slowing down

My life for the past month or so has been filled with nonstop trips, holidays, and work. There has been a constant push to try and fit in as many things as possible. Now back in school I have to somehow slow down and pace myself so that I don't go insane with school work on top of everything else. However, its tough to get back in school with all this fresh snow. Two weeks ago I went to Mammoth with my dad for three days, a solo trip we try and fit in once a year. We did some pretty hard skiing all over the mountain and got back in time for work the next day. The next weekend I took off again for the Grand Canyon, this time with two of my cousins and four friends of mine. We left early around five a.m. and packed in as much as we could into three days. We stayed in Williams the first night, walking around the town bars and restaurants on route 66. Williams is a small town in Arizona which you hit right before you head up to the Grand Canyon. It's an old town that reminded me of Jackson Hole in Wyoming, quaint and western. The bartender at one of the bars was pretty glad that we came in and talked to her since the town was pretty empty on the Thursday night. She made up an itinerary for us of all her favorite places to visit where the majority of people visiting the canyon wouldn't know about unless you lived in that part of Arizona. The next day we headed to the Grand Canyon and drove all along the south rim debating on whether we should hike down the canyon or not since there was a sign right before you descended recommending using crampons because of all the snow along the trail. We watched as the majority of people who were coming up were using crampons and looked pretty worn out and decided that we would hike the next day if we really wanted to since it was getting colder as the sun was going down and the snow was icing over. The group then split up, two of my friends stayed at the Grand Canyon while the rest of us headed out to Flagstaff following the bartender's advice to stop once along the way at a small secluded chapel right at the base of the mountains in an area where Native Americans still practiced religious ceremonies. After we went to Flagstaff to get some food we headed back to the canyon where they dropped me off with the other two who had camp set up and a fire going. The others took off to go find a hotel they could stay in instead of camping in sixteen degree temperatures. The next morning the three of us hiked down the canyon to a few different look out spots where you could see the Colorado River and more of the canyon then from the top. After we met up with the others in Las Vegas where we spent the night gambling, drinking, and causing havoc on the strip. We made it back on Monday where things still didn't slow down. Tuesday I had to work all day and Wednesday is when school started. A few friends and I went to Wrightwood to go skiing on Thursday, I worked on Friday and Saturday, then on Saturday night headed up to Big Bear to go skiing again. We skiied at the resort for around four hours where the conditions were perfect, sunny blue skies, warm weather and tons of snow. After the resort we went to go build a jump out in the backcountry. We hiked with shovels and after a half hour or so we had built a good size jump which landed right in powder about thirty feet away. With all the powder everyone was willing to try out tricks they wouldn't normally try since the chances of getting hurt were pretty low, we spent the rest of the day there and finally left at sunset.