Surprise!

Today (which because this is a surprise will be days ago) was wonderful! This morning I packed as quickly as possible and went to a meeting to talk about getting my little Partner to mentor. Worked from 12-6 and then took off! After two terrible hours of super slick driving conditions, too many coffees and a very long phone conversation, I am in the land of the Mormon! Let me tell you, getting to this hotel almost made me a believer. As Toby peed on the No Vacancy sign and looked at the flashing lights on the church billboard I think I saw "oh, thank you Jesus." in his mind too. We are checked in and ready to crash, tomorrow is a 5am jump in the car and go if I want to make it in time.

Surprise!

My dad and a few other conspirators have a history of surprising me. I think I was 10 when I got the first one. Cynthia took me out shopping and I remember her coming to the house, picking me up in a little red convertible. We pulled back up to the house and things were a little weird, she seemed excited and my dad was already outside waiting. As I went inside everyone and I do mean EVERYONE yelled, "Surprise!" On my 17th birthday my dad kept asking and asking what I was doing, who was I with, where was I going. In the Target swimsuit section, I got a tap on the shoulder and (the very odd) a "Can I buy you a swimsuit?" which resulted initially in excitement and quickly became a scream and crying....you can imagine the looks two teenagers and a guy in his 40's were getting in the swimsuit section. Graduation was a biggy when Cynthia showed up in tow with my dad, lots of tears here as well. All of these surprises have left me skipping town on my birthday to avoid being surprised for fear that I will break down crying in front of a room full of people. So I figured it was my turn to return the favor. The big fears were that, one- my dad would be trying to surprise me and be here while I was there, two- that I would get stuck in traffic etc. and be late and he will have left work making finding him somewhere in Orange County difficult, and three- that being as similar to him as I am, that he would figure it out.

Well....it worked. After fourteen hours, four coffees, two redbulls (Sam you were right), and a little insider help, I walked into Nordhavn headquarters. As I walked in the front door three Leishman boys stood questioning and I quickly shushed them before sneaking around the corner and into my dads office. He stood jaw dropped, quietly, papers falling from his hands and there may or may not have been a tear. This, ladies and gentleman, is how you do a surprise. After all what do we have to be thankful for if not out families?

The New Girl

Being the new girl in a town like Crested Butte is a lot like moving to a new school at 12 years old.
Your teacher introduces you to the class..

Tell us your name. 
      (Oh god this is embarrassing.)Megan Collins.
Where are you from?
      (Suddenly it feels like there is a right and a wrong   answer.)Alta, Utah.
How old are you? 
      Well that never actually came up, but she's 23.

Being the new girl means-cultural immersion, questions for days, the lime light until someone new comes along, how am I gonna remember all of these names, and my goodness these people are friendly. But Megan never missed a beat, she admittedly has missed some names, but in a town like this...who could blame her. When I told my friends I was interviewing the new girl to town, they immediately asked if they could tag along and if not, where and when would this interview be taking place. "Can we just "happen" to show up?" Here's what I got from covert operation: Interview Megan. 

Growing up in Alta, Megan grew up skiing and in ski culture. She knew what she was in for when coming to CB. After college at CU Boulder, she was ready to get back to the mountains. She'd always wanted to work in the ski industry but until applying to CBMR, she wasn't sure a career (in) skiing was possible. She applied on a whim, had an interview and got the phone call she'd been waiting for. 

Despite a background in mountain living, Megan needed some reassurance before making the jump. When I asked her what she'd heard about CB, she responded without a second thought.

"It's a great ski town you know? It's the town with the bars AND the skiing. And it's a community where the skiing is just as extreme as the people. That's about it, that's all I ever needed to know."

She admits that the drive to Gunni to do a weeks worth of grocery shopping is annoying and driving to Boulder to shop is just part of the lifestyle, but she loves how outdoorsy everyone is and the fact that jeans are the norm even at her "real job" as we all call it. I asked Megan to explain CB to a stranger, she says the way she justifies it to all of her friends back home, who keep asking why would move somewhere where people have closer relationships to their space heaters than their hair dressers, is:

"It's a small ski town that's away from the population and it's quaint and friendly and welcoming. You feel at home when you walk in. It's one in a million."

After comparing new girl to town stories and hearing the best Craziest CB Story yet (you can ask her about her first night to town...sorry Megan) we got to the good stuff:

Dating in a ski town is never great, not even with the skewed ratio. But when you grow up with a dad in Lift Ops. the probability of finding a winner is dismal. Ski patrol knew to keep their distance and until after college, Megan was just (as she puts it) Jail Bait. Not only did they know better, they had their eyes out for her dad. CB on the other hand? A whole new can of you can fill in the blank.

Speaking of that fill in the blank...I asked Megan what her worst fear about living in Crested Butte was, her response was golden:

"Mullet March."

Here's to March being a few months away, that this winter is as steep and deep as Megan hopes, and the new girl.