Skiing in the Italian Alps...No big deal.

A couple weeks ago, Andrew and I had an opportunity to get in on a last minute ski trip with some of our friends for the MLK, Jr. long weekend. Our friends Matt, Khristine, Peter, Josh and new friends Amber and Chad planned out a great weekend skiing in the Italian Alps, and lucky for us somebody cancelled...we were in! Both Andrew and I had not been skiing for at least a decade, so we really thought it would be fun to give it a try for a day or two (and most likely hurt ourselves), and then enjoy the snow and the ski lodge/bar for the rest of the weekend. Little did we know that we would totally dominate the slopes, three days in a row, and have the best time with some great people! We should probably try out for the Olympics or something next time, we were that good. (okay so we weren't professionals or anything, but by the last day we at least held our crashes to only one a piece...not bad, eh?)

We all left on Thursday, taking a flight together up to Venice, and then about a 3-hour van ride up to the Italian Alps (aka the Dolomites as the Italians call it). Because it was later in the afternoon, we really only had time to check into our hotel, drop off our bags, and hit the village for some wandering around and maybe a cocktail or two until dinner.

Our sweet hotel.

The view from our balcony. It was alright ;)

Some "yay we finally made it after traveling all day" drinks.

(Andrew's arm, Chad, Peter, Amber and Matty)

A typical scene during dinner at the hotel. Part of the room rate included a 5-course dinner every night which was followed up with stories of who took the worst spill during the day's ski runs. And by the way, the food at this place was by far the best that I've had since we moved over here! We probably would have taken pictures of it, but it was eaten within seconds of being set on the table, so sorry..no pictures.

And now for the fun part...skiing! Non of us own any snow equipment so we rented out all of our gear for the weekend, complete with helmets for everyone (a concussion caused by the inevitable falling would have ruined the fun), and went straight to the top of the slopes to teach ourselves how to ski. Slowly.

The view from the top...it sure was a long way down!

Andrew and I...photo-op at the summit.

It didn't take any of us too long to find our rhythm and scout out the easier (but not too easy) ski runs, and we had such a fun time all day skiing, laughing, and yes falling.

Chad took the "slide" approach a couple times.

Josh making it look easy.

Me dodging rogue ski poles and trying not to fall in front of everyone.

We all ended a run or two just like Peter. By the time you hit the bottom your legs are on fire and all you can do is collapse.

New snowboarder Khristine!

Thank goodness for those green pants...we never lost Matty amongst all the others on the slopes!

And the reward for getting to bottom faster than the rest of the group - a much needed break and a seat in the snow.

Although we really did enjoy our hours spent skiing all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we did appreciate taking a few breaks in between runs to grab some much needed food and drinks. I think I can speak for us all when I say that we found the ultimate hangout - which also served as the rendesvous point in case anyone got separated from the group or wanted to sit out for a while.

The town we were in was so far north in Italy that it was mainly a German town, with German food, German people, and best of all German beers.

The front of the lodge was turned into a makeshift ski parking lot.

How do you know which ones are yours?

This place had a spectacular view since it was just about at the top of the mountain, and plenty of outdoor seating to take in the sunshine and views of the Alps.

We usually parked it on a picnic table big enough to fit all eight of us...along with our beers and bratwursts.

We really had such a great time on this trip, and were really thankful to be added to it just in time! The best part (for me at least) was that I think we made some pretty good new friends to hang out with in Naples from here on out!

All photo credits go straight to Andrew on this trip. He was the only one who could be trusted not to fall with a fancy camera strapped to his back. And since he was the fastest skier, he raced down to the bottom every time to take pictures of the rest of us coming in behind him...or sometimes falling to the bottom. Because of that, the poor guy is hardly in any pictures! I promise we'll do better about sharing the camera and putting him in more pictures...but for now, to prove he was there, a picture of my professional skier :)

Click HERE for the rest of our pictures from the ski trip!