Snowy Ski Trip to Eagle Point

I was keeping an eye on the forecast, and it was promising lots of snow Saturday night. Maybe we could finally go downhill skiing? We decided to go ahead and do it and drove to Beaver, Utah. We ate dinner at a restaurant and then checked into the hotel. The kids couldn't wait to go swimming!

The next morning we woke up to new snow. I did a happy little dance! We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel, the kids swam again, and then we headed up the canyon. We were expecting it to be plowed, but the plow turned around at the start of the canyon. We followed the tracks up the road, usually just one lane wide. But occasionally a vehicle came down, and then there was a bit of panic. Would one of us slide off the road? I was so happy for the guard rails, but we really couldn't believe that the road hadn't been plowed at nine in the morning. The snow got deeper and deeper, about a foot at the top.

We signed up Desert Boy for his first snowboard lesson and took off with Desert Girl. She remembered how to ski right away.


It was kind of blustery in the morning, with periods of wind and snow that made it very cold. But then the sun would peak out.

The powder was amazing. I didn't really have experience skiing in powder, nor did Desert Girl. We liked it a lot.


We ate lunch with friends at the lodge, then headed up the big mountain. Desert Girl and I did a couple blue (intermediate) runs, while my husband did a black diamond (advanced) run. I had a hard time keeping up with Desert Girl. I am a bit wimpy when it comes to skiing, I don't like to feel out of control! For our last run on that side, we all went down a black diamond run. We didn't tell Desert Girl until she had finished, and she was so happy.

We went over to pick up Desert Boy from his lesson. He had had a great day. It was just him and one other student with the instructor. He showed us some of his moves, and he was looking good. He's still on the green (easy) slopes, but is ready to go again and learn more.

Desert Girl kept on going, I couldn't believe her stamina. She fell asleep as soon as we started driving down the canyon. Which was now plowed, but in quite a few places the plow driver hadn't bothered to plow a full two lanes. Fortunately there wasn't much traffic.

We're watching the weather again, it looks like there is more snow in the forecast. Perhaps we'll get to go skiing another time this season? It is so nice to spend the day outside!

January Catch-Up

 I used to worry about January being a boring month. Hah! It flew right by. I managed a few blog posts, about the Birkebeiner ski race, Sheepherder's gathering, reseeding efforts, sledding and skiing, girls' basketball, the supermoon eclipse, a short cave trip, and a hike in the Burbank Hills. (That list actually makes me feel like I did okay with blogging!)

Here's all the rest. Above, Desert Girl was delighted to find a Snake Valley Rock. She rehid it for someone else to enjoy. Note the lack of snow! The Fire and Ice Celebration in Ely was cancelled.

The White Pine Public Museum held a very interesting presentation by Sam Baker about the discovery of the short-faced bear in a nearby cave. He gave an enthralling talk.

We held a trails work party one day, and the kids were big helpers. We basically move a lot of rocks on these days and get to enjoy some fresh air and socializing.

I got to go to a part of Lehman Cave I had never seen before, where I saw these really cool helictites.

Desert Girl lost a tooth!

One one early morning run I saw a Western Screech Owl. That was quite exciting.

I practiced with a drone that took photos. Here I am letting Desert Girl take the controls for a bit. I later crashed it. Oops.

We have monthly 4-H meetings with guest speakers/activity leaders. Here's Desert Boy concentrating on his cake decorating. I love how 4-H lets kids experience so many different disciplines. We've had a great volunteer turnout to help the kids.

Our monthly fire training included donning all our protective gear, including SCBA tanks, then blacking out our masks and following the hose out of the simulated house. That meant belly crawling under the fire truck. It was hard, but gave you a good sense of accomplishment.

Government shutdown. Blah! What a waste. Fortunately it was short.

Lint camp! Here are some of the tools we use to clean lint and dust off cave walls and speleothems.

And more beautiful mornings. I really enjoy my daily jog. On this particular day I stopped to get a photo of this delectable road art.

Now that it's almost March, I'll start working on blogging about February! 

Mid-Winter Hike in the Burbank Hills

 One Sunday afternoon in January we went out to the Burbank Hills for a family hike. We didn't really have any destination, we just thought we'd wander and look for fossils. We drove up a road, parked, and started hiking. The winter sunlight was gorgeous, backlighting the mat rock spirea (Petrophytum caespitosum). 

A bit further on we found a plant that made Desert Girl ponder. What was a yucca doing in the snow? This is Harriman's yucca (Yucca harrimanae), and it's scattered around the area. It can deal with some snow. We don't have any other species in the area; they prefer warmer climes.

Snow dusted the landscape as we looked towards Big Wash and the Snake Range.

We ended up setting a goal to get to the top of a ridge. It turned out we weren't on good rock for fossils (I hadn't taken time to consult the geology map), but it was still a fun hike.

The kids got to scramble a bit, which they always love.

Then it was down the other side. It was obvious which were the south-facing slopes by the lack of snow.

I wandered along the ridge, finding this huge opening. A new cave? Alas, no, there aren't any known caves in the Burbank Hills, but plenty of shallow shelters.

It wasn't a very long hike, but it does the soul good to go out and wander and explore. And it does the body good to go out and move and breathe fresh air. Here's to more outside time!

Sledding and Skiing after the Storm

We were so excited by our one big snowstorm of this winter. So the day after the Ely Birkebeiner, we grabbed our sleds and headed up into the mountains to join some friends.

Maggie, our red heeler mix, was loving the snow. She was pretty-well behaved with Boomer, the golden lab.

The dogs weren't too savvy about sledding, though, frequently getting in the way!

We have a favorite sledding hill, a two-track road down a north-facing slope, so the snow doesn't melt so fast. We had to make some runs to pack down the snow.

It was beautiful where we were, but we could see the snow blowing off the peak over 12,500 feet high.

A friend was out cross-country skiing.

That inspired Desert Girl and me to get out our skis again. Desert Girl got all dressed up (who doesn't?) and we set off from the yard.

It is so incredibly fun to be able to ski right from your house.

We found it a little easier to ski in tire tracks. It warmed up fast, so by the next day we didn't have the right conditions. You just have to do it while you can!

We did get back to the sledding hill one day after school. You can see the bushes poking through the snow a lot more, but the sledding track was still in good shape. I even went down a few times, even though it terrorizes me (I keep envisioning broken bones). But there was still enough snow to crash and not hurt, so that was good!

We're back to a dry, warm period, which has its pluses. But we'd sure like some more snow this winter!

A Watery Escape from the Desert

I really, really wanted to go someplace warm and sunny and sandy for Christmas this year, so last February I asked my parents and siblings and their families if they'd be interested in a trip to Florida. Everyone agreed. We figured out one week we could all get away and found a house that could fit all of us that was on the beach. We had months of anticipation (which is a huge part of the fun and kept me from getting my usual December dark doldrums). And then finally it was time to leave. Our family met my brother Ed in Vegas and we took a flight to Tampa and drove to the beach in the wee hours of the night. Before we went to bed, we had to peek out at the ocean waves crashing against the shore. I went to sleep smiling.

The next morning we were eager to explore. The white sand was just footsteps away from the patio door, and then the the water stretched out to the horizon. It was warm and there were birds.

I had a lot of fun watching the birds. Willets, most likely. They liked to peck into the sand and then ran when the bigger waves came. I never saw one get knocked down by a wave, even when their backs were turned.

Sea oats were one of the dominant beachside vegetation communities. The rental house had a balcony so we could look out at the beach.

We went down to the beach a lot. Dusk and dawn were the best for seeing a variety of birds. Here are a Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Sanderlings, and gulls all looking for food.

My brother Andrew was a great organizer, and he directed us to the beautiful botanical gardens to see the lights on Christmas Eve. It was a bit odd seeing Christmas lights on palm trees. And to be able to walk around with heavy coats.

Christmas Day was spent looking at more birds. :) Ha, ha, okay, we did a little more than that. But you have to admit, this Snowy Egret was gorgeous.

The kids loved taking boogie boards out into the water. The water temp was 70 degrees, which to them was warm enough. I guess swimming in a mountain creek from spring to fall toughens you up.

 When they had enough of the water, they just came back on shore and dug in the sand with their cousins.

 Then it was time to go back out again.

 The waves were gentle, no more than a couple feet. And the salty water made us all extra buoyant. The kids definitely went out the most, but even the adults spent time in the water.

Digging in the sand also turned into creative burying in the sand.

 I went running most mornings, enjoying the opportunity to run on flat land at an elevation with lots of oxygen. It was also a fun way to get to see a little more, like this pier. (And the cute sanderlings by the edge of the water.)

 As the days passed, the sand creations became more elaborate. We had a huge sand fort, but that eventually got decimated. Then it was time for the giant sand alligator. It spawned many other creatures around it.

 We saw dolphins swimming in front of us almost every day. There were also quite a few brown pelicans, and watching them dive so fast into the water was quite a sight.

On one early morning walk to look for shells, Desert Girl found a half-eaten fish on the shore. She got very excited. "Mom, can I get a shell and dissect it?"
"Sure!" How could I refuse that?

The shell didn't work so well, so we left the fish to the Herring Gull, who was happy to consume it rather than study it.

 

 Our big adventure away from the beach was taking a boat ride from Fort De Soto State Park to Egmont Key, the site of a fort built during the Spanish-American War. It's at the entrance to Tampa Bay. Keys, by the way, are islands without water sources. (At least that's what I learned, but when I just fact-checked this, the more common answer was that keys are low-elevation sandy islands atop coral reefs.)

It still has a working lighthouse.

We checked out some of the ruins.

And some of the brick-paved streets from when hundreds of people lived here. We also did a little snorkeling and saw a gopher tortoise and more dolphins. It was an interesting spot to visit.

Then we went back to our beach. Desert Boy was ready to make more sand sculptures.

Later we went down to the beach by Treasure Island and saw some huge sand sculptures. These were made in a contest in mid-November and most were still in pretty good shape.

They gave us some ideas for snow sculpting, but alas, there's not enough snow for that this year in Nevada.

As the week came to an end, we had time to reflect on the beautiful world we live in, where we can see so many great ecosystems. It sure is fun to visit other ones from time to time.

And we'll remember the gentle sounds of the ocean waves rolling onto the beach.

On our last morning, Desert Girl came with for the run.

We stopped a lot to look at shells, including these live ones.

We had an evening flight, so during the day we went to a couple county parks and got to see alligators.

This little baby alligator was right under the viewing platform (see Desert Girl's pink polka-dotted reflection?)

We also spotted a limpkin, a bird native to Florida. I was so excited that I knew the name to it, and I'm still not sure how I did.

We braved the very-crowded Florida Aquarium.

And then it was time to head back to our special part of the world. We take fond memories with us (and in the case of Desert Girl, a pile of sea shells that have a bit of an odor to them.) It was great to spend time with family and be warm--especially with the brutally cold weather some of the family was headed back to. We really enjoyed being able to spend so much time outside at Christmas, something we usually don't get to do.

Hope you all had a good Christmas! And Happy 2018!