Monte Sugarloaf's Revenge

Thursday evening, Nick, Brad, Jenny and I left for a long ski weekend up to Sugarloaf, ME. As is tradition, we stopped to eat at the Chili's in South Portland, ME, which is about the halfway mark between Boston and Sugarloaf. While the others opted for tacos and quesadillas, I bucked tradition and ordered the Spicy Garlic & Lime Grilled Shrimp Salad- it was excellent.

In the past, we've had some trouble with wind at Sugarloaf, and unfortunately we only got 2 runs in Friday morning as the lifts closed (or never even opened) by 10 or so. I went to the gym and then killed time until we went to dinner. About an hour or so before dinner, I started to feel kind of nauseous and was in bed by 10. Little did I know that I would be out of bed around 1:00 AM with the kind of diarrhea that American tourists only fear that Mexican tap water will yield. Eventually I made it back to the bedroom on my hands and knees and fell asleep on the floor. About an hour later, I woke up again and made it to the bathroom just in time to flip up the toilet seat and spew every last content of my stomach into the bowl. I hardly ever vomit when I'm sick; I think the last time was at least 5 years ago, so I sort of forgot what it was like. In a weird way, I was intrigued by the fact that just as much seemed to be pouring out of my nose as my mouth. Six contentious rounds later my gag reflex knocked me out and I was down for the count.

I spent all day Saturday in bed. Here's what my view looked like:

Thank goodness for Gatorade.

There was a mirror hanging over the dressers in our bedroom that reflected the beautiful wall art that the condo owners chose to display. Normally, we get framed ski posters or even family photos; however, in this case, the owners decided to spice it up. In the above photo, you can see the reflection of a framed sketch popping out to the right of my Gatorade bottle. Below is the inspiring image that stared back at me all day while I tried to keep liquids down for more than 10 minutes:

Let's take a moment to reflect on how beautiful the human body is

I almost think my illness was a reaction to this sketch; however, I think the blame lies with Chili's and the shrimp salad which tasted great the first time and not as good the second.