INNSBRUCK, February 2007 will not go down in history as the most exciting ski trip in recent years but I do believe everyone had a fabulous vacation just the same.  While all of Europe had moderate snowfall, Innsbruck provided their share especially at Stubai Glacier where snow conditions were best.  For my seven European Virgins (people having never stepped foot on the continent), it was fun to see them experience a world very different from home.  Dottie Nicholas was like watching a kid at Disney for the first time.  Wylie Ball immediately hiked to find better snow (to no avail) but still tore up the mountains.  Bob and Barb Tijan along with Ted and Nichole Schropp took in a variety of skiing, sight seeing, shopping and partying.  Tom Venezia got a chance to step foot in his ancestral homeland, Italy, as a bonus to the trip.  The best attitude award goes to Philip Houbler who celebrated his 76th Birthday with a broken wrist from a radical snowboard trick he was trying to prefect.....just kidding.  His accident did not slow him down one bit on his inaugural trip to Europe!  Cathy Carulli gets the award for challenging her fear of heights when on two different occasions she went up and up on a vertical train.  (Cathy, is your fear conquered?)   For Marty Megregian, a highlight of the trip was riding motorcycles with the guys through the Austrian and Italian alps for the day.  Way to go!  For all of us, it was trip to experience all that any trip to Europe offers....a culture unique from our own with buildings and sights hundreds of years old and meeting people who are different but very much the same.  In the end, the core part of any trip remains constant, people enjoying friendships, drinking, laughing, eating, having fun, drinking, partying, sight seeing, a little more drinking thus experiencing life together!

Thanks for being an easy bunch!