Mini-vacation day four: skiing

We had been told that there would be crowds of people at the ski resorts, but traffic to Faraya was surprisingly sparse. In fact, the roads were so calm, I wondered what was wrong. Had somebody issued an evacuation of Beirut without our knowledge? When we first spotted the snow, approaching the resort, the boys started jumping up and down in the back seat, shouting from joy. 

We were a couple of kilometers from Faraya when we finally ran into the crowds. A long, long line of cars, inching their way up the last couple of kilometers to the bottom of the slopes. It had taken us about an hour to get this close, and we proceeded to spend another hour in line. When we finally reached the entrance to Mzaar ski resort, we were told by a military man that we could not enter because our car was not a four wheel drive. What?! So after all that waiting, we had to turn around and park along the way. I really, really wished they had told us earlier, or put up a sign. Sigh. We proceeded to walk the last kilometer to the slopes, uphill, through water and slush, between cars. Me, carrying Abraham. By the time we got to the slopes we were exhausted. We ate our sandwiches – there’s nothing like a tasty, home packed lunch to cheer you up! - and proceeded to find out where we could get the lift passes and rent equipment. Both proved to be easy and not very expensive, although we barely needed the latter. Since it was the first time skiing for the boys, we spent the next couple of hours going over basic techniques and not covering any real slope. I showed the boys how to plow and turn, and use their bodies to control their skis, and I spent a lot of time helping them up after a fall. Although I didn’t get to try the slopes, I was excited to be back on skis and happy to see the boys learn. Next time I do some more advanced skiing. For Abraham we rented a sled, and after the boys got tired of skiing, we spent some time sledding with Abraham. We stayed until we were all too wet and cold, not to mention tired, to play any more, and then we headed home. What a great day!