We headed north from Rockledge on Saturday at about 5AM, arriving in Boone at 3:30. We stopped by FirstTrax to pickup a rental for Donavin and they had exactly ONE board left. Everyone, everywhere was sold out…not a good sign. Sunday morning, we woke up at 7AM and started on breakfast; burritos. Made some spam for the boys to taste, because they never had it before. We cleaned up then headed up to Beech Mountain Resort. While Donavin was taking lessons, Brandon, Trevor and I did a few laps on the Oz run. When Donavin met back up with us, he headed right up on the greens and blues and did great. Due to the crowds, we headed back to the campground to make an early dinner. When we arrived, it was DESTROYED. Apparently winds picked up our tent, with everything inside and tossed it around the campground. A neighboring …keep reading …
2014-12: Grandfather Campground, Banner Elk, North Carolina
We left Florida on Friday for our first snowboarding and camping adventure. We left as soon as Brandon wrapped up his semester exams and drove until 11:30. We stayed the first night at the Holiday Inn Express in Hickory, which was a 5K PointsBreak® hotel, making it basically free. I set the alarm for 6AM on Saturday so that we would have enough time to eat breakfast and get to Sugar Mountain Resort before they opened. We all dressed into our ski clothes and checked out. I had set the GPS to Banner Elk, so it took us a new way, through Morgonton. We still arrived right before 9AM and were able to get a pretty good parking spot. Ryan signed up for lessons, while Brandon, Trevor and I did a couple runs. We started out on the Green, but headed up quickly to try out the new run. It …keep reading …
Rafting, Kayaking, Snowboarding in Orlando? It might be happening.
While reading through my normal blogs today, I came across an interesting story from Orlando Business Journal. It was regarding the vacant property next to Festival Bay Mall on International drive. Apparently, there is now an “outdoor recreational adventure sports complex” planned. It is currently called “Acquasol”. Activities in the Master Plan Rafting/Kayaking Whitewater River 167’ tall SnowFlex mountain for Skiing and Snowboarding, with chair lift SnowFlex Tubing hill, with magic carpet ATV Tracks Splash Pools Zip Lines Ropes Course Rapelling Tower Climbing Walls Canyoning and Bouldering Now THIS is a project I can get behind. How cool would it be to have rafting, boarding, and mountaineering within an hour’s drive? Download the Master Plan PDF
Trip Report–President’s Day Snowboarding at App/Sugar/Beech
Wow, what a weekend. I didn’t think that we would fit it all in, or that we’d have the energy for it, but we did. Three days, three resorts. When we left Florida at 4AM on Saturday it was in was in the low 60s, but when we arrived in Boone it was around 20 with a wind chill below zero. We quickly checked into the hotel (Holiday Inn Express, Boone) then headed out for food and supplies. We apparently underestimated the cold, so we all bought additional head and/or neck protection. After a quick stop at Jimmy Johns for grub and 1st Tracks for ski rentals for Doug, up to Appalachian we headed for Midnight Madness
Marathon Snowboarding Weekend – Will I Survive?
After having an absolute blast skiing Sugar Mountain and Beech Mountain around new years, we decided to we deserve one more visit this season. Anyway, no one has broken anything yet; so the season’s not over! Instead of the whole clan headed up, this weekend is a guys only weekend. While the number of guys is reduced, we are still going to have a ball. All of my so-called adult guy friends are to “scared” to ski/snowboard…yeah I’m talking to you @dontl00back, @ucthomas, @ptmagoo. Headed up will be my brother-in-law Dan, his son Doug and my boy Brandon. Trevor decided to opt out of this trip this past week, so that he wouldn’t risk hurting them for his last track season. A very noble and adult decision.