Category Archive Snow

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Chiricahua Snow Hike

In December of 2015, the ski season in Washington had just gotten started. We spent the holidays in Arizona, and on that trip visited Chiricahua National Monument in the southern part of the state. Imagine our surprise at finding almost as much snow on the ground just a few miles from the Mexican border as we had just a few miles from the Canadian one.

Despite the snow, it wasn’t particularly cold, and the sun was shining. Our group ranged in age from 7 to 70-something, so we didn’t pick anything too challenging. But we still had a couple of really nice hikes in the desert. With snow.

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Stars on Ice at Key Arena with the Family

Stars on Ice Tour Poster 2018I planned to spend my entertainment dollars for May on tickets to NW Terrorfest. But my daughter’s heroes were on tour, so instead, the whole family got to go to Stars on Ice. The things we do for our kids. I’ve never really been a figure skating fan, but ever since we watched the anime Yuri!!! On Ice (it is a really great show), my daughter has been obsessed. This year I watched the Olympics with her, and for the first time since the 80’s, that meant figure skating instead of half pipe. In spite of myself, I got kind of into it. Not enough that I would have bought tickets for myself, but I admit, I was a little excited to see Adam Rippon, Mirai Nagasu, Nathan Chen and the Shibutanis skate in person.

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A Weekend in Bend

Deschuttes Brewery Pub

Deschutes Brewery Pub

When I arrived in Bend, Oregon, I expected to run into characters from Tawna Fenske’s romantic comedies around every corner. I peered into the open kitchen at the Deschutes Brewery looking for the chef from Eat, Play, Lust. When I passed the bobcat enclosure in the lobby of the High Desert Museum I started looking for the planetarium that put the frisky in Frisky Business. I looked for Marine for Hire‘s Sam chopping wood alongside the houses nestled among the trees along the road to Mt. Bachelor. After discovering Crux Fermentation Project nestled between a train track and a freeway, I expected to see Believe it or Not‘s strip mall with a psychic leaning against a male stripper joint – oh wait, that one was set in Portland. And they are all fictional stories. The little town of Bend, however, is very real, and it is not what I expected. Read More

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Home Mountain

SnowBowdoin

Our home mountain is Stevens Pass. This year the snow has been slow in coming, but in 2008, we got so much snow we could actually ride at home. This is my husband boarding down the sidewalk on our street.

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Grom School

SkiPreschool

Very tiny students at Steven’s Pass Ski School.