The winter blues have set into our home, and we look for fun ways to keep active, and stay family fit! Having fun together provides memories, and let’s the kids see that Mom and Dad can be fun, we just can’t always be like that, lol! My husband and I love taking the kids on new adventures, sharing our passions and staying in touch with things we did before the kids came along.
When we were dating, we used to head out and ski, and when we got married we would take spontaneous ski trips all over, even to BANFF, Canada. Fun was about sports, and having the time of our lives, up and down mountains, even if I dreaded the downhill! The snowfalls beckon us to return to the mountains, and here is what we have found that is not only affordable, but tons of fun as a family!
Our kids are going to love the place we are staying, in a rental home, as it has a hot tube and they will love being outside while in a warm tub! See, memories that just can’t be replaced!
Having fun family times often means retreating somewhere fun. Many families love skiing but hate the high price tags offered by many local resorts and begin looking for affordable family skiing on mountains that have lots of trails for every ski level! Let’s face it when you travel as a family, it is expensive, and skiing is a sport, so it really starts to add up: equipment, equipment rentals, lodging, ski lift tickets, food and before you know it a mini mortgage is created, right?
The Lavishness of Where did the WE go?
Who am I anymore? Some people don’t give stuff up when they have kids, but most do. In our case, skiing was what we gave up. First, pregnancy kind of got the better of me(lol) and second, infants were not skiing and who wants to sit in the ski lodge(well on cold days, it’s ok:) In my days of not so long ago, I used to ski every Friday night, and while dating my husband, he began skiing with me. We absolutely love the outdoors and spending time together so skiing was the perfect retreat. Kids came along and we kind of slushed our skiing time off to the side, rearing 3 young ones that could hardly walk was a bit much so something had to give. Now that they all are able to walk on their own we have introduced them to skiing. The kids love it. Our biggest challenge to date was how to take the whole family skiing and not break budget?
It is possible to ski with a family, not break the budget and make sure that everyone has a trail they can ski on! So many trips taken to the very local ski places have left us a bit disheartened as slopes are closed and ski lifts are not working making the trails less fun to ski because there are less of them to ski. We have been looking for other alternatives and we have found one: Canaan Valley, West Virginia. In reality, the drive is not that far and the cost is super for lots of great trails!
TICKETS: SKI THE VALLEY
These tickets allow skiing to happen at either the Timberline Four Seasons Resort or the Canaan Valley Resort for 2 days in a row. The prices on these tickets are very ‘frugal’ and give you plenty of time to really get your Ski Groove on! This two consecutive day ticket may be purchased at the ticket counters at either Canaan Valley or Timberline Ski Resorts- see the website for more details.
HERE IS WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO:
Timberline Resort is open with 18 trails! Be aware some are open with natural snow cover only. Canaan Valley Resort is not open and it has ice skating and cross country. This past week snow totals are over a foot (12-14″) of natural snow! We are also planning on snow-tubing. I just hope I can keep up with the kids! My little ice hockey guys can’t wait to skate and ski!
SKI EQUIPMENT: Do not fret if you want to ski and do not have equipment, you can rent it! Perhaps you don’t feel like hauling your ski equipment, SKI BARN has five locations to serve you and they are super easy to work with! Our equipment for our upcoming trip has been sponsored by Ski Barn. It is so much easier knowing that our equipment will be ready and waiting and we will not have to search a place out! So many times looking for a place to rent equipment is half the battle. You can rely on SKI BARN to supply you with great customer service as well as great ski equipment, set and ready to hit the slopes for kids to adults!
Don’t forget to invest in a pair of Ski Goggles, these are better to own, and are relatively inexpensive, but don’t buy the cheapest pair you can find, they will fog and crack in the cold, been there, done that!
And of course invest in some decent ski gloves….
Finally, if all else fails, don’t forget the hot packs.
These will keep your feet, toes, and fingers warm, keep them shoved in your pockets and ski longer than you normally would! These are also great for snowball battles and snow shoveling at home, so a case will help you out greatly! Always keep these on hand.
Let’s lavishly live the winter time blues outside in the winter time whites, and hit the trails as a family, skiing. It’s Adventure. Eat. DIY. Repeat. with travel and fitness!
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