S/V Adventurer

If you aren't a skier or a snowboarder, what I am about to tell you may not seem like that big of a deal. To this official ski bum and his lovely wife, I assure you that it is a big deal. Get ready for the news...wait for it...wait for it...and here it is...winter has finally returned! Wooooooo Hooooooo!!! The snow has been falling and the temperature has plummeted which means that the mountains around here are the best place on earth for us to be. I'm not sure how long this string of snowy and cold weather is going to last, but for now, we are taking advantage of what we have. I'm sure that most of you reading this are fully aware of the lack of winter that has taken place in the Western half of the United States. Mt. Bachelor in Bend has had the same string of poor winter weather as the rest of the ski resorts out west, however, since Mt. Bachelor is quite a bit higher in elevation than most of the other ski hills, some of the rain that has plagued the o...

Last weekend, we were lucky enough to have about 2 feet of snow fall at Mt. Bachelor. For our friends who like to ski in the Seattle area, that may seem like the Good Lord had blessed us with some white gold. I'm not going to lie, it was heavenly. It officially put Mt. Bachelor on the top of the snow pack list for all of the western United States. I guess we picked the right place to ski this winter. We got out and enjoyed the fresh powder while it lasted and had a couple of the best ski days that may have been available in West this entire winter season. Unfortunately, 2 days after the big snow storm, the weather turned unseasonably warm and the skiing started to go downhill fast. I'm all for some sunny days skiing on the mountain, but when it's so warm that it starts to seem more like water skiing than snow skiing, it's time for us to find other activities. Since Bend is an outdoor recreation mecca, there is no shortage of stuff to see and do. And since ...

I am going to tell you about one of my earliest memories right now. It really isn't all that important of a memory but it sets the stage for what has just happened nearly 40 years later. This memory takes place somewhere around the time when I was between 3 and 4 years old I would guess...and it's a little bit embarrassing. At 3 or 4, I can't really say that my actions were influenced in any way by what people would think of me at 40, but they were totally affected by my imagination running wild and the thrill of the moment. For the sake of argument, I am going to say that I was 3 because the younger I was in this story, the more acceptable my actions become. Anyway, at the time when I was 3 years old, my mom was into arts and crafts and had big bags of cotton lying around for her little projects. If you have ever done any sewing projects, you may know of the bags that I am talking about. There is just about enough cotton in one of those bags to make a normal ...