Tuesday, March 11, 2008

sNOw Fun?




Sunday morning we decided to head up to the Nordseter which is an area north of Lillehammer for xcountry skiing. It was a beautiful drive; the trees were all covered in snow. When we reached the top and found the lodge it was very hard to see and windy.We had to ask a local where exactly the lodge was because we needed wax for our skis.

We are figuring out that there is much to learn about xcountry skiing You need to have the right type of wax on your skis depending on the weather and the type of snow you will be skiing on. One needs to know how to apply the wax. There are different tools and sprays, etc. Kent is getting the hang of it. In Portland, I never worried about this with Dan's old skis, but now I have fancy Norwegian ones. We got the wax and slowly got everything ready. There was a little cafe in the lodge and it smelled wonderful. Someone was busy baking. We will be back later for some snacks I told KJ and Kent.

The mistake we made was asking a Norwegian in the shop what trail to try. We need to remember the Norwegians are born with these skinny wooden things strapped to their feet. The trail was groomed and the snow was hard and it was only KJ's second time ever on skinny skis. She did great but was very frustrated. The hard part is once you fall; you have to get up. We ended up doing a little bit of the trail, playing in the snow.... ie) making a snowman and having a snowball fight. While the snowballs were flying KJ's dad accidently hit her on the cheek with a snowball. Oops, she still wanted to keep going. We had some yummy hamemade cookies and rolls too before we headed back down.

While we were having our snack we met some Minnesotans, two men and a woman in their fifties. They were here to participate in various xcountry races. The gal did a 30 kilometer race that is very well known in Norway for women only. The men were doing a longer 50 kilometer race in a few days. Hmm, pretty impressive. Maybe I'll keep practicing, I told Kent and come back for it when I'm 50?!?

Before we left Lillehammer we made a quick stop at the Olympic Museum where the 1994 winter games were held. I needed some postcards.

All in all the weekend trip was a success and lots of fun.....

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