Snow Skiing Tree Hugger

By Chris & Lacy Allen - Van Buren, Ohio

It's been about eight years ago my daughter Lacy and I went to Riverbend for a cross-country ski workshop.  HPD staff person Dan Boyd was teaching the class and was very good at explaining how to do about everything including getting up when you fall down.  One of the biggest things we learned was how to stay on the path.  It seemed simple enough for most of us, but there was one person in the group that had a strong gravitational pull towards the trees.  Dan did his best to show her how to turn and keep going straight, but it just didn't seem to help.

Every path we went down she ended up in the trees. Finally, Dan thought he would help her by standing by the tree line and giving guidance. This turned out not to be the best idea for Dan's health, she ended up taking Dan out along with the tree! Dan saved her, but when we went back that evening for the night ski we found that Dan had one BIG black eye with some stitches. 

We think Dan's biggest concern that evening was whether, like us, she would come back for the night ski and give him another black eye.