My first week of vacation in Sun Valley was spent with my best friend, Penny, who came from Chicago to join me. This was our first vacation together EVER...it only took us 30 years to accomplish this! Living in different cities for most of our friendship (her Chicago, me LA, NYC and Paris), husbands (hers, not mine) and children (both of ours) seemed to always get in the way...but we finally figured it out and oh boy, what a blast we had...we simply could not stop laughing...
We ate, we drank, we walked, we talked, we slept in, we shopped, we did a bit of Bar Mitzvah planning and then we did the unthinkable...we took a trap/skeet shooting class at the Sun Valley Gun Club...yep, you read that right! I had jokingly showed Penny a brochure for the class to which her response was, "Let's do this!" My reaction was, "Are you kidding?! I've never even touched a gun let alone shot one...they terrify me...you've lost your mind!" Two minutes later I was on the phone arranging our lesson...what a wimpy pushover I am!
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| Sally Starr and Annie Oakley |
We arrived at the Gun Club ready to play with the "big boys" so to speak. The only problem was that every time a shot rang out I jumped ten feet in the air which sent Penny into gales of laughter. We managed to get ourselves under control before we met our coach, Dick...I swear this man will never be the same! He immediately taught us how to hold the rifle...good thinking on his part...we then put our protective vests on and off we went to set the world (or at least Sun Valley) on fire with our gunning talents.
Dick continued to give us a basic tutorial on gun safety and how to hold and aim. I told him I wanted to bet him $50.00 that I wouldn't hit one target the entire hour. He refused saying that he was sure that I would...oh, what a dreamer that Dick was because the target was not a stationery bullseye but a little pink disk that would be flying in the air after we screamed out "PULL"...imagine trying to hit a flying disk...too crazy to contemplate.
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| Annie Oakley (ME!) and Dick, our brave coach...just look at my stellar form! |
Dick took turns with Penny and I and it was clear from the git go that Penny was the more gifted student...in terms of concentration, shooting and actually hitting the target. But, the old competitor in me must have kicked in at some point because I too began to hit that little pink disk...for a total of 4 times during the hour...it's a good thing that Dick did not take my bet...I guess this guy really knows a thing or two about this whole process!
Anyway, by the end of it all Penny and I were quite proud of ourselves...high fiving all over the place like two drunk sorority girls. We had such fun...who knew?!
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| Say a prayer for Dick! |
So now all I can say to all of you reading this is...be afraid, be very afraid when you next see Penny or me...we are now pistol (really rifle) packing' mamas...and one last thing...STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE whenever you can...it's quite exhilarating...Penny and I are already thinking of what we'll do on our next trip together...stayed tuned for more adventures from Sugar, Stilettos and Shotguns!
xoxo Nanci
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