OWWWEEE!

My calves and quads are SO sore from skiing 3 out of 4 days, as well as spending so much time standing on a steep hillside in ski equipment. It was great fun, however and now we are Certified Ski Instructors. We earned a paper certificate and a large pin.

Part of the training included a time for each of us to 'teach' the rest of the class about something unrelated to skiing. That was worth some good laughs!

Dave 'taught' us how to grind beans and make a 'tall Americano'.

Nic, a 30 something who owns 3 coffee kiosks in Hamilton, MT, taught us how to steam the milk for a latte.

Clint, 30 something, works in water quality for the Montana forest service - he teaches us how to safely cross streams using 'the rule of 10'...

Dennis, who is our age and a real estate appraiser for the state of MT, taught us the proper techiniqe for fly fishing;

Cheryl, wife of Dennis and clerk in the ski school, taught us how to braid our hair.

Doug, a dealer of early 19th century western art, taught us how to roll our kayak! How must it have looked: 12 red coated clones going through the kayak rolling motions completley outfitted for skiing, standing in our boots and skis, helmet and goggles and mitts on the side of a hill!

Aaron, a very cute, boyish ,6'3'', 20 year-old, taught us how to make snow angels. We actually took off our skis for that one.

I taught everyone how to give themselves a face lift - their rosy red facial contortions were priceless.

A very shy, and sweet 16 year-old girl named Shelby taught us how to harvest and re-use the bugs that live on knap-weed blossoms. This is what she does for a summer job; it is a form of 'bio-environmentalism'.

Tallis, an otherwise unemployed 20 something, taught us how to set up a campsite.

Kevin, a renowned horse trainer, taught us how to give a horse a vaccination.

Jeremiah, an antarctic cargo loader who is too beautiful for words, taught us how to make a pineapple-upside-down cake in a dutch oven, over live coals.

What nice people our classmates all were, some ordinary and some outside of ordinary. It was fascinating to learn a little bit about each of them and hear about their various passions and skills. We spent the better part of 2 days flying down the ski hill, riding up the lift, and eating lunch together - I feel like I have 10 new, good friends!