Luis and I usually have our weekends wide open (besides work) and that was the case last week when my friend Emma wrote to me asking if we would like to join her + boyfriend at their place for the weekend in Sierra Nevada. Sierra Nevada is a 5+ hour drive from Madrid so normally I would be like “thanks but no thanks”, but the stars aligned and I thought it actually sounded really fun. I thought why the heck not, talked to Luis about it, and told them we would be there! It helped that they said we could come to ski or NOT ski and that there was plenty to do either way.

I am not a huge fan of skiing in general, so not having the pressure to ski made it a YES! I get the draw – the fresh mountain air! the expansive views! the exhiliration that you didn’t die while sliding down a mountain! But in general it’s not my favorite – crazy expensive, so many layers of hot, itchy clothing, those heavy uncomfortable boots and skis, and you might leave in various states of paralysis. When I told Luis we could go, but not ski, he looked at me with a side eye and said if we drive all the way there, we sure as heck are going to ski. Fair enough. BUT this was the first time that I thought “well if you are good at it, I see the fun of going all the way up the mountain and finding your way down”. Not that I am any more convinced to become good at it, but I would totally be open to going for day trips once in a while (ie, once a year maximum).

We drove from Madrid to Sierra Nevada on Friday afternoon with lunch in tow and WAY too many packed bags for just a 2 night trip, but like I said – so many hot uncomfortable layers to take into account. It actually ended up being 70* and sunny on the mountain, which our friends said is perfect snow weather. It was definitely nice!

The bagels from Mazál Bagels were delicious and perfect for a road trip (did I add in that sentence for SEO? Yes.)

When we arrived, our friends greeted us at their adorable little mountain-view apartment with a delicious pizza & salad dinner before we all hit the hay.

We were up at the crack of dawn, around 6:45 am, with excitement – and a bit of trepidation – about the day to come.

We took the ski lift down the mountain and after the thrill of being so high up in the air, I joked that I enjoyed our ski day and was ready to go back to the apartment. Haha. From there, we got lift tickets and made our way UP to the mountain (yes – down then back up the other side) to grab skis & helmets before getting on the lift to head to the green slopes where I did a few “pizzas” and we slowly made our way down the green slope, little by little.

We spent the rest of the day mastering the greens. I got somewhat comfortable, but I couldn’t be convinced to try the blues so at the end of the day Emma and David took Luis up to try a blue while I sat in the warm sun (which I later paid for with a nice burn despite many aplications of sunscreen) enjoying a coffee and reading my book.

We took the lift back down then back up, recounting how fun the day was.

We had hard-earned beers and sour candies while we took turns showering, then hopped in the car to go up the mountain for the sunset. It was a little bit cloudy, but beautiful nonetheless and remarkedly warm!

Then went out to dinner at a mediocre restaurant where when the waiter asked how was everything and we gave a less-than-enthusiastic “good”, he asked enthiastrically if it was at least edible – haha.

We were wiped from our day on the mountain and slept hard as soon as heads hit pillows.

We slept for almost 12 hours and woke up to toasted bagels and sunshine on the mountain before cleaning up, packing everything and heading to Granada for a day of meandering, morrocan lunch, and coffee in a sunny plaza. Luis had never been to Granada and I forgot how beautiful it is. I would love to go back for a sunny weekend trip.

We made the 5 hour drive home around 5 pm, getting in on Sunday night for a quick dinner, loads of laundry, showers, and bedtime.

It’s already Tuesday and back to the normal grind!