It was the winter of 1993. I was living in a mid-eighties townhouse overlooking Beaver Creek Colorado. I moved there with my girlfriend, along with two cats, and lived with three roommates. In my first season in the high country, we did plenty of skiing, partying and got little sleep.
We all had ski passes, and I usually snuck out of work early on Fridays and most powder days. Saturdays we usually avoided the mountain, mostly because it was jammed with people from the Front Range (Denver), but also, we would have black out days.
Saturdays we would go to Denver, or on a snowshoe hike, or on two occasions that winter, we cleaned the townhouse. One of these Saturdays, we had the Television tuned to the local access channel. There isn’t much going on in Vail on Saturdays, so the guys who ran the local access it just sort of threw on anything they had laying around.
It was on this fateful day I was introduced to Regina SK. With its unfortunate pronunciation, this mystical far off land held many of the things Vail lacked; Flat featureless landscapes, corporate office complexes with reflecting ponds, and a provincial government. I was instantly drawn to it.
Time never ceases, and I left the Vail Valley behind for new conquests. But Regina never left my dreams.
Fast-Forward 23 years. My girlfriend is now my wife and life partner, my roommates are lost to history or relegated to Facebook, and my children are almost adults. This is the time to chase the big dreams. It’s time for Regina! (cue the Music).
So this fall, with wonder in my heart, I will head out above the United States and the Mighty Gitchigoomie and into the plains of Canada. I’ve been promising myself this for too long and I shiver when I think it’s finally going to happen. We truly live in storybook times.
Here’s a glimpse of what’s in store…
I can’t describe how happy this makes me feel, well, exception with this song about misproportioned snowmen, blast furnaces, wheat and a come-back economy:
Stay tuned, because it’s going to be one of the greatest stories ever told…