Trip Blogs - Scottsdale Sea and Ski Club

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London-Paris 2015

A trip of a lifetime! Sixteen of us toured all of the great sites of London. The first night we went to Picadilly Circus and had a classic Fish and Chips dinner. The next day we walked through Hyde Park and went to the changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. One day was shopping and lunch at Harrods. We had dinner one night and went to see The Book of Mormon. Did a cruise on the Thames River. Had a surprise guest - Sue Thiebes joined us and arranged a great Indian dinner at a Curry House. We did a hop on hop off bus tour and went to the Tower of London and Westminster Abby. Off the beaten tour we went to Churchill's underground bunker museum. We took the train through the tunnel under the sea to Paris. We did a hop on hop off bus tour. Went to the Lourve and Notre Dame. Some even climbed up the bell tower. Had a great dinner on the River Seine on a boat viewing the Grand Illiminations. Last night was dinner in the Eiffel Tower. Had a surprise visitor - Becky Berry flew to Paris to join us for that segment of the trip. We did a lot of walking on the trip. averaged about 7 miles a day. Over 70 miles for everyone. On our free day in Paris many went to Versailles and others went to Monet's gardens.

Moqui Rim Campout 2015

Another successful campout up near the Mogollon Rim occurred Aug. 28-30th. About a dozen "happy campers" (including Elizabeth and Gail) braved the elements at a new venue: Moqui Campground off of SR87 and north of the Rim Road and Happy Jack. We ate like kings and queens, including breakfasts both days with either blueberry pancakes& sausage one day, or eggs scrambled with peppers/onions/cheese with hashbrowns & leftover meats another day - both with lots of coffee. We also did Happy Hours SSSC style with TONS of great food (gourmet tacos, wine and cheese, shrimp cocktail, BBQ chicken and homemade stew with biscuits and tons of munchies).

A Saturday afternoon rain surprised some, who got wet hiking AND it invaded a few tents that weren't zipped up or (one) had a rain fly attached. Those in camp did what they could and settled for hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps and whipped cream. Half the group also visited a very tall Ranger Lookout Tower near FR95, and the view was absolutely stunning. Climbing up AND down was also a little scary too! We welcomed a couple of new folks to the group, and all enjoyed the campfires, Uno and S'mores.

Prescott Pub Crawl 2015

This was our 13th year for this signature event. It was not an unlucky event. We started with happy hour and dinner at Murphy's on Friday night. Afterwards we did something new, we went on a guided ghost walk of Prescott. Did not see any ghosts but did learn a lot about the town. The town has tunnels under it where there are speakeasys and also an opium den under the Palace. Saturday morning Bill and Vera lead a hike of Groom Creek. Saturday afternoon was the lunch party at the Carmines' cabin. We had a surprise visit by Elvis and also a surprise birthday party for Ed. Saturday evening we had dinner at the Barley Hound next door to the Vendome. The heavy lifting started at the Bird Cage with 2 for 1 drink specials (complements Deborah). Everyone moved around to the various bars but seemed to settle on Jersey Lil's as the best classic rock band. There was even a little dancing on the Bar. Sunday was another hike up near Jerome.

Scuba and Snorkel Vacation in Roatan Honduras 2015

This trip was summer camp for adults. We stayed at Anthony's Key Resort on the island of Roatan. Eight of us made the trip leaving PHX at 5 am. We were in Honduras by noon and at the resort by 2. Anthony's Key Resort is about 35 years old. They specialize in scuba vacations. They have the vacation experience down to a science. They picked us up at the airport and took us to the resort. Lunch was postponed for the arriving guests. The resort holds about 100 people with bungalows out over the ocean. Each day was diving, eating, and drinking. Some in the group swam with dolphins and Rose even spent a day with a dolphin trainer. The resort had kayaks and many paddled around the island and also out to the dolphin pens. We had a day at Maya Key, a couple of wreck dives and also some night dives. Ralph took most of the underwater pictures below. Two nights we had bands for entertainment. The weather was great with a little rain one afternoon. Water and air temperature were about 82. The accommodations were nice and the people extremely friendly. Went to town one night for dinner. Food and service at the resort were very good. On our last day we did a zip line course and also went horseback riding. This resort did a great job. We will go back!

Long Weekend in San Diego with the Far West Ski Association 2015

What a beautiful weekend in San Diego! We had great sunshine while it rained in PHX. Nineteen of us went over for the weekend, some to attend the Far West Convention and others just to party. We started off with dinner Thursday evening on the USS Midway with the Far West Ski Association. It was a little cool so dinner was served on the hanger deck level. We had free run of the ship and were able to wander around and even get in some of the planes. Three free drinks helped get the party rolling. After dinner Linda Westlund took us to the bar where Top Gun was filmed (Kansas City BBQ). Tom Cruise was nowhere to be seen. Friday morning five of us went up to La Jolla to kayak in the ocean. Drew, our guide, took us over to the seven caves and even swam us in. No one turned over and we saw lots of seals. Afterwards, we had a nice lunch outside in La Jolla at the Cheese and Sandwich Shop. We headed back to San Diego and caught the pool party followed by a no host bar. The evening entertainment was a silent auction of over $100,000 of ski trips. Ralph and Rose were the only ones to get a trip – long weekend in Aspen. After the auction there was a DJ with dancing. Luckily no one from our group danced on the tables but there were others that did! Saturday morning we went down to the waterfront and took a ferry over to Coronado Island. We rented bikes and road around for about 4 hours. Stopped at the Hotel Coronado and went in to check it out. This is one of the most famous hotels in America. Really a beautiful place situated right on the beach. Lunch was at an Irish pub sitting outside (Guinness on draft). Dinner was in the Gas Light District at a Tuscan Italian restaurant – Oestra Panevino. Afterwards we went to Croce’s and listened to Jazz. Sunday most of us headed back to PHX. Members of the Arizona Ski Council stayed over and presented a skit as an introduction to next year’s Far West convention in Scottsdale.

Lake Pleasant Camping and Water Sports 2015

We started the camp out on a cool note. Temperatures were below normal and we had a little rain on Friday evening. We got to the campsite early and started with happy hour while everyone got set up. Hot dogs and hamburgers, baked beans and macaroni salad for dinner. Next morning was mimosa's, bacon and eggs with a little of Karen's homemade granola bars. We went out on Mike's pontoon boat and had lunch cruising the lake. Everyone went out on jet skis and there was even a little swimming in the lake. Ralph and Karen took people for rides in their ski boats. There were some wild donkey sitings. No takers on water skiing though. Still a little cool. Dinner was rib eye steaks and grilled chicken, kale salad, and roasted rosemary potatoes. There was also a little wine. We sat around the camp fire and then there was the brilliant idea of going out on the lake for star gazing. Needless to say we got a little lost but Ralph's GPS saved the day. Sunday morning was blue berry pancakes and packing up. Ralph and Karen took everyone out for a final tour of the lake. A special thanks to Ray and Julie for bringing a pontoon boat and jet skis and to Karen and Ralph for bringing their ski boats.

Breckenridge Ski Trip 2015

The pre-trip happy hour was held at Twin Peaks. This was an appropriate name for a ski trip party. 24 members made the trip to Breckenridge. We had a few meet us there making for a large group. Accommodations were slopeside at the DoubleTree hotel. We got in Saturday afternoon and were met by a Breck representative who told us about the mountain and town. Breckenridge has five mountains appropriately named Peaks 6 through 10. We staid on Peak 9. Sunday evening was a group dinner at the Hearthstone. This was a quaint Victorian house with great food. The group originally was only to be 16 but we grew to 26. The restaurant was able to handle us but things were really tight. It snowed all week except Tuesday. On Tuesday a group went over to Keystone for the day. During the trip a few ventured to Vail and A Basin. Most people took Wednesday off and we had a wine and cheese party in Ed and Karen's room. Every other night the group met for happy hour at different places in town. Friday saw a huge snow dump that made us afraid we wouldn't get out of town on Saturday. Fortunately the roads were clear and there were no problems. Friday evening we tried to drink all of the leftover wine but ended up killing 6 bottles on the bus to Denver. The trip was really uneventful:, nobody got hurt, arrested, or thrown out of a bar. Guess we are all getting a little older.

AZ Days - Telluride 2015

This was a special January trip to Telluride. For the first time in many, many years there were two busses. For the north siders and the early birds there was a north side bus which left in the early morning, while the south side bus allowed folks to sleep in a bit before the bus ride. Both bus drivers missed turns to Telluride and Mountain Village. Thank goodness there were seasoned AZ Days riders to show them the way. Mike Nolan and his passengers, Mike Terrey, Beth and Becky had to wait for President Obama’s speech and departure before they could fly up, which turned out to be a blessing, because they could not ski on Thursday, but got to ski the powder on Sunday instead.

Friday and Saturday were great for the groomed run skiers. The days were warm and sunny, in the 40s, and the snow stayed nice on the groomed runs. Jane Williams took the opportunity to get some ski lessons, and improve her skills. On Sunday the powder hounds got their wish. There was six inches of fresh powder up top, and four inches of new snow down below.

On Saturday was the club race. Jaan Vehik and Ralph Wills dueled it out for the men’s, while on the woman’s side Virginie could only say that she skied awful, and we thought that Beth Ransford, skiing for Phoenix would take top woman. At lunch after the race, Ralph reported that he thought, for sure, that Phoenix had won. Saturday night at the awards ceremony in the Peaks Bar, it was announced that the participating skiers were 20 from each club, and Bill Behnke, the ASC race chairman, announced that Scottsdale had pulled out a 12 point win. That goes to prove that every skier counts. Ed took a crowd to Allreds on the top of the mountain to celebrate at dinner, after a swig from the brand new Jaeger Cup, of course.

I especially want to thank Wendy Ruthrauff. Wendy did all of the hard work bookkeeping for the trip. Then it turned out that her son’s football team, the Oregon Ducks, played for the college football national championship, in Dallas, that same weekend. So Wendy was in Dallas, and not Telluride, to cheer her son’s team on. Thank you, Wendy.

Catalina Sailing 2014

Hat’s off to Captain Mike & Captain Ed, to Christina & Beth! Between them, the boating was great, even in the face of adversity! Christina realized someone needed to take charge of the galley on the Ces’t La Vie, and stepped right up. Thanks so much for getting the sandwich fixin’s out, along with the cheese & cracker platters, the Danish pastries, mimosas … oh yeah – and clean up too.

I know on the Arearea, and heard the same on the Ces’t La Vie, cooperation was fabulous amongst those staying on each boat. On the Arearea, Beth’s knowledge & ability to find a fix helped all of us somewhere along the line, and we appreciated Ed’s attention to detail to make our sailing as easy as conditions allowed.

A special thanks to Mike Nolan, through whom we had access to both boats. Mike conceived the trip, and brought it to myself and the SSSC board. His guidance was key to a seamless trip.

I do also want to say thanks to all participants. All of you made my job a pleasure. Whenever cooperation was necessary, there was never a problem, & I thank you for that.

Now I must find a suitable place to hang my BOAT DRINKS flag from Susan & Shayne!

THANKS TO ALL, Marshall

Lake Powell Houseboat 2014

20 souls braved the treacherous waters of Lake Powell during September. Our ship, the 75 foot Explorer, came equipped with a hot tub, fireplace, wine bar, roof top bar and two grills. Ralph Wills brought his ski boat and Ray Yonan and Julie Church brought jet skies. We started the first day early for the 40 mile ride up to the Dangling Rope Marina area. Things were a little challenging pulling the ski boat and 3 jet skies. We had three days on the lake. Each day Ralph took a couple of tour groups to the Natural Bridge site. Dinners were themed with an Italian night hosted by Gene and Bonnie, a cowboy night and a luau. Plenty of food and drink was had. We celebrated Gene's birthday one night with cake and ice cream. Down time brought hikes and playing in the water. The trip was over too soon and we had to make the 5 hour trip back to the marina.