JollyBeGood

After driving 11 hours straight through every kind of weather imaginable. From L.A. through Vegas and into Utah we made it all the way to our destination, Park City.

We had slipped all over the road traveling at 20mph at one point on the interstate because the roads were completely snowed over. And with all the snow pounding the window shield I could maybe see about 10ft in front of the car. Your eyes start playing tricks on you when you are searching for any signs that you are still on the road. It was a complete whiteout. Finally we made it up the last little hill, then we saw the driveway to the house we were staying at. Our rental car, a two-wheel piece of crap Jeep Needed to make it up a 45deg grade driveway covered in about 2 feet of snow. After sliding backwards the first try and sliding almost sideways the second try, managing to avoid a large rock. I thanked myself for buying the $14 a day insurance on the car. I asked the locals. Any tips? They all thought I was an idiot because they thought the Jeep was 4WD. Once they understood it was 2WD, we got a bit more sympathy but the answer was still the same. “Just hit the hill with a lot, I mean a lot of speed.” We hit it at about 35-40. I wasn’t planning on taking another chance of helplessly sliding down backwards, I just hoped I could stop at the top of the hill so I didn’t run into their house. That is not a fun feeling.

Well we made it. But I was definitely awake at this point. Infact I was just thinking how much worse it was going to be the next day. We had arrived at 6am. As we went to bed all the locals hit the mountain to get into all the fresh powder. All I could think about was, if its continuing to snow this hard tonight, tomorrow ,and the rest of the trip as the forecast said. How the hell were we gonna go anywhere the next day…

I took these pictures on the third day. We slept a couple hours and then were headed off to our movie at 12pm at Sundance. We were exhausted and all the snow had created horrible traffic and accidents. We barely made our bus after taking a short-cut through 4 feet of snow and a little creek. I had no problem with my long legs, but Bernie (as pictured above) took a plunge  head first into the snow. His daughter screamed “Lay off the crack! Dad!” as his pants came down and he mooned the girls behind them. Unfortunately in my desperate attempt to grab the bus. I missed out on all the “issues” crossing the snow. Our movie was great Happythankyoupleasemore. Yes they need to shorten the title. But trust me, if it wasn’t great I guarantee you I would have passed out. I was exhausted from driving all night without sleep.

After sleeping a ton and watching our movie on the second day. We were all to embark on a snowshoe hike up the backside of the mountain behind the house. We were told to each carry wood for the fire we were gonna make at the top of the hill. But more importantly to bring as much Boozes as we could fit in our coats.

Kerri had successfully put on her snow shoes while Patrick takes a swig of Jameson in the background before heading up.

I probably haven’t explained this…Kerri (left) is my girlfriend’s roomate Gracie (right).  Gracie didn’t have any real snow pants so I found a pair of extra ones in the ski bag. She looked awesome in them! he he We teased her a little when she took a plunge after crossing her snowshoes. And I tried to lift her to her feet with that backpack she has on, but I broke it. So I felt bad and carried it the rest of the way. She is so sweet. We had to switch her gloves later on too because the wind picked up on the trail back home. It got really cold. She was such a great sport! She didn’t complain at all. We had a blast!

Here we are looking for the trail posts with headlights and ski poles.

As you come across the hill you can see the olympic bobsled run. I did it 3 years ago with my old roommate Evan Minogue. It was a blast hitting approx 89 mph and 6 G’s of force on the turns. (your hardest roller coaster ride is 3 G’s) it was enough to push the air out of your lungs.

To the campfire!

We had a little birthday toast!

Here is Gracie and I freezing after I tried to get a couple pictures of everyone. That fire was a savior.

Here is the whole party. What a blast. I don’t have any great photos of the dogs because I carried two bags up. But they had lights on there collars. They could smell the path and often lead the way. So much fun until they drool on you. Till the next post! Be good people.