Oxygen? Water? -- Whatever, Both are Necessities

Right now I'm kicking it in yet ANOTHER awesome little ski town. I am traveling with my ski team and we are almost done with our four day excursion in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I am really loving all these little ski towns that I am getting to visit. They are lovely, kitchy and just overall interesting.

Today I had some extra time after our races and I decided to go walk main street. I wandered from shop to shop and managed to not buy a single thing! Although, there was this really cool shoulder bag that was made out of an old tire intertube... it was actually rubber and held together with silver studs -- soooo cool!! The thought of having a bag I could set down in the mud and then hose off just seemed fantastic. Not sure if it was $68 worth of cool, though.

I went into a small little winter sportswear store and was looking at their sales racks and seeing if anything jumped out at me. I heard three woman talking over the clothes racks with THICK southern drawls.

One of them asks the other, "What is this?"

"It's a backpack." (Remember to enter in the huge Southern accents)

"Noooo, What IS THIS?"

"It's a backpack!"

"Nawwwhhhh! What IS this THAANG? I saw a gal today with THIS attached to her mouth??!!?!"

Alright, what in the HELL are they talking about? I turn around and see her holding up a camelbak backpack and she is holding out the water tube telling the other that it was attached to this girl's mouth.

Her friend says, "Ohhhh, that is for oxygen."

She replies in horror, "AAAhHH! I didn't even THANNK of that!! Do we need oxeegen up here?"

I muffled my giggle and spoke up before they ran out to buy oxygen tanks (seriously, we are only at 6,800 feet). I explained, "That is a camelbak, it has a compartment inside that you can fill with water and that tube is so you can drink the water while you are snowboarding, skiing, hiking, whatever."

She replies, "AAAHHH!! Well, isn't that clever. What a great idea!! I'm sure you get thirsty doing those thangs!"

I smiled, "Yes, you tend to get thirsty." Then I quickly finished my browsing and left the store so they could shop in peace... no doubt wasting time (and money) until their kids, and possibly husbands, got off the slopes and they could go back to their 5-star hotels.

I burst out laughing as soon as I got outside the store and quickly called Owen to tell him the story.... honestly, hilarious. Oxygen?? Hey, maybe they are onto something. Patent anyone?