The Powder Room

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 other resorts has luckily put enough snow on the slopes here to make skiing halfway bearable. We've been able to be skiing while a lot of you poor suckers in Seattle are looking at dirt on the slopes. The last 2 days of winter weather could be the best skiing that has happened this year...anywhere. And the better news is that it should continue for at least the next week with cold temperatures and more snow on the way. Hallelujah!

So along with this exciting news, I am going to fill you in on some of the lingo that has been in play for us while we are sliding down the slippery slopes on the glorious new snow that has fallen. If this lingo doesn't make sense or resonate with you, it may be because you are even older than my knees feel. I don't exactly know what all this stuff means, but since I have heard some of the younger-than-me crowd say some of this stuff, I'm sure that it means something good.

We've been shredding the gnar...gettin' the goods...gettin' the freshies...skiing in the pow-pow...bombing the chowder...hucking big drops off of cornies into bowls...in the white-room...ripping big lines...taking face shots...being steazy...and my favorite...we've been in the powder room.

I'm sure that if I was hip enough, I would understand what these crazy kids are saying when they tell me some of this stuff, but since I'm not really that hip, all that I can really tell you is that the skiing is now back to incredible and that there is nothing better than fresh powder on a great ski hill. It's amazing what some fresh snow does to the moral of the people in this ski town. The town is abuzz and we are of course going with the flow and caught up in the frenzy of the fresh snow. If this snow keeps up, someone's head may explode...it's that exciting here.

The sad news is that the RV park where we are staying has unfortunately just shut down and removed our good friend the hot tub (aka The Tub) in preparation of the new hot tub that is supposed to be installed in the next couple of weeks. Just as my aching body is getting worked by the gnar (I'm still not sure what the “gnar” means, but I do know that I am getting worked by it), we are without relief and relaxation that The Tub gave us. Bummer.


Other than the thrilling news of the new snow, we have seen some more of the incredible sites that Central Oregon has to offer while we were waiting for this new round of winter to come. In the past week we have checked out the Painted Hills, hiked through Blue Basin, we've made treks into the Deschutes National Forest, we've climbed some of the peaks, and we have hiked up to Tumalo Falls. It's been great fun to see some more amazing sights, but until things warm up and this winter weather ends, I'll be powdering my nose in the powder room.

The Painted Hills

More Painted Hills

Looking down into Blue Basin...incredible place!

Tumalo Falls

Tumalo Falls up close

That's Brenda in her happy place...hiking in the boonies.

The tippety-top of Smith Rock with our good friends Mik and Christina

An amazing amount of water comes bubbling out of the ground right here and forms Jack Creek in the Sister's Wilderness area.  Kind of cool to see the very start of a river come right out of the ground.


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