Vikings!

It's a quiet weekend in the Twin Cities. Half the population of Minnesota boarded an airplane yesterday and flew to Denver. And so it was that Kim and Craig Rudd, Doug Keller, Kathleen Miller and Hannah's aunt Dawn came strolling up the driveway to our team house here in Vail yesterday evening.

We stayed in Steamboat for a few days after our races because of the good training that's available there.

It was Natalie's birthday and that's why she has this carrot cake (with carrot skier sculpture) on her lap.

Apparently, we're not in Anchorage anymore.

Tuva signed up for all the toughest engineering classes. Toom has a college degree in engineering. And even he's stumped. This is the sort of thing that reconfirms my wise decision to choose a major in the social sciences when I was in college.

Whenever we have a little down time on the road, Marine lets me slink off to the local alpine hill for a few runs. Chute 3 at Steamboat had plenty of snow in it this past week!

And the tree skiing was divine, too.

It's always a nice change of pace. And doesn't require a bunch of heavy breathing.

Meanwhile, for the athletes back at the house, the work doesn't stop.

Tuva says "hello" from the road!

Are they real cowboys yet?  You decide.

So anyway, like I was saying earlier, soon after we rolled into Vail for our second weekend of RMISA racing, half the population of the Midwest rolled in right behind us. And it's a good thing, too.  Michaela took the weekend off to recover from a recent cold, but Hannah was primed and ready to have a great race, and all she needed was a pack of wild Minnesotans cheering from the side of the trail to help her achieve her best college result ever. It was a fun moment to be part of, and it would have been a very different day without Kim, Craig, Kathleen, Doug and Dawn here to share it!

Kim, Craig, Kathleen, Doug, and two people who apparently like the Nanooks more than the Seawolves.

The ski tuning is always sunny and comfortable in the Rockies

Marine. Focused. Getting it done.

Espen

Magnum

Austin

Siggi

The men of UAA

Michaela was disappointed to be skipping these races to rest and recover, but it did give her more time to hang out with her mom.

Tuva

Here's Hanna - charging!

Hannah again.

Natalie

Jenna. Sometimes the most interesting things are going on in the background.

Anna. Fully committed. Again - check the background.

More Anna

Guess who?

Tuva and Natalie

Kathleen, Doug, Kim, and Dawn

Hannah and Michaela

The racing's over for the day and it's back to the grind. But I think something good will come of Tuva's physics class.

More racing tomorrow, and then we'll all fly back to Alaska and Minnesota tomorrow night.  The word on the street, though, is that Hannah's folks are planning to come back for more racing next month in Aspen. If their influence there is anything like it's been here, then there's good times ahead for the Seawolves.

ps. All the good photos in this blog post were taken by Kim Rudd. All the crappy ones were mine.