A Lamb Call To Action

Snow Day - Kings Canyon Park
Originally uploaded by UlloaSullivan.

"We r going 2 the snow on Sunday if anyone is interested in going w/ us"

So said the txt message Letty sent out Friday, starting a flurry of planning activity for the extended UlloaSullivan team. Not only were we taking aback by such a surprise, taking-the-bull-by-the-horns pose from the Lamb camp but once we got over that we had a bunch of questions to answer. Did we have gloves? Would I miss the jacket I left in the UK on my last trip? How much bologna can we get at the last minute on a Saturday night? Who has flasks for the hot chocolate that we can't go up there without? Etc. Etc.

And so, with multiple layers of clothing on we headed over to Janie's armed with fresh breakfast burritos from Case de Rita for a 9:45am rendezvous before heading up to the Kings Canyon National Park. After an initial stop for a couple of trial runs on the personal sleds we drove on up to the next picnic area and began the serious work of creating a work class (but not too dangerous) run.

It got colder as the day progressed, with more snow blowing in over the mountains. After lunch - bologna sandwiches, chips and hot chocolate - we headed over to a more dangerous slope (buried logs, trees, opportunities for being impaled/knocked unconscious) where only the hard core among us dared to venture. So, there were Jim, Justin, Michelle, Meleena and I (yes, Meleena!) taking turns to slide down a very steep mountain slope towards thick trees while all the time Michelle and Justin worked to make the starting point even slicker and faster. Justin out dared us all by managing weave his sled through a tiny gap in some trees right at the bottom of the slope causing us much concern for a moment or two before we heard him laughing.

Of course, the only problem with going down long steep slopes is that you then have to climb back up those same long steep slopes to have another go. We're feeling a touch sore from our adventures today but, having waited about 5 years to use our new gloves and sleds, we're raring to go again soon.