Day 418 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

Today we got the entire gang up and out so we could have lunch together and take a gondola ride to the top of Mammoth Mountain. He piled into a gondola (it holds six – perfect!) and rode up to the mid-mountain "chalet" also known as McCoy Station. Here we grabbed lunch before the hordes of ravenous skiers and boarders arrived. We enjoyed our lunch together just as the crowd was beginning to fill all of the tables. We then boarded the gondola for the ride the rest of the way to the top. It was a crystal clear day and the view was breathtaking. Here is a picture of our "gang" on top of Mammoth Mountain.

Today Grayson went skiing again with Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra (DSES). I am still amazed that he has stayed with it for four days for the 2 ½ hour lessons. Every day they have had something new for Grayson to try, and every day he kept going until the last minute, even though he was tired. With activities other than television we consider ourselves lucky if he sticks with anything longer than 5 minutes.

Today Grayson spent his time following directions while skiing. Today there were numerous distractions as the beginners out for the first time showed up for a long weekend. There were lots of ski and snowboard novices trying to "self teach" all over the place. Grayson had to avoid them and did so quite successfully. At the top of the chair lift we also had a special visit from Woolly, the Mammoth Mountain mascot. To give you an idea of how far he has gone with skiing in the last few days, here is a video I shot today with Grayson on today's more challenging slalom course.

This was Grayson's last day at DSES as he and Regina are heading back home on a plane tomorrow. He thoroughly enjoyed his time skiing and clearly it was something that he has not lost his love for. The caring people at DSES are doing wonderful work. I look forward to bringing Grayson back for a return visit as soon as it is possible.

Pax!

Brant