Baked Potatos

Last night we went for a walk about town and poked our heads into some of the local pubs. We did not stay for a drink but noted which places look nice for future reference. On our way we saw a drunken Brit (one of many such) demonstrating what snowboarders do: he made a noise and fell down in a pile of snow at the side of the road, and lay there. His friends yelled at him, "Get up you drunk!"

Leia did not sleep so well at night: she tossed and moved around a lot and woke up with a sore neck from the unsupportive pillow which she characterizes as "like a bag full of cotton balls." First thing in the morning she complained that she was weak and tired and couldn't carry her skis. Nonetheless she ended up carrying her skis "kmo gdola." We woke up earlier but got to the slopes even later than yesterday because we were sluggish and sore in the morning. We took many bathroom breaks, after almost every run.

It was a sunny and warm morning. We practiced edging, and once Leia (quickly) got the hang of it she carved the blue slopes to shreds. She was going faster than before with good form and control. Unfortunately once we got up on charlift 2 Pas De La Casa all her confidence left her and she was inexplicably scared. She fell a couple of times and forgot how to turn or get up. It took a long time to get her down that run directa her first time.

By then it was about 1300 and we went to the hotel to put our gear back and broke for lunch. The restaurant we ate at is called La Copa and is located right across the street from the hotel. It is one of the places we scouted last night. The place has a nice atmosphere with a fireplace and old farming tools on the walls. We had sandwiches with ham, and the waiter mixed up our order: Leia got ham and cheese, no tomato, and Guy got smoked ham, no cheese, yes tomato. He had to switch the breads and scrape off tomato sauce.

Leia was tired and in pain so she stayed to rest in the hotel. Guy asked if she would be a couch potato or go to the dry sauna and be a baked potato. He just likes calling Leia fat (according to her.)

Guy continued skiing in the afternoon. He went up lift 6 Costa Rodona and skied down the other side: diagonal run to lift 8 Antenes. There was a nice spot to cut from the trail along an area of powder. Close to the bottom of the lift there was another powder patch under the lift with some bushes to ski between. He twisted his left knee on the first run, and slipped into a bush. The bindings should have ejected before that happened but either it was a slow fall, or he lost weight, or both. He did a few more runs off that lift, including pastora, a long blue run which is not particularly easier than the reds but had several regions of powder to the sides. After a pit stop at the restaurant in Grau Roig he skied back over to Pas De La Casa, and back up the lift 2. The ridge at the top was very windy, and he spread his arms out to sail with the wind in order to get through the flats. He even had to use his face mask on the Grau Roig side. He skied over to lifts 11 and 10 Coma Blanca and Pic Blanc and stopped at the igloo at the top of Coma Blanca, which is an igloo with a bar inside. At 1630 he skied back through directa to the hotel and found Leia fast asleep in the room.

When Leia woke up she was very cute. We decided it was time for Guy to get his new ski boots, because the inner linings of the old ones were ruined and hurt his feet. We rested a little in the room, looked up ski boots online, learned about flex numbers, and went to the Olympia department store (where we bought the goggles) to search for suitable boots. We found boots very similar to his old ones in his size, at a reasonable price (all the boots were 20% off.) Leia also found a ski coat for 50% off that could double as an everyday winter coat. Those were our expensive purchases of the day. It took until 2000 when the store closed for the boot guy to free up time to check that Guy's new boots fit his bindings and help put his orthodic insoles into the boots, and he just said they all fit perfectly. It was after all the same brand in the same size.

We returned for dinner and struggled to find things to eat, but we did. After dinner we had the jacuzzi and sauna all to ourselves, so we used them up. We turned ourselves into baked potatos in the dry sauna and then steamed potatos in the damp sauna. After a shower we were too tired to go out so we are going to sleep now. Goodnight!