What I learned about snowboarding...

... IT HURTS!!!

Like, a lot.

We went up to Towadako yesterday with a group of friends to try out the sport for the first time. The weather was beautiful for most of the day (it was snowing the whole time, but not too much wind until towards the end). My favorite parts of the day were the moments of being on the mountain or in the chair lift, taking in the beautiful scenery in silence with snow falling all around me. It really was gorgeous in an almost magical kind of way!

As for the actual snowboarding, it was definitely fun! Corey took to it really well. He even tried the intermediate slope twice. Me- well, I can't say I'm a natural (I literally didn't stand fully up on the board once my first trip down the bunny slope- which took at least an hour, by the way), but I sort of started to get the hang of it by the end of he day. By that, I mean I could do something other than scoot my way down the mountain via attempting an upright position and falling back down, causing the board to slide downward a few inches each time. I don't think that slope has ever seen so much of one butt.

I took one particularly nasty fall (ironically, after my best fully-standing slide down a steep slope) in which my forehead met the ground before I even knew I was falling. It broke my goggles and jarred me enough to end my day.

And today- OH THE PAIN!! Forget the fact that we both have tweaked ankles, knees, elbows and wrists. That's nothing compared to the deep muscle pains in places we never even knew we had muscles! Each individual finger is sore, and I'm pretty sure I have whiplash from my big fall as I can hardly move my neck (it hurts to freakin' swallow), and Corey's upper body isn't faring much better. OUCH!

Still, I guess the fun is worth the pain. We definitely want to do it again. It might take a couple weeks of recuperation, but we'll be back on the slopes!