We rented our snowmobiles from a place called "On the Trail".
After we got to the snowmobile rental place, they guy gave me funny looks when I told him that I never rode a snowmobile or ATV before. Hey, that's just what happens when I grow up in Hawaii, especially as a city girl. He switched me from the Artic Cat I reserved to a GSX Ski-doo. I have no idea what the change did, but whatever. I found out later that the good thing about this switch was starting up the Ski-doo consisted of pulling the kill-switch button up, then turning the ignition key, whereas the Artic Cat, you had to flip the kill switch and pull on the cord, similar to how you would start a lawn mower. But anyways, the guy's whole reaction made me very very nervous about getting on it. We got a brief overview on how to start/stop and steer the snobmobile, then we had a chance to play around in the medow to get used to it.
Then it was time to hit the trails out on Grand Lake!
It was so beautiful riding up around there. I was the caboose, since I couldn't keep up with everyone. I wasn't going as fast as everyone because sometimes I couldn't control the snowmobile to well, and I was also afraid I would run it off the cliffs. I felt bad that I was holding up the group, though, and still tried my hardest to keep up. Remember how I mentioned before that I was switched from an Artic Cat snowmobile to a Ski-doo? Well, those Artic Cats weren't performing too well on the hard packed snow and kept overheating every-so-often. We would have to pull over on the side of the road and pile snow ontop of the back to help cool down the belt - that's why you see snow on the back of the snowmobiles on this picture.
One particular time when we all pulled over to cool down the snowmobiles, Clay was backing up slowly and somehow managed to flip his snowmobile over! Jet was on the back of the snowmobile, and Jet said that Clay bailed off the of the snowmobile faster than Jet could. That's when they kept saying "every man for himself!"
On our way back for lunch, I tried to avoid a really bumpy place and ended up getting my snowmobile stuck in snow. John told me to gun it to get it out, but it just got more stuck. So I got off, and immediately sunk to knee deep in the snow! Beth said the minute I stepped off my snowmobile, I disappeared! John and Don had to roll/lift my snowmobile out so I could ride it. I was actually the first stuck snowmobile of the day, but because there was only John, Don, Beth and Chandra around, I don't think many people remember that. Then it was back to the rental place for lunch!
Thanks to Chandra and Jr for providing us lunch. It was delicious! Jaide was dishing out the oreos for dessert. She ended up with a huge oreo crumb smile!
After lunch, we all headed back out towards the other side of the mountain. The Artic Cats were doing alot better with the softer snow and not overheating anymore. I was starting to feel more comfortable on the snowmobile. I followed Chandra through a clearing and up a tiny bank, not realizing that we were off trail. I gunned it and went up the bank to turn back onto the trail. When I landed, my snowmobile tipped to the left, tipped to the right, tipped back to the left, and half threw me off, then leveled out back on the trail. I hit the kill switch and looked up to see Chandra starting at me, looking more scared than I felt. John somehow magically appeared next to me and asked if I was ok, and urged me to continue on. We kept going and met up wtih the rest of the group in a clearing called Little Chicken. That's where Casey flipped his snowmobile and we found out one of our snowmobile's front shock broke - it wasn't our fault - we found out that this was the 10th snowmobile or so that the shock broke on. So we had to wait in the clearing until the rental place could come up and switch out the snowmobile.
After they gave us a replacement snowmobile, we were off to Big Chicken and Granite Hill. But to get there, we had to go up a hill that was peppered with trees, and a few of us were kind of leery about going up (well, I know I was, but I'm not sure about everyone else). But it wasn't too bad, and we all made it up the hill. We played around in the areas, going to the cliffs and taking in the view. Don said he felt like he was in a Coors comerical, with the Rockies all around us. It was definately so pretty up there.
Someone suggested that we make a snowman, so Bri, Beth and I started making the body parts of the snowman. Beth pulled out a Kit Kat and we made a face out of it. Lindsey lent her beads to give him more flair, and we had our little snowman! And before you decide to make fun of our snowman, keep in mind that this is the first ever decent snowman I've ever made!!! (All the other times, the snow was too soft of too hard)
We went to Granite Hill and I watched the group go up those 3 steep hills. I wasn't feeling so gutsy, so I just rested and played around a little in the flat area and took lots of pictures. Then we have to book it to get the snowmobiles back to the rental place on time. I wasn't the best at keeping up, but I really tried hard. When we got to the hill right by Little Chicken, and there was no one infront of me or behind me that I could see. So I took a deep breath and headed down that hill, trying my best to dodge the trees along the way. About a 1/4 of the way down, I realized that no matter which way I turned the skis, the snowmobile wasn't responding. So I tapped on the brakes to slow me down, but since I no longer was holding down the gas, I realized that I was just slipping down the hill and the breaks weren't doing anything. No breaks, no steering, and sliding down a hill with a lot of trees in front of me and a cliff on the right side of me ... now I was starting to panic. I don't remember what happened next, but the snowmobile somehow managed to completely throw me off and kept coasting down the hill. I fell into the snow and wasn't too hurt, so I started worring more about the snowmobile crashing into the trees and I'd have to buy the stupid snowmobile. So I started running after it. But evertime I took a step, I sunk knee deep in the snow, so I wasn't making much progress.
Don came up behind me, but didn't want to run me over, so he pulled his snowmobile over and got his stuck. John pulled up next to me to make sure I was ok, then went after my snowmobile and managed to stop it by the bottom of the hill. By some miracle, it managed to miss all the trees in the way! I was pertty shaken up after thand it took me a little while to take a deep breath and get back on. We still had to the get the snowmobiles back to the rental place, or we would have to pay a late fee. I got back on and headed down the trail while John and Don went to get Don's snowmobile out of the snow. They caught up to me right when I got to a fork in the trail and wasn't sure which way to go. John said go straight. Don said turn right. We started to go straight and saw the rest of the group sitting down the road on the right waiting for us. It wasn't too much farther from there. We got back just in time (with their 1/2 hour leeway), and didn't have to pay a late fee. It was fun, but I had lots of bruises to show for this day!
Because it was St. Patty's day, we decided to go to the resturant by the hotel to celebrate - El Rancho. Don had looked them up online and kept gushing over their happy hour. Plus, we were all too tired to make the drive out to Denver, then have to wake up early the next day to hit the slopes. We walked over and stepped into the restaurant and noticed ... the lack of employees around. I walked into the dining room and besides the 3 tables occupied, no one else was to be seen. Don walked into the bar and said everyone whipped around to stare at him, so he walked back out ... but no employees around in the bar either!
Finally we got seated and got to look at the menu ... They had rattlesnake, rabbit, elk, etc. I went with mac and cheese. Don got the appetizer sampler which included rabbit and rattlesnake sausage. We all tried the sausage and it was quite different from anything I tried before. And it smelt funny. John and Beth tried it too, and agreed that although it didn't taste terrible, it was definately "different". Bri was the only one who didn't try it. She smelt it and decided she didn't want anything to do with it. She did try some of Don's elk, though. I think she said she liked it. I can't remember.
After the quiet dinner, we were all too tired to stay up and drink, so we called it a night. When we were walking back up the slight slope to our hotel, we saw that the snow that had melted on the road was now turning into black ice. Both Bri and I remembered falling on it before and how much it hurt, so everyone was shuffling around so they wouldn't fall. Well, Bri played it extra safe and decided to take the long way and walk all the way around the black ice. That was until John pointed out the signs that said that there were mountain lions and bears, so walk at your own risk. Bri came running across the area and up the slope!!! Not the best thing to do on black ice, but she made it without an incident. I was truding along the side, and came to a point where I couldn't shuffle forward anymore - I kept sliding back down the slope with every step I took. So I stood still, trying to figure out what to do. I didn't realise that Don was right behind me, and me stopping, he ran into me, and we both started slipping down the hill. Beth, John and Bri were laughing at us, cause we were stuck and I didn't know what to do! Good thing Don was thinking, and he climbed over to the side where the snow was and walked up the rest of the way over there. I had to get some help to get on the snow, and managed to make it back to the hotel lobby. Hahaha.
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