Winter Frolics

It's been a pretty disappointing winter so far.  The snow pack is at 63% of normal, the local ski area closed down for lack of coverage, and there wasn't even enough white stuff to go snow shoeing on New Years.  Thankfully Mother Nature decided to redeem herself with a heck of a storm that made it feel like winter once again.  We celebrated by taking the dogs out on a snow shoe in the shadow of Mt. McLoughlin.

Carl is excited and ready to go!

And they're off!  It was Luna's first snow-bound expedition, and she was in hog heaven.

The furry kids licking their chops over snowballs

Candid moments in front of Mt. McLoughlin

At 8 and a half, Bubba is still going strong and loving life.

Teaching Luna the fine art of catching snowballs.

Family shot!

Onward, noble steed!

Cheese factor 8.5

Uh, guys, it's time to go

King of the hill

Two pooped puppies at the end of the day.

With that storm Mt. Ashland was finally able to reopen.  Our first time there we were greeted by Sierra cement and snain (translation: warm, wet, heavy snow and precipitation that wavered between frozen and not).  It was still good to take some turns.  The next week it was like spring skiing, in February, with a sunny blue bird day and lots of groomers to cruise.  Even though Carl was coughing up both his lungs, he still rocked the slopes in some serious style.

Mt. Ashland Extreme himself

Looking good in the sun

Mt. McLoughlin in the background

Mt. Shasta this time

The view of Shasta from the parking lot.  What a gorgeous day!

Luckily winter is far from over.  In a few days we're taking off for Central Oregon to shred Mt. Bachelor for a week, and then the end of this month we're travelling to the far northern reaches of Alaska to visit my sister and the frozen frontier.  If the snow won't come to you, you just have to go to it.