WV Ski Getaway at Winterplace & Glade Springs!

Just came back from a WONDERFUL 2-night mini-getaway, skiing at Winterplace & staying at the Glade Springs Resort in Daniels, WV. I must say that outside of the Elkhorn Inn, the Glade's restaurant at Glade Springs has THE finest food we've ever eaten in West Virginia! Chef Dexter Burgess created two exceptional gourmet dinners for us, and everything was wonderful! My favorite dish was his appetizer of seared foie gras with a balsamic reduction and wine-poached pears- it was the stuff of which foodie dreams are made of! Our steaks were perfect, the wine was wonderful (the red zinfandel was Excellent!), his bourbon chicken was delicious, but the fennel-pepper crusted ahi tuna nicoise was INSPIRED! Dining at Glade's, followed by a glass of wine in front of their bar's fireplace, coupled with great "apres-ski" massages at the Orange Spa made our little getaway really romantic and wonderful... And I WILL be going back for their "Better Than Botox" facial!!!

Like the Elkhorn Inn, Glade Springs has a wonderful "military discount", and as Dan is US Army Ret. we were able to take advantage of that; Winterplace, too, gives a military discount on lift tickets and equipment rental! While Winterplace isn't a 'fancy' ski resort, like in Vermont, Colorado, or Utah, the skiing was really great- lots of lift choices and an Awesome amount of snow- and I don't say that lightly: we left Landgraff in a snowstorm, and I am SO glad we have a Jeep with 4-wheel drive! I got to do some night skiing, too, and it was truly gorgeous out on the slopes in the evening, when it's all lit up and the snow glistens and glows purple and orange... Though it was a winter wonderland, with the perfectly frosted, snow-bedecked trees one usually sees only on postacards, I do wish it hadn't been as bitterly cold, for the chair lifts up the mountain were bone-chillingly brutal... And as a result, I Still haven't been on the lift that goes all the way up to the tip-top of the mountain, so I have to go back! Because it was SO cold, I took lots of little breaks at the Winterplace bar to warm up with coffee (or an Irish Coffee!), dust the snow out of my many layers of clothing, and get feeling back in my hands! We bought face masks, and while they certainly are no fashion statement (see photo for proof!), I am SO glad we had them, for they were Absolutely necessary!
We deliberately went in the middle of the week, so it wouldn't be that crowded on the slopes, and I had blue & green runs where I was the only person out there, and it was like having "my private mountain"! Peaceful and serene, I could do gentle "esses" down the mountain, 'carving' my turns, practicing the things my instructor taught me, working up some speed, and really savoring the experience of skiing- & enjoying the Dickens out of it! Since skiing is the one and only thing I can do better than Dan, this year I had the not-so-bright idea of getting him a private ski lesson @Winterplace, in the hope that he'd be able to ski with me. He truly gave it his best shot- as Army Dan gives everything he does: 10001%- but he hates skiing (runner's-knees made it a painful & joyless experience), & I will NEVER put him thru that again! Dan did, at least, like the ski pants & sweater I got him- so much so, in fact, that he's wearing the ski pants back at the Inn, and he looks great in them! I Really enjoy skiing- amazingly I'm still an "intermediate" skier, and it's basically the only sport I do reasonably well! And since I can still do it at 50 I want to keep doing it as often as I can! The problem is that I feel Guilty when Dan takes me skiing and doesn't ski, and I don't know of one friend who skis, so I desperately need a WV ski-buddy! Winterplace is only 1 .5 hrs from the Elkhorn Inn!!!