Re: "Taos: A Four Letter Word For Steep"

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My favotite thing about skiing in Taos is how if you stop to catch your breath on one of those heavily moguled shutes -- it's pretty high up, afterall, for an Eastern metabolism -- a 70+ year old woman will come blasting up and say, 'are you all right?'


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 7:03 AM
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Sounds like a truly excellent vacation. Good for you. And welcome back home.


Posted by: Idealist | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 7:45 AM
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you can get really high up on the greens

A nice feature.


Posted by: Clownaesthesiologist | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 7:57 AM
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Yeah. West of the CD skiing is a whole nother thing. Despite never having lived west of Florida, I've never gone skiing east of the Rockies, which is to say, I'm spoilt rotten.

And the manners you speak of? I think that's fairly common once you get out of the Northeast corridor. Different paces of life and all...

I'm glad you had a great time. I've never been to Taos, but based on what you say, I'd go.


Posted by: tweedledopey | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 8:41 AM
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TD -- If you're a good skier, then TSV is even better than LB describes. Only problem: the snowboard ban can make it tough to take the kids. Upside: interesting demographic, as kids, and their parents, have gone elsewhere.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 9:00 AM
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Huh, skiing. I guess when I was in Taos it was the middle of the summer, and it was all about visiting my parents' hippie friends from college. We picked up a nice painted cow skull, though.


Posted by: Nathan Williams | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 9:39 AM
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So did Buck wind up having a torrid affair with his romance-novel ski instructor?


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 9:46 AM
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No, the romance-novel instructor would have to seduce LB, perhaps by helping her find a better fitting pair of ski boots using Mystical Native American Spiritual Techniques. And then, she returns home, full of longing, but then, but then, his post-doc in biology architecture comes through and he moves to New York, where they meet again at a swank party.

There's probably some great orgasms right about here.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 9:51 AM
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There's probably some great orgasms right about here.

Taos should change their advertising slogan to this.


Posted by: Hamilton Lovecraft | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 9:55 AM
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Yeah, but what did you eat and how was it?


Posted by: bgg | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 9:57 AM
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No, no, I googled it. They make gay romance novels.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:06 AM
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10: I think you're confusing romance novels (even the gay ones) with another form entirely.


Posted by: minneapolitan | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:07 AM
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In about 10 more minutes, there will be enough snow to ski in Bethesda. I'll post pictures later in the day. (We're celebrating Chez Carp.)


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:13 AM
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Here in S. Arlington I am wondering if I'll get to the Kennedy Center tonight for the Bolshoi's Don Quixote. The snow is beautiful and very inconvenient. Ah well, I can go outside and play.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:25 AM
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10: Mostly we bought food and cooked it -- we were staying in a little house we rented near the slopes. (Right by Arroyo Seco, for anyone who knows the area). I did take your advice and go to Joseph's Table one night -- while it was lovely, and the food was wonderful, we made a mistake taking the kids. They were good, but they were too tired to make it through a formal meal happily, and the food was over their heads (although they both liked the rabbit in red wine very much, and ate bread otherwise).


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:26 AM
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Dude, GO TO SEE THE BOLSHOI. And tell me all about their hands.


Posted by: Jackmormon | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:28 AM
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And 1: Yeah, saying that I ski like a grandmother is an insult to all of the grandmas blowing by me down the black diamonds. My ski instructor was a grandmotherly (pushing 60, maybe) retired programmer who was pointing out the really high trails that she hiked an hour from the highest lift to ski most days.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:29 AM
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I guess "Arroyo Seco" sounds better than "dry gulch."


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:32 AM
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there will be enough snow to ski in Bethesda

One of the defining features of DC-area life seems to be the inability to deal with snow. Have they declared martial law yet? Is school cancelled for the upcoming week? Are there riots at the local Winn-Dixe as people fight over the last loaf of Wonder Bread?


Posted by: Idealist | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:34 AM
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Idealist, you don't understand: Washington DC is a Sleepy Southern Town that never gets snow. Therefore every winter, when it snows, the whole area is really surprised.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:40 AM
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The DC area does too have a way of dealing with snow. It involves lots of panic, but there is method to this madness. This must be the plan because it happens so often.

Tomorrow they declare martial law. Today is a fun day.

(But I do need to buy milk. Aiiiieeee!)


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:42 AM
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Hmm, no comments from the Flophouse. We might have to send out a patrol.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:43 AM
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20: I remember visiting my sister in Annapolis in January 1989, and going up to DC for the day after six inches of snow fell. It was ridiculous -- the streets were unplowed, and middle aged men in suits were throwing snowballs as if they'd never seen the stuff before.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:44 AM
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DC, like Hollywood, is a place where image always trumps reality. Those men thought of themselves as living in a Sleepy Southern Town that Never Gets Snow, and this allows them to blot every single past winter out of their minds.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 10:52 AM
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It's magic snow they get in DC. It is fluffy, icy, and white, but also imbued with the ability to kill the brain cell that stores the memory of having seen snow before.


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 11:06 AM
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Our fogetfulness is a blessing. We recieve each snowstorm with child-like wondre and awe.

I just cleared 2-3 inches of wet, heavy, snow off the car. The trees look great. Even the ones that are bowing down the power lines look nice. Finally we have what winter is all about (the ice storm 2 weeks ago is not what we like).


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 11:30 AM
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15:

Coolness. For years, I've thought Joseph's was the best restaurant in the state. But sometimes I think El Monte and Geronimo (in Santa Fe) have edged them out. It usually depends on who has the more inventive menu.


Posted by: bgg | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 11:45 AM
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I'm missing the snow?! Crap. My trip back to DC tonight might have some complications.

Also, according to family lore I am distantly related to Kit Carson. I've never been able to verify this, however.


Posted by: Matt F | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 11:45 AM
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The fourth and fifth paragraphs of the post are great. My culture shock on coming to school was all in the other direction, so it's interesting to see how things look the other way.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 11:57 AM
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Ideal, we don't have Winn Dixie. At least not North Of The River. (That's Our River, I'm obligated by law to point out whenever it's mentioned.)

The snow is heavy and wet, but skiable, and I took a good dump winding through the trees down at the park.

The DC thing about snow is just impossible. Considering how much we actually get. Schools will be closed tomorrow, for sure. (Since I moved here, I've been saying that there are five words clearly not taught in the public schools in DC: don't, walk, no, left, and turn. Maybe the day they get to that part of the lesson is when they have snow storms.)

MattF, Carson's ancestry is out there, and I know I've seen it. Shouldn't be hard at all to see the relationship (or lack thereof).


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 12:05 PM
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30: Isn't it more sanitary to take a dump in a toilet?


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 12:09 PM
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Crap, snow? I'm about to fly down to Baltimore for a business trip and drive up to White Marsh and then Belcamp. I hope x95 is cleared well....


Posted by: Nathan Williams | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 1:26 PM
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The snow has stopped here south of Our River.

DCA closed briefly to clear away 3-4 inches of snow, but it is open again. DC has now declared a snow emergency. In Arlington the plows are out. I expect to get to the ballet on time.

I figure Matt F will get back OK and I'm sure that I95 will be cleared. I395 is outside my front door and is slushy with light traffic. It sure is pretty. I took a few photos and I've added some to the unfogged flickr pool.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 1:48 PM
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It all turned to rain north of Our River (and none of it belongs to you people to the South, dammit!) and it's kind of a sloppy mess. I went into DC briefly, and roads (arterials) were just wet in Spring Valley etc. We'll probably still have schools cancelled, because of weather conditions upcounty, but there's no snow starting about 100 yards from my house all the way to the schoolhouse.

Glad I skied before lunch.


Posted by: CharleyCarp | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 3:57 PM
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Takoma is covered in snow.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 5:11 PM
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Another lawyer in my office just got back from Taos. His instructor was a 71 yr old man who hitch hiked to the mountain every day.

I am ready to return to the West to ski. Snowshoe and Wintergreen just do not cut it.


Posted by: will | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 6:48 PM
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JM: What about their hands? you mean what they do with them, as part of the gesture, or what condition they seam to be in, or what?


Posted by: I don't pay | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 7:56 PM
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I hear the Bolshoi are big.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 8:37 PM
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I ban myself.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 8:37 PM
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Takoma is a defunct record label.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 8:49 PM
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eb, you like in takoma park? my mom lives there.


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 8:49 PM
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like s/b live
also, do you like steamroom?


Posted by: alameida | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 8:50 PM
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I'm in the district, but close enough. I'm not such a big fan of steamroom.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 9:03 PM
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South of Our River the rain came mid-afternoon.

So I was able to join a friend for a big steak dinner (Mooo!) and then to see the Bolshoi. The precision of movement (such as hands) is great. But the artistry and athleticism is just amazing. Don Quixote has tons of set-piece dances and although I get tired of them after a while (same problem with some other 19th century stuff) I still enjoy the virtuosity. The woman who played Kitri was wonderful.

This is ballet (dance) season for me. Romeo & Juliet (Kirov--not as good as ABT's) last month. Edward Scissorhands (very effective) last week. This coming week is NYC Ballet and Midsummer Night's Dream.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 02-25-07 9:15 PM
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Saw the Bolshoi's Cinderella this week at KennCen-- I was not totally sold, but Svetlana Zhakarova in the lead was gorgeous and one of the spunkier Cinderellas around. I'm going to Friday's Midsummer Night's Dream. (Pro football is over, March Madness hasn't started -- balletic interlude).


Posted by: bill | Link to this comment | 02-26-07 8:14 AM
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45: Zhakarova s/b Zakharova. Oh the shame.


Posted by: bill | Link to this comment | 02-26-07 10:03 AM
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I saw the Bolshoi's Nutcracker a few Christmases ago. I think I'm spoiled for all other ballet companies.


Posted by: Chopper | Link to this comment | 02-26-07 10:08 AM
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