Hard to believe that we are talking about skiing in May/June, BUT, that’s just what some of us did on Saturday, May, 16th.

A sampling of Sitzmarkers attended the annual CMSC Trip Seminar at the Sheraton Hotel in Rosemont. Your club was represented by Jeanne, Dawn, Laurie, Rick, and myself.

The day actually started at Ravinia around 9:30 am. Most of us wanted to take advantage of the One Day Only 20% Savings on all concert tickets. I recommend this sale to anyone who ever plans on attending at least 3 or more shows. After placing our orders we enjoyed a new feature Ravinia had going on. All around the box office area and inside the offices, different vendors were featuring their wares and/or their special offers. They had everything from free food to raffles for free Cubs tickets. Since it took us longer than usual to get our butts going, I think we’ll make sure to allow more time next year.

Dawn arrived first, with the rest of us getting there about 11:30 (I think). We did the important stuff first, like paying our club dues to CMSC, putting down deposits for both Chicago Week 2010 in Park City and 2011 in Telluride. After schmoozing with a few other CMSC folks and a couple of resorts, we got in line for lunch. Food was tasty and plentiful as usual.
After lunch we got down to business as far as which resorts and tour operators we needed to talk to.

We checked in with Mt. Bachelor, OR., Taos, NM., Breckenridge, CO., Vail, CO., Indianhead, MI., Powderhorn, MI., Marquette Mtn., MI., Boyne Mtn., MI., Park City, UT., Jackson Hole, WY., and a few others I can’t quite remember. We also spoke with a few tour operators to ask for quotes for the above places.

After schlepping around all our freebies, brochures, flyers and other papers for hours, it was finally time to have a pre-party cocktail at the hotel bar. Ah yes! Felt good to sit and indulge in some cold beverages.  Rick was a gentleman and brought most of our stuff back to the car before we headed into the big banquet room for the tour operator sponsored beer & wine party. Thanks Rick!

In true Sitzmark fashion, we assumed our usual party-position...the last row closest to the bar! That’s just how we roll, yo! The president, Mike Pogar, and VP, Mike Thomas, of CMSC did some speaking, yadda, yadda, yadda. Then, Mary Kreinbring did the lodging/air lottery for Chicago Week 2011.  I believe Sitzmark is 4th, but not sure at the time of this article. This will determine our club's rank in choosing air or lodging preference.

After all this we were ready for the fun! The raffle prizes! Anything from a lame t-shirt to a weeks paid trip is donated by the tour operators as prizes to those of us attending.  Last year, Rick won lodging and lifts to Utah and Jeanne won a package to Indianhead. The year before that, I won a pair of 3 day lift tickets to Vail. This year we were not as lucky.  Just some hats, t-shirts and water bottles were won by Dawn, Laurie, Rick and myself. Whoo-hoo! (sarcasm)

On the way home, my group (Jeanne, Laurie, Rick & me) spotted the Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile and HAD to stop and take some photos. I hope we get one in the newsletter.  Poor Rick was embarrassed as us girls (yes we were a tad drunk) posed ourselves with the big wiener. What a day.

The info we gathered will be discussed at the next couple of meetings. A decision will be made among the board and those involved with being trip leaders as to where we will be skiing/boarding this coming season for 2009 – 2010.

Please attend the two meetings we have this summer for more information. The summer meetings are 7/1 and 8/5; we go back to two meetings a month in September.

Your SKI MISTRESS,

Lori Kushar