4th annual ski trip to Holiday Valley

As mentioned in my previous blog entry, we went on our annual ski trip to Holiday Valley in Ellicottville, NY. Again, we rented a house big enough for four families. It was us minus Bob (he had a soccer tournament and hates to ski), Topher and Mags' family, Willie and Ami's family and Meryl and Goldie's family plus one of Meryl's friends, Lulu. 


On our first full day there, we went to a private resort that is open to the public during the week. It is called Holimont. Initially, we thought it was crowded (the lodge was crowded) since they were having a contractor's outing. Once we got off the lifts, it was surprisingly open. The runs were nice and long, which is similar to Holiday Valley. The weather was perfect (26 degrees) and the mountain views were beautiful!  We took a break for lunch and ate in the lodge. The food was pricey, but it was delicious. 


That night for dinner, the ladies made quesadillas. SJ had a gluten free tortilla quesadilla. The quesadillas were delicious. That evening, the girls decided to go out into the hot tub and the boys played video games. The girls came in after 30 minutes. Right after they came in, SJ came out of the room he was sharing with Topher and Willie. He went into our bedroom and put on his swimsuit. I asked him, "Are you going in the hot tub with the boys?" He looked at me and asked, "Aren't the girls still out there?" I told him, "No, they just came in to shower." You should have seen his face. He looked so disappointed. He let out a huff and turned around to change back into his regular clothes. That made all the adults chuckle and then Meryl and Goldie's dad said, "Another boy that I now have to worry about." We all laughed harder.
The next day, we went to Holiday Valley. We skied all day! It was a little warm for skiing (37 degrees), but we still had a great day. We took a break for lunch, but that only lasted about 30 minutes. The food was still pricey, but not as good as the food at Holimont. The kids started getting tired around 4, so we went back to the house to get ready for dinner.
We tried to go into town to eat at the Brewery, but the wait was too long. We ended up at the Restaurant Depot, an old train station that they turned into a restaurant. It was a wing, pizza and beer place. I have to say the food was incredible. Maybe the best pizza that I have ever had! It was a quirky place with knick knacks all over the walls and ceilings. The kids loved it.
After we returned home, all the kids decided to get in the hot tub. They were playing "Truth or Snow". If you didn't want answer some embarrassing question, then you had to jump out of the hot tub and do a snow angel, etc. SJ told me later that Willie asked him a question, but he didn't tell the "whole truth". Since he told "half of the truth", he didn't do the snow dare. Stinker!
Our last day of skiing, we went back to Holiday Valley. It was unseasonable warm (48 degrees), which is a little too warm for skiing. The snow was very slushy and bare in some spots. We skied for a few hours and then went to lunch at The Gin Mill. This restaurant was at best a "dive", but the food was yummy there too. We bonused out on the food on this trip. After lunch was finished, we drove home. Can't wait until next year!