Grand Targhee

                For as long as I can remember, my family has always had a particularly unusual tradition. But before I tell you what it is, you need a backstory. When I was about six years old, my dad decided to teach me how to ski. We bought tickets to different local ski resorts throughout the years. I learned the same way that my two sisters had learned, and how my brother will learn. We would wake up early, and take a morning lesson from the ski instructors, then at lunch my dad would take over. This was kind of hard because I always seemed to do worse when my dad was around, but I still became a pretty good skier.

                My brother and sisters are not the only ones in my family who know how to ski. My parents, and all of my mom’s side, know how to ski, excluding the toddlers. Most know how to snowboard, too. Now my uncle is kind of a fanatic. Even to this day he has multiple passes to multiple ski resorts. He does however, travel to resorts outside of Utah. Quite a few years ago, he found a place called Targhee. It’s really called Grand Targhee Resort, and is located on Grand Teton National Forest, but we just call it Targhee. He slowly started inviting my family to ski with him, once a year. Now it has become a family tradition. You can find the Farbers, Easts, Woods, Knowltons, and Beyers up on the backside of Grand Teton every February.

                Targhee will always be special to me for one reason. No matter what happens, there is always something good to come out of it. One year we found a lodge nearby with a lobby and a fireplace where we could all hang out after skiing. Other years we had found a sleigh ride to a yurt, which is kind of like a shack, where we could have dinner, and a new ski lift. But two years will always stand out to me in particular. My favorite memories of Targhee are when I learned how to snowboard, and when I found a friendship.

                Although I was 12 and had already learned how to ski, I picked up snowboarding very quickly. Unlike skiing, my dad couldn’t teach me how to snowboard. Like I have mentioned earlier, I always seemed to do worse when he was around. I would spend most of my day in a lesson, and then I would go find my older cousins to snowboard with. They really helped me to become a better boarder. We would go off of jumps, ride through the trees, and race down the mountain. I always had a great time.

                Last year at Targhee, when I was 15, my cousin Hannah and I went to the pool to pass the time before dinner. When we got there, there were two other people sitting in the hot tub. We decided that we would swim for a couple minutes, and then go say hi. As we got out of the pool and started walking closer, we realized that they looked very similar, and I thought that they must be related. We all introduced ourselves, said our name and where we were from. I can’t remember one girl’s name, but the other was Alta Farrell. They were both from Maine, skied, and they had a family tradition to come to Targhee like us. As we started talking, we decided to meet up the next morning to go skiing together. They took us places that we had never been before, and we returned the favor. This went on for a day or so, and then we decided to exchange numbers. We found one another on Facebook, and maintain our friendship even today. This will always be one of my favorite memories of Grand Targhee Resort.