Vacation

So yesterday was the first full day of vacation over here at Eagle Crest Resort in Central Oregon.  My brother, Kevin and his friend both have snowmobiles and he invited Dad and I to go ride with them.  So we headed up to Bachelor around 10:00am yesterday morning for some riding and were totally excited about the massive new snow.  

The problem was that the snow plows hadn’t been through the parking lot yet and it was a good 18 inches of wet snow.  The rig in front of us was stuck and they had there shovels out trying to clear a parking spot.  Just then a big old snow plow showed up to save the day.  We sat there and watched in awe of the driver of the six wheeled machine that could move thousands of pounds of snow without any problem.  I want one of those amazing machines.

So after getting off to a late start we were finally riding or at least trying to.  The snow was falling so hard, the wind was gusting intensely and all our goggles and face guards were fogging and icing up so we couldn’t see.  

Kevin was breaking trail the whole morning which is quite challenging with multiple feet of new snow in a couple days.  I would guess that we were sinking in close to 3 feet when breaking trail.  If you accidently got off the packed trail it was very easy to instantly get stuck.  At one point there were 3 sleds stuck and only 7 of us to get them unstuck.   

3-4 hours later we made it up to a place called Elk Lake Lodge where we could eat some lunch and have some cold or hot drinks.  This is in front of the lodge which was our destination on the ride.  

After our lunch break we hit the trail again and it was getting close to sundown so we headed back to the trailers.  Once we had a trail to follow and the snow wasn’t falling so hard we could actually ride and have a good time.  When you go off trail and climb hills it is literally like floating in the air, the only way to turn is to move all your wait to one side.  We got back to the trailers in about an hour even with a little detour down a wrong trail.  

If you have never been on a snowmobile, you got to do it some time in your life time.  Today I am sore and tired but I got a nap so life is good.  Tomorrow it is a massage with my honey in the afternoon.

Happy New Year!

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Portland Snow and Welcome to Our Street

I have loved every minute of our latest snow storm here in P-town.  I grew up in LaGrande, Oregon where it snows every winter and some times stays for several months.  Playing in the snow with my siblings was a highlight of every winter and driving in snow was always a great adventure.  When we get a snow forecast here I am always skeptical because often it never really occurs.  This year, the weather people have been pretty accurate.

You may recall, I was driving town cars last summer for Oregon Towncar.  Their business slowed way down in the fall and we had a baby so I quit driving a few months ago.  the other  day I spoke with the owner of Oregon Towncar and he told me that they were slammed with business and he couldn’t handle it all because he didn’t have enough vehicles for the current weather conditions. 

I suggested that I drive our Durango for him when I had time and he was thrilled. 

Saturday (yesterday), I drove five different clients and worked about ten hours all over town.  It was slow going but everyone got a safe ride and they were thrilled to get where they needed to go.  I didn’t get home until about midnight from my last trip out to Camas, Washington.  The conditions were horrendous but it was fun for me because I love the snow!

Chance, Jenni and I all played in the snow this morning.  Check out our videos here on Jenni’s blog. 

This afternoon we went down to the end of our street and slid on the hill about 20 times.  Chance was totally exhausted by the time we came in for dinner. 

After dinner, we went to the neighborhood Christmas party.  This street is TOTALLY “Pleasantville”.  A bunch of kids and a few adults performed songs and magic tricks, some where quite hilarious.  Jenni was recognized by many of the neighbors from when she used to lead worship at Sunset Pres.  We felt totally welcomed by all and love being in a place that is so family friendly.

Well… it’s time to give Paxton a bath and get some rest for another day of sledding tomorrow.

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Snow Day

I love it when we get snow days but here in Portland they don’t come around very often or stay very long.  This week we have had one of the coldest I can remember and it’s been great to get out and play in it with Chance.

Yesterday and this morning it warmed up a bit and made our snow turn to mush but Chance and I were determined to make the best of it.  We headed down the street to a dead end road a few houses away from our new place (we moved last weekend by the way).   It was just the two of us so we didn’t have anyone to help take pictures or video.  I was a one man film crew and sled operator, it was awesome.  

Check out our video but whatever you do, don’t try this at home.

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