TANNERSVILLE, Pa. — For an early birthday present, my brother and his family gave me a day of skiing. For the first time in forever, we skied together. It was also his first time skiing on the east coast in a long time. The conditions at Camelback would be described as “packed powder.” Christopher, who only skis in Colorado, described them as ice. It was also about 25° and sunny — perfect skiing weather.

I had a good day, no falls and lots of good runs. Doing “wall-sit” exercises daily made a big difference in my leg strength – I have not skied this well in a few years. As always, ●The Nile Mile was my favorite run, mostly because it is the longest run in the Poconos. It does not disappoint. I’ll have to give a nod to ■■The Pharoh as well. Once past the first part of the run, ■King Tut is a pretty good hill too. We also had some good runs in the middle of the mountain, though I cannot recall the specifics as they were not especially memorable.

I was king of the mountain on this day too, a title I am eager to defend. Being in the Poconos I had a big home-slope advantage over Christopher. I’m eager to win it on the “road” sometime when we all get out to Colorado. We’ll see if his “home” advantage is as big as mine.

All in all, a good day. On the way back we thought about stopping at Yocco’s hot dogs in Allentown, but were not very hungry yet, so we went to Jim’s Steaks in Springfield (Baltimore Pike, off of I-476). One of these years I’ll check Yocco’s out, but Jim’s is always enjoyable.

That probably does it for me this winter, but if I get on the slopes again, I won’t be disappointed. Thanks for the early birthday gift, Christopher & family!