The ski clubs beginner’s trip 2001 started Saturday at 4:30am. Lee Templeton and Larry Callahan got to the bus early to help with the loading. We were pleasantly surprised that we had a larger bus then we ordered and this gave everyone plenty of room to stretch out. As the ski club members pulled into the parking lot Lee and Larry ran to the cars and loaded everyone’s gear. Thanks to the quick loading we got on the road by five and waited until 5:10 for the first sounds of beverages opening. There was hot chocolate with a special additive along with other festive drinks to take the chill out of the brisk morning. The cookies and donuts really hit the spot and thanks to everyone for sharing. I thought that I heard some snoring from Lori King but I am sure I was mistaken (it may have been Karen). A little further back in the bus the sounds were all laughter. Larry C. stayed to the front of the bus to make sure that the driver didn’t loose her way. As the sun rose we noticed that the forecast of rain was right on the money. The discussion of what would we do in case of a rain out lead to a bazaar modeling of ski club fashion. Sherrill Leslie and Bill Vahary along with Sarah Glenwright somehow convinced Lee Templeton to fashion four ski club scarfs into a girls bathing suit. Keep in mind that we have been in the back of the bus for a while and the party mood was increasing at an astounding rate. Lee, with the assistance of Beck Morgensen, tied two scarfs for the top and two for the bottoms. The hooting and howling from the middle and later from the front of the bus drew everyone’s attention. I decided to take advantage of Lee’s " show " and promoted the scarfs for sale. I am pleased to report to seven were sold during the show. The trip continued with a break at a local McDonalds. There wasn’t any hurry to get to the slopes so we decided to eat in. To help with the chances of a skiing someone asked Randy Helms to perform a snow dance, he did, it snowed. The trip was turning into a skit from Saturday Night Life and it was great fun. The snow continued until we reached Cascade. Larry C. worked on getting the bus unloaded and Rich Knable and I went into get the lift tickets. It is great having out treasurer with us on the trips. Rich wrote the checks, everyone selected their gear and off we went. At first it seemed as if it would not be a good day for skiing but that was proved wrong. Sure it was a little windy at the top and a little slick in the middle but the lines were short so we got allot of runs in. Becky M. and Ellen Halcomb attacked the greens and blues and stayed on their skies through it all. It was reported that Randy and Lee made runs over on the blacks in 23 seconds. Randy has always been one of the fastest skiers I have seen but even his eyes were wide open when he told us about it at lunch. It is a great story and you should ask them about it at our next social. Everyone seemed to have a fun day and pleasantly everyone showed up for the bus on time. Once we got the rooms assigned and keys passed out and the bags off the bus everyone scurried to their rooms. It was decided that we would take the bus downtown for some fun after dinner and 13 brave souls loaded the bus. We stopped at a very interesting spot called Brother in Laws. Dennis Belanger, Paul Carr and Jo Williams were the first trough the doors but we all soon followed. It seems that we picked the right night and the right spot. It was Mardi Gras night and there were beads for the ladies to win. The dancing never stopped and I think that Sherrill was out there all night, what a dancing a machine. We all danced and laughed and enjoyed the entertainment of the "special people" there for Mardi Gras. A special thanks to Craig Vogel for finding this place.