Tom Dick Backcountry Skiing with Leo

Today Emily and I had a great day of backcountry skiing with Leo in the Tom Dick backcountry.  It was great to be back on the same trails as last year when we first introduced him to chasing us on skis. We had great views of Mt. Hood and got a few quick turns in on some very heavy, wet snow before tearing down the trails with Leo at the tails of my skis.  He was thoroughly exhausted and slept soundly all evening.  Click the title to read on....

Clam Chowder Blind Tasting Test

When I woke up I didn’t have any plans for us for the day but since Emily had Friday off she had done some thinking and suggested we go check out a clam chowder competition.  This pleased me in two ways - 1. Emily never really puts any effort into suggesting weekend activities for us although I often suggest she think about it, and 2. I love clam chowder!  So, we headed down to the Lompoc Brewery and got in line at about 1pm.  The event was supposed to last until 4pm but when we arrived they had already run out of one of the 12 chowders there.  By the time we were done enjoying and rating our 11 small cups of chowder the even was closed because they had run out!  We were happy to have arrived when we did.  We each voted for our favorite chowder and handed in our ballots before leaving happy with full stomachs. 

Ryan Over To Cook Us Dinner

Tonight Ryan Anderson finally made the long journey up to our place to cook dinner for us.  He made the same delicious pasta meal with fresh slipper bread that I had eaten with him at his place earlier in the fall.  Arley and Katie also joined us for dinner.  Because of traffic and where we live nobody arrived at our place until nearly 8pm so our planned World War Z movie didn’t happen but it was great to have an amazing freshly prepared dinner with our new Portland friends!

Mount Hood Meadows

Today Emily and ventured to Mt. Hood Meadows for the first time in about 7 years!  The last time either of us had been there was when she came to visit me before moving out here.  For all the years of bashing Meadows for the number of people there, we actually had a great day of skiing and despite it being the first Saturday in months with fresh snow and ton of people the lift lines moved fast and we got a lot of runs in.  

Unfortunately, most of the really good terrain was still closed due to lack of cover and we found ourselves skiing the same trails over and over again, not having knowledge of where the sweet spots where like we do at SkiBowl.  We also learned our lesson that you can’t wax your skis the night before and expect to scrape the wax off the next day in the cold weather at the resort.. it was awful… had to re-wax them again….

Superbowl 2014 - Seattle Wins!

Today Emily and I invited a bunch of people over to our place to watch the Superbowl with us but as usual because of where we live not many showed up.  Eric bailed because of a family member health scare but Arley and Katie came over with some delicious football shaped brownies.  Emily and I had bought plenty of drinks and we also had some wings and chips to share.  The game itself was a blowout as Seattle crushed Denver who looked like a High School team in comparison.  It was nice to hang out with Arley and Katie and we appreciated them making the drive to spend the afternoon with us. 

Romona Falls with Leo

Today Emily and I ventured to Mount Hood with Leo for an afternoon of hiking.  We had intended on climbing a small peak out of Lolo Pass but there was too much snow.  Instead we found ourselves hiking along the Sandy River towards Romona Falls in just under a foot of fresh snow.  We had an interesting stream crossing with Leo and got to see a very cool waterfall.  Leo was beat tired at the end of the hike and so were we actually... Need to get in shape... Click the title to read about our hike...