Shortly after my 7th birthday in March 1972, my family all jumped into our Ford LTD station wagon and headed north to Vermont from Philadelphia. Friends and family were renting a cabin on the side of Mad River Glen ski resort in Waitsfield, and my folks decided it was time to introduce this fine alpine recreation to me and my two older sisters.

Neil Young had just released the Harvest album, and we heard Heart of Gold repeatedly on at least five different radio stations the whole way up. Every time my father growled that he was turning it off, we hollered at him to leave it on.

Driving into the Green Mountains of Vermont, I noticed they were considerably larger than the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. And, as the snowfall seemed to increase with each passing mile, I could feel the collective exuberance of my entire family. Eight hours after departing we finally arrived.

Initially, I had a load of fun sledding down the hill in back of the cabin, but I was still too fearful to put on a pair of skis and join those who continued down the slope to the base of the resort. I was very small, and everyone else—and everything else—appeared very large.

By the second day my curiosity and growing enthusiasm replaced those earlier jitters, and I agreed to have my mom put me into a beginner lesson.

My ski instructor, a young California gal with bleached-blonde hair, greeted me with a broad grin as she drew hard on a half-lit cigarette. As I was the only one who showed up for a class in my age group, my lesson soon became private. I can remember implicitly trusting this woman with the class (and with my life!), and after two or three runs down the bunny slope, she told me I was ready to move onto a more intermediate trail.

Wow. Being afraid to even look at a pair of skis the day before…and here I was on my first day advancing to intermediate. I was ecstatic.

Years later, as a ski instructor now myself, I still love sharing that memory and many others that chronicle my adventures in the great outdoors.

And I still get goose bumps every time I hear Heart of Gold.