I also wanted to switch things up this season. I was a skier first and always felt the most comfortable on 2 boards. I moved over to snowboards about 12 years ago to try it out and fell in love with the way the board floated on powder. But the last few years the powder skis have just been getting wider and wider and I knew I was going to switch again.
This was the year. I demoed 7 pairs at Mammoth and landed on a backside all mountain ski from Blizzard. They are now far from new and still amaze me.

I ended up driving 7880 miles through 5 states and was able to hit 8 resorts: Mammoth, Squaw, Sun Valley, Jackson Hole, Snowbasin, Snowbird, Alta, and Telluride. I skied 2 days at each except for Jackson where I ended up doing 3 days because the snow was good and well...its Jackson Hole.

Summary: I drove a lot and slept in some awful temperatures(-16 at 9000' in Alta). I participated in some questionable hygiene regiments and ate some questionable meals. 
I also got powder day first tracks on several of this continents best ski resorts.

...and I've already bought the 2019 pass.