New Year's in Vermont

[Clockwise from left: Andy Mullen, Rebecca Slovak, Dave Mullen, Carl Goedecke,Marilynn Mullen, Irene Goedecke, Pete Sankowich, Sara Mullen Sankowich]

The Cranbury Mullens rang in the New Year at Marilynn's brother's (Carl Goedecke) house in Fayston, Vermont, in the shadow of the Mad River Glen ski resort. The photo above (click on it for a larger version) shows the group in mid-New Year's Eve festivities. Everyone arrived at Carl and Irene's beautiful house at various times on Wednesday evening, December 30th. After a drink or two and some snacks, everyone went to bed to prepare for the next day.

Irene Goedecke and Sara Sankowich, relaxing and conversating

On Thursday, the downhill skiers (Andy, Rebecca, Dave, Sara, Pete and Marilynn) got out the door fairly early and were sliding up and down Mad River Glen on slats of carbon fiber by 10:30am. The rest of us (Carl, Irene, Paul) got a more civilized start (noon) and snowshoed for about 2 hours. The high point of the day, for me, was getting through Day #1 without a repeat of last year's brutal snowshoeing blisters on both heels. The skiers thoroughly enjoyed their day, staying until last run and returning to the house at around 4:30pm. By all reports, everyone did amazingly well. Rebecca and Andy -- the most experienced skiers -- spent most of their time on the black diamonds. Marilynn -- who used to ski all the time until she married me -- shook off the rust and was able to ski Quacky, a blue but almost black diamond trail. Dave and Sara -- who hadn't skied since the Super Mullenium of 1999 -- skied almost the entire day without falling. Pete, who had never skied downhill before in his life, took a lesson with Sara, strapped on the skies, and attacked the mountain with his usual gusto. That evening, we rang in the New Year with a roaring fire in the fireplace, a fantastic dinner, some Mullen's Irish Cream, and excellent champagne provided by our hosts, Carl & Irene.

Andy & Rebecca enjoying "a roaring fire and red meat off the bone"


On Friday morning, Rebecca and Andy bolted out for the slopes of Mad River Glen once again while the rest of us went on a typical Carl & Irene snowshoeing trek.

Everyone smiling despite the "steep grade" warning sign!

The trek started off pleasant enough, but by the time we staggered back to the house it felt like we had just completed the Bataan Death March! Sara and I, in particular, were toast. Sara's calves (sore from the prior day of skiing) were locking up on her and my knees (aching from basketball on Wednesday and snowshoeing on Thursday) were in dire need of an injection of WD40. In stark contrast, Carl, who would turn 68 the next day, could have gone on for 2 more hours!


Dave doing the "Brush Limbo"

On Saturday morning, Sara and Pete headed for home in a vain attempt to arrive in time to see the NHL Legends hockey game at Fenway Park at 2pm. Andy, Rebecca, Dave and Marilynn headed back to the ski slopes. Carl (Happy Birthday, Carl!!) and Irene went for yet another snowshoeing excursion. I rested my knees, composed this blog, and nervously eyed weather.com and its prediction of 10 inches of snow in the next 24 hours. The Prius is tremendous for a lot of reasons, but not for driving on the snowy, mountainous roads of Vermont!!

Happy 2010 to all!!

Gracie saying "Hello!"