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Traveling is such a great way to get out and see so many great things! I love long trips, short trips, and everything in between! Recently, my sister and I were invited by a friend to go snow skiing in Beech Mountain, NC. It’s about 6 hours from Savannah and makes a great long weekend get-a-way!

Where to Stay

We stayed at an AirBnB which was labeled ski in/ski out. It was a great place and the location couldn’t be beat, the drive down to the resort was less than 5 minutes. The ski in/ski out concept is amazing BUT…we were on “The Park” slope, which was really cool to watch the tricks but the lift to get to the top isn’t a chair lift and my sister braved trying it with Christopher but if you’ve never skied before of have some real beginners it’s not the easiest way to get in and out. We were all able to ski down, but most of the time we had someone drive to the resort to pick us up. Since we had Ada with us, there was always an adult at the house.

Lift Passes and Equipment Rental

We skied at Beech Mountain Resort and rented our gear from a local place called Fred’s General Mercantile. We waited a bit late to look into lift passes so they were sold out for the day pass on Saturday. I would suggest getting the passes earlier rather than later for this reason. We were able to get full day passes for Sunday and twilight passes for Saturday evening.

I would also advise getting your rental equipment the night before you plan to ski a full day so you can start the day skiing and not waiting in line for equipment. The line for renting wasn’t long and didn’t take forever but they were busy and if we’d stopped in the night before when we drove in we could have probably saved some time and been able to sleep in!

Skiing on Saturday

For Saturday since we weren’t able to get all day lift tickets we played for a little while right outside of the house, trying to show Christopher the ropes. Around 3:00 pm my sister and our friend, Kristen, took Christopher and her daughter down to the resort to pick up our lift tickets. While they were down there they did some bunny slope practice and ended up hitting the lifts and skiing for over 2 hours. They came back for dinner and then after dinner my sister, Christopher and I went back out for the pm ski.

The pm ski was a nightmare for me but more on that at the bottom of this post. Christopher and my sister spent another few hours skiing and didn’t come back to the condo until the slopes closed.

Skiing on Sunday

On Sunday we had all day passes so the plan was for a group to go out in the morning, come back for lunch, a group go out mid day, go get dinner, and a group go out in the evening. After my night, which I for real will get to, I was volunteering to babysit Ada all day but Christopher started the day by telling me he thought I needed to go back out for more “practice” so I put my big girl panties on and went back out in the morning.

The morning ski went smooth and when we were ready to head back to the house we called my sister and she drove down to pick us up. Christopher skied so well and was a great motivator! I think he could have stayed out all day skiing.

My sister volunteered to watch Ada again for the afternoon ski, saying she would go out for the night ski. So we went back out after lunch and a bit of rest.

Before we went out in the afternoon we made plans for Shauna to pick us up at the resort at 6:00 pm to go to dinner. Sunday evening from 4-6 was the BEST time! We were able to ski right up to the lift most of the time we were skiing and the slopes felt like we were the only people out there! Christopher even found a place to practice doing a trick!

After dinner, Shauna and Christopher went back out for the pm ski. It was FREEZING!! and so windy but they didn’t care. They skied until close and Christopher didn’t want to leave.

Christopher took to skiing like a pro and by the end of the weekend was wanting to try doing tricks in the park. I was so impressed with how easily he picked it up. At the end of the day Sunday he was sending us down the mountain first so he could “catch up” aka, go as fast as he could without me skiing behind him reminding him to slow down.

What About the Food!?

We decided to get groceries and do meals at the condo but did go out to dinner at the Mexican Restaurant. I didn’t take any pictures but you can imagine, standard Mexican fare.

The Truth about Instagram

So if you follow me on Instagram you may have seen my stories over the weekend, which, like most IG accounts is a serious highlight reel from my adventures/life. I did not post about my Saturday night adventure.

The evening was just the perfect storm of little things that had me completely over it. Snow skiing is a LOT of work, especially with kids. I’m not the best skier and where I can manage myself, managing another person was a task, especially when I wasn’t sure how well he was going to do.

The amount of time it takes to get two people dressed, equipment hauled out to the slope, skis on, etc. is exhausting and that’s before you even start the skiing part. That paired with the lift bar being frozen and me having a minor panic moment about Christopher falling off the lift resulted in him missing the exit, me having to yell for the lift operator to stop the lift, having to jump off the chair, it hitting me in the head, me losing my hat and having to put my skis back on. After that I sent Christopher with my sister and went back to the house, uphill both ways in the snow carrying my skis.

Needless to say, the truth behind my weekend is I wouldn’t have skied Sunday if Christopher hadn’t encouraged me and I wanted to share a before and after photo of me from Saturday night. So for all the “everything is perfect” posts the real like situation is often like this before and after photo from Saturday evening. Legit, my hair was frozen and I didn’t find the hat. ????????‍♀️????????‍♀️????????

ALSO!

Ada did join us for the weekend but she spent much of the time in the house. She wasn’t a huge fan of the extra clothes and the cold. She kept taking her hat and gloves off. I do have this classic Ada moment!

Looking for other trips from Savannah?

Check out my Cumberland Island Day Trip post, if you are looking for something a little closer to home that doesn’t require an overnight.

We also had a great time recently in Crystal River, Florida. Kayaking and seeing manatee makes a great weekend trip!