snowboarding or iceskating, etc.), and they throw a huge party and everyone stays overnight.

They bussed us from AT&T Park in SF early on Tuesday, and then back mid-day Wednesday. The weather was gorgeous during the trip. On the trip to the summit (9,050 ft), one of my co-workers and I discussed our plan for our first ski trip; "Just don't embarrass yourself". That was my mantra for the party.

The place our team was in was incredible! Conveniently, that was also where the big party was. There were 3 rooms: Polar (ice), Jungle (rain forest), and Aqua (water). The '80's cover band came on just when everyone was drunk enough to sing at the top of their lungs and dance their asses off. Perfect timing. I had 3 drinks, and by the time we left to go to a room party, I was more than feelin' the drinks. At an elevation of 6,200 ft, I was feelin' the drinks. Apparently I am more susceptible to the al-key-hol at high altitude.

I went with Jocelyn to the room party anyways, but I knew I'd made a bad choice when they wanted everyone who entered to take shots from a water bottle filled with 151. It was a paradox: I was not drunk enough to throw caution to the wind and chug, because I knew I was too drunk to chug. "Is this the wisdom that comes with age?" I thought... and then I knew that couldn't be it because that's when I left to go back to my room and throw up. And all of this was by midnight.

By morning, I had the worst headache and I could barely eat. But from what I heard, I was smart to leave when I did, as a number of people stayed and forgot to stick to the mantra. 151 can do that to you.