Welcome to my second-semester passion blog! I am so excited to share all of my past, present, and future travel plans with you all. Hopefully, this blog inspires you, informs you, and aids you in planning some great trips near and far for yourself!
I am a firm believer that you should, “Fill your life with adventures, not things. Have stories to tell, not stuff to show.” Whether your adventure is trying out a new restaurant in downtown State College or hopping on a plane across the world to Europe, an adventure is an adventure.
This weekends destination is the 7 Springs Ski Resort in Seven Springs, PA! I am super pumped to be meeting my family halfway between Virginia and here to celebrate my little brother’s 17th birthday!
I love the mountains just as much as I love the beach (so much that they are actually tattooed on my ribcage). The truth is I have never been skiing before but I can’t wait to learn!
The awesome thing about this 4-star resort (yes…FOUR stars) is that not only can you enjoy the outdoor excitement of skiing, tubing, and more but there are so many other things to fill your weekend with unforgettable memories such as a spa, multiple restaurants, shopping, and indoor pool and hot tub, and more!
Stay tuned for how the trip went when I get back on Sunday!
UPDATE:
Plot twist…I decided to go Snowboarding! Having had ACL reconstructive surgery just 6 months ago I figured it might be easier on my knee…I was wrong because you tend to fall forwards…a lot. Nevertheless, I kept trying and was a natural (at sitting) by the end of the weekend as you can see below.
For those of you who have never snowboarded before here are some pros and cons of the activity, according to theguardian.com:
Pros:
- Snowboarding is much safer for leg injuries, although the ankles sometimes suffer. But upper body injuries are frequent. If you stack on the frontside, you may break your wrist or collarbone. If you slam backwards, your coxyx (“tailbone”) could snap. YIKES!
- You can walk! Walking in snowboarding boots is about 10 times easier and 100 times more elegant. This isn’t just more comfortable and more pleasant it also saves a good bit of time getting around.
- You don’t have the possibility of accidentally doing the splits.
Cons:
- On the mountain, a snowboard is not the best-thought-out method of getting around. To ride any lift, you have to remove your back foot. Step-in bindings have made this easier, but most of them still keep clogging up with ice. When you encounter the dreaded flat sections of the moutain, you have four options: take the back foot out and “scoot”; bend down and claw yourself along with your fingernails; hop like a demented frog; or beg your skiing mates for a tow.
- Getting off lifts: Lifts are designed for skiers – and are much trickier for snowboarders especially beginners.
Overall my first snowboarding experience was GREAT! I loved the balancing factor and I actually caught on fairly quickly! I definitely ended the weekend with a ton of bruises and soreness but it was soo worth it! I hope this encourages you to get out there before the end of winter and try it out!
I am totally ready for this blog! A new thing I’ve been extremely worried about is the little time we have on Earth and getting done everything I want to and seeing everything I want. I’ve been telling my friends I just want to travel with them and make memories I will definitely be looking here for some ideas!
Omg!! This is where I ski!! However, I’ve never gone to the spa or done any shopping there so if you check that out you should definitely let me know how it is! Also if skiing turns out not to be your thing, I hear they have snow tubing, too. I hope you have fun!
Great post! I completely agree with you that one should travel while they still can! There are so many beautiful places on Earth and I hope to one day get to all of them. I think it’s awesome that you’re going to learn how to ski on this vacation and get to spend time with your family. I actually just recently tried skiing in Colorado and it was so much fun, but definitely a work out. It sounds like you will have so many things to do while you’re in Seven Springs. I can’t wait to hear about how it went!