Shirley handled the parties, daily site-seeing trips with the Bagwells and Ruth Baresse and all the social things at Taos, thanks to her knee replacements surgeries, while I tried to keep the gang together on the hill.  Hence, another Taos article about the happenings on the hill.

The Fat White Boys (FWBs) and their Ladies Auxiliary, the Skinny White Chicks (SWCs) are deserving of a story in itself. There were four of them at first, Bill Tulloch, Jeff Jones, Scott Dwyer, and Jamie Knowlton. Later they were joined for a couple days by one other FWB, (never did catch his name). I guess there are nine of them altogether who have traveled together for years. They had a Tee shirt made up showing all of their trips from 1992 forward including Taos. One of many things peculiar to them is they seem to have a penchant for being last. Last to get up in the morning, last to breakfast, last off the mountain, last out of the bar, etc., etc. The only SWC was Nancy Barker who hung with them for seven days. Where was Maggie Green to slow you down? That group added a lot of fun to the trip, which was a blast.

Doris Byrnes finally caught up with us on Tuesday after scheduling her own flight and getting grounded in a snow storm in Minnesota. We are all glad to see her skiing after her accident last year at Aspen.

We all met for lunch each day at various on-hill locations, to compare stories and pair up with others for different skiing experiences. After the first day of skiing in the eleven inches of powder, we all were so darned exhausted that many people took the second day off just to let their bodies recover and to get used to the altitude. The first day was tough but, it was all glorious sunshine skiing after that.

We had a few firsts on the hill this year:
·         Nobody got hurt; not even a broken fingernail.
·         Al and Linda Eger ran the Nastar course for the first time and each won a Bronze medal.  The FWBs tried it too but they were not so successful.
·         Arlene Bellas did not race. She didn’t want to show up the FWBs and take her usual Gold.
·         Our Florida contingent, the Tahys, brought John and Karon Scioti from Florida to prove how much fun you can have in the cold climate with the TBirds. Come again next year Scotis!

Several people skied a day at nearby Angel Fire and found it to be a pleasant change of pace from the steeps of Taos. Long, cool, blue cruisers going from top to bottom, if you like that kind of thing!! Just don’t lose your ticket. They don’t have tear off tags on the bottom. Mine fell off and they refused to give me a replacement. They said I had to buy another ticket ($59) and go look for the one I lost to get a refund. Yea, sure! I snuck back on the lift, went to the back side and never came to the bottom again. We should probably get an interchangeable lift ticket next time we go to Taos so everyone can try out this place.

We had our own vans this year so everyone was able to come and go as they pleased. It was a welcome change from the bus dropping you off and having to ride shuttles to restaurants and ski resorts all week.

We finally got Bob Grieve to become a bucket head and wear a helmet. Naturally, he had to have a ponytail on it so he stood out.  He hosted the ladies on the hill all week in his usual manner and bought tons of jewelry for his “friends and relatives back home”

We became so well known at the après ski parties in the Martini Bar that, if you showed your TBird ID or lift pass they gave you a dollar off your beer and wine. Lots of people stopped skiing at 1:30 just to save money at the bar. Believe it.

I am out of space, so I have to thank Shirley Cookson for all her efforts and everyone else for coming and helping to make this another memorable and fun event for the club.