Ghetty Images/Agence Zoom
Racing Super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

free-skiing in Courchevel

Ghetty Images / Agence Zoom
Racing DH in Méribel, France--about to crash....

I, for some reason, seem to be more prone than most other skiers to crashing. 

This is a fact that I am trying to comprehend and accept, it is one that I have been working and fighting with, mulling over, and struggling to grasp my whole life. I guess I’m a bit clumsy—I drop things, trip, and stumble. But I’m also the strongest and most coordinated I’ve ever been, incredibly powerful, quick, and athletic once I’m fully aware and involved. As I try to narrow down the possible reasons for my blunders—and I realize there is not only one reason, but many—I understand that my awareness and presence are the most important pieces to the puzzle of my ski racing success. 

looking up at the Mer de Glace in Chamonix, France

top of the training course in Méribel, France

finding my inner animal

Here’s to education! Hah ;) I’ll be in and out of Bend on the weekends, doing a bit of skiing and other work, but will try to stay focused in Eugene for the most part. I won’t be back on snow with the ski team until mid-July, which provides me with a long period to get strong, smart, motivated and eager to get back on the snow. I probably won’t be doing much updating over the next few months, but because I am taking photography, and have piled up so many photos over the season, I will be doing a POD (Photo Of the Day) every weekday during the spring, just to stay connected and to show you how I see things. So keep checking in on PODs, enjoy the blooming flowers, and feel the love in the air <3 <3 <3

Here are a few photos from the last couple of weeks. Enjoy.

inspecting in Garmisch

free skiing in Courchevel with Alice and our new friend Martin :)

can't decide...

castle-touring at Neuschwanstein

the one.

she did it again. two globes. what a comeback!!!

the after-party at La Folie Douce

messing around with Stacey in Sölden, Austria early March // photo by Mitch Gunn

one of the first walls of granite I saw in Chamonix, France. along the Petit Envers route

ripping down Grand Envers ::: photo by Stacey Cook

walking across some sketchiness, atop the Aguille du Midi

the Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix side

17:00 hrs -*-*- walking back through town to our home base

Stacey slashing the Mer de Glace

our lovely adorable hilarious hosts: Glen and Kimberly

purple-hair-don't-care-crew

sooooo many lines....... Mr. Plake enlightening the crew

happiness is fresh snow, a good guide, and a harness... and Chamonix.

(one of those smiley faces with hearts as eyes)

looking up at Grand Envers (Moyenne, ou Petit??)

adieu (from the Mer de Glace)

A few weeks before heading to World Championships, Stacey and I discussed taking a tropical vacation after Beaver Creek instead of going home. After some half-assed research and light discussion, we decided on Puerto Rico. We wanted to check out a spot in the Caribbean (in between the States and Europe), head south South (for the warmth!), and not have to apply for a Visa (Puerto Rico is an American territory). We had also heard that there were some great waves to surf in Puerto Rico, so that made our decision even easier.

our sunset dinner stop near Aguada, on the way to Rincón

Although these first two pictures don't show it, the waves were much too large for myself and Stacey (we're eager, but extremely inexperienced!), they were 18+ ft almost every day we were in Puerto Rico. We were there for 7 days. The ocean was going off, crazy angry, fast and hard, heavy, punchy, NUTS.

We flew into San Juan in the evening, and headed straight to our first hotel there in Condado. On our way to the airport in Denver we thought it over and decided to book our first nights' stay there, just in case we landed late or ended up confused, lost, unorganized, baffled tourists searching for shelter. Other than the first nights' hotel, we decided to leave the rest of our trip open, to decide on where to go when we got there, play it by ear, wing it and explore freely instead of being tied down to a hotel room. Turns out this wasn't the most intelligent planning strategy, as it was Valentine's Day and President's Day weekend....yikes. We ended up scrambling quite a few times to try and find a place to stay. But it all worked out in the end. The photo above is of the bar/bar tender at our first restaurant visit in San Juan.

nighttime streets of San Juan

We woke up on our first morning in San Juan, did a quick workout, hung out poolside (by our resort hotel--found a gem on Hotwire!), and explored Condado in San Juan a bit before hopping in our car and heading West to Rincón. On our drive we stopped in town (Rincón) and luckily came upon an art fair/party scene downtown.

a woman and her hammocks at the Rincón night fair

art!

drum circle party

hammock art!

We stayed at Lemontree Oceanfront Cottages on our first night in Rincón--a last minute find by Stacey. Our cottage was literally on top of the ocean...I could have jumped off our back porch balcony and landed in the crashing waves (although I would have smashed up against our building wall and likely gotten seriously injured). It was a cozy and comfortable place to stay, with the waves crashing outside and the birds/sun waking me in the morning.

from our balcony at Lemontree

the living room of our sunlit cottage

good morning world

On our first morning in Rincón, we woke up and headed to the beach to watch the surfers. Stacey and I decided, after our first day in PR, to make daily ocean bathing a requirement, so as to embrace and absorb the tropical lifestyle as much as we could while we could. The waves were too big to surf on, but they weren't too big to play in (we thought). We got tossed around a bit, smashed against the shore, knocked over countless times--faceplants, stripped of underpants, sand in every crevice, salt water up my nose, powerless and tiny.

THEY ARE SO BIG

We found a pretty awesome nameless beach south of Maria's (Rincón area), grabbed some Acaí bowls, and found a tree swing--on which Stacey swung while I climbed atop the anchor.

climbing! and swinging!
the water rolled so high up on shore, it tried to steal our shoes and drinks and soaked our towels. such amateurs.

in the top of the tree! any help with the tree variety?

from the top

Stacey's spot

From Rincón we headed north to Jobos, our next stop on the tour. On our way we paused for a peak at Maria's beach to check out the waves (too big. again.). It seemed to be run by locals, so we got a bit frightened, took a few photos, hid in a cove, and peaced out.

Stacey at Maria's (notice the sign)

a closeup

After arriving in Jobos and finally finding our hotel (a no-frills surf hotel just south of Playa Jobos), we went beach searching and exploring. We found my favorite restaurant on the island, Ola Lola's, which was down road 4466 just off the beaten path west of Jobos. I had my first peanut butter burger (way way way way WAY more delicious than it sounds), my favorite meal of the trip, and proceeded to Aguadilla to check out the surf. It looked delicious and relatively small (head-high ish, there is usually not much to surf on in Aguadilla unless it's huge everywhere else), but we couldn't find a surf shop to rent boards at, so we played in the water, took some photos (below!), and drove back to Jobos defeated and hungry. 

jealous of the surfers...

boat ties

grape fanta

crumbled boardwalk

beached boat

more of the crumbled boardwalk

more

sunset at Aguadilla

trash etc.

danger

flat surf

The next morning we woke up and did a wonderful beach plyos/gymnastics workout (check out my Instagram/Facebook page for a taste), hung out on the sand, and got incredibly sunburnt. After recovering at a lunch shack (El Carey Cafe) with some Octopus and fresh coconut water, we headed west to explore the coastline and find a spot to watch the sun set. We drove south past Crash Boat beach and took a right down a backroad to the water. After discovering a good spot to play in the waves, we opted to drive a bit further to see what we could find....

i like this blue bench

...and we stumbled upon this gem! I have no idea what it is called, where exactly it is, or what it used to be. But it was a beautiful sunset spot (although we couldn't exactly see through the clouds...) and gorgeous ruins to wander through. 

sunsetsurf

Stace wandering around the rocks below

skies and letters

makes me wonder what it was like when this building was new...

Stace

fake leaves // real toes

textures

The next morning we woke up and jumped on a few horses--YES WE RODE HORSES ON THE BEACH AND IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER. They even let us canter. We ran on the beach on horses. Amazeballs.

leaving the stables

my horse Bailey--she didn't like me taking photos of her....

we had to do a bit of bush whacking to get to the beach!!!

so so dreamy

We tied our horses up to a couple of trees on the beach, and came across a beached boat. Our guide told us it was a drug-running boat from the Dominican Republic that had gotten caught and ended up running and beaching at this deserted cove. After exploring the abandoned beach a bit (you can get to so many wonderful places on horseback!), we hiked up a small mountain to get an aerial view of the surrounding beaches. It was gorgeous up there....

the view!

about to jump (I love the crouching photos in jumping series like this!!! so funny!)

the one

loving Bailey

the abandoned boat

wading through a puddle

last beach / horse photo...promise!

After our wonderful horse ride we headed to Playa Jobos for our daily dose of ocean. It was a bit dirty, but seemingly very popular and made for some good photo ops. There was another abandoned building on the beach that I obsessed over for a few minutes with my camera while Stacey played in the water....

ruins

fences and webs

remnants of a plastic bag

heading upstairs...

a beautiful mess

textures, colors, depths

As we began our drive across the island (eventually landing in Caguas), I found another abandoned building... heh.... sooooo many photos.....

in the mirror

graffiti / high heels / colors

like this stencil

Then we finally hit the road. I'm sure at that point Stacey was ready to break my camera...but I saved it from her wrath (legitimate wrath...). We were starving by the time we got in the car, so we stopped at a roadside stand and got some traditional Puerto Rican lunch--roasted chicken (a whole one) with rice and cooked plantains. So satisfying! After doing some research on the drive east, we opted for the scenic route--the Ruta Panorámica. Unfortunately the signage was terrible, and our 3 compiled maps were not detailed enough (nor was google maps) to find our way. So after getting lost countless times along the way, we bailed and followed the highway to Caguas for a good nights' rest.

Actually, our frustrating excursion didn't turn out to be completely fruitless--La Ruta Panoramica is incredibly gorgeous. We were driving through a lush and dense rainforest, overgrown and overhanging onto the road to the point where it was like we were driving through a luscious green tunnel. It was worth getting lost for 5 hours on....
After a relatively uneventful sleep in Caguas that night, we jumped on a ferry in Fajardo the next afternoon and headed to Culebra, a tiny island off the east coast of Puerto Rico. We had heard that one of the most beautiful beaches in the world existed on Culebra, and decided we had to see it. That ferry ride was the coldest I got during our whole trip in PR--the air conditioning was cranking, and it was filled with other tourists just like us, heading to see Playa Flamenco and other gorgeous beaches on the island.
Upon arrival we headed straight to our hotel, Mamacitas (which was an awesome spot to stay--delicious drinks***TRY THE BUSHWHACKER!). They told us of a spot to rent bikes for our stay on the island, so we dropped in just before closing and picked up a few beaters to ride around the island on. We hadn't yet plunged in the ocean that day, so we hopped on our bikes and headed to Playa/Punta Melones for the sunset and some ocean time. 

Stace playing in the water

strange, colorful tire planters next to Playa Melones

...and roosters

playa/punta Melones

close-up

dead things, moving on

That night in Culebra Stacey and I hit the town. We started off at Zaco's Tacos (YUM), had a few drinks at Mamacita's, and then ate at a spot on the water. There were TONS of sturgeons next to the dock, glowing in the underwater lights.

fishies

a mural in Culebra

The next morning (a bit hung over) we woke up and hopped back on our bikes. We rode to Tamarindo beach to snorkel, but the ocean was still so angry and wild that we couldn't even see our hands. Our hotel manager told us that the snorkeling at Tamarindo beach was some of the best in Puerto Rico, and that if we went in the morning time we would be swimming with the turtles.... that was false. At least on the day we went. Silly ocean. But the bike riding was really enjoyable (and hilly), and made it easy to beach hop. It was off to Playa Flamenco after Tamarindo, the famous gorgeous beach. Turns out it was true--it was one of the most pristine beaches I have ever seen, if not THE most. But it was ridiculously crowded, and Stacey and I are not good with crowds, so we moved on after some sun-soaking and headed back to the hotel to grab our stuff and continue riding around a bit before getting back on the ferry.

so dorky. so happy.

Stacey's helmet was far too large

the famed Playa Flamenco

It was back to San Juan for the evening before our flight the next day. We stayed at Hotel Casablanca in Old San Juan, which was in such a perfect location and had some really incredible amenities--such as the beautiful roof-top viewing tubs...

gasp

gawgeous views

We explored the city a bit that night, but got a bit more adventurous the next morning. We set out without a plan and jaunted around the city. It was interesting to learn about some of the history of San Juan and Puerto Rico, and to check out the fun colors and architecture of the city.

colors!

a wall at the edge of the city (and two fun-havers)

a lookout

she's got good aim

even the bricks are colorful

a nice door

so powerful

love the alleys

birdholes

closed off

After some exploring we FINALLY GOT ON SOME SURFBOARDS! It was a dream come true. Truth be told, the waves were absolutely hideous, but I managed to catch a few and got that feeling that I have been missing for so long. Then we hopped on a plane. The end.
Actually, I am extremely sick of writing this post. I have been trying to finish it for a week, and need to go to bed so I can sleep and rest up for tomorrow's Super G race here in Garmisch! K bye. One more fun photo below :) love peace and wellness.