My children were out of school today for the President's Day holiday. We had planned to go skiing with another family at our local ski resort. My son and I woke early and were eating breakfast and decided that we should check the weather on the mountain. We checked the resort's web site and the National Weather Service web site. Both indicated that it could be a 'breezy' day with a chance of snow. We finished eating, packed, and made the forty-five minute trek up the mountain. About half way to the resort, I noticed that the clouds were looking pretty dark (rainy not snowy) and the wind had picked up substantially. As we made the final ascent to the ski area, the wind picked up enough to shake the pine trees on the side of the road quite easily and I could feel the van struggling to keep its bearing. When we pulled into the resort, all the flags were flying straight out and not given any chance to relax.
The family we were to meet found us in the parking lot, and we all decided that the high winds were not conducive to a fun day on the mountain and headed back into town for some bowling. The moral of the story is that as nice as it is to get instant Internet information, nothing beats experiencing the real thing. In hindsight, we should have called the resort and talked with someone who was experiencing the real thing.
