A Great Long Weekend at Crystal Mountain

The long weekend. How come some long weekends feel like a really great break and others end up leaving you feel high and dry? Fortunately, the long weekend that Tom and I spent at Crystal Mountain in Washington was a perfect balance of adventure and relaxation.

About 2 months ago, I reserved a little A-frame called the "Crystal Carriage House" for the weekend of Tom's 32nd birthday and planned a weekend of snowshoeing, skiing and relaxation. The house is located in the one-horse, one-bar, one-home-made-hat-shop town of Greenwater, WA. We had seclusion, herds of elk roaming through our little neighborhood and a 15-minute ride to Crystal Mountain Ski Resort.

The Crystal Mountain ski resort is inside Mount Rainier National Park, in its most northeastern section. Aside from being in a National Park, the spectacular setting for the Crystal Mountain Ski Resort is also inside the Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest. Crystal Mountain, WA is only 76 miles away from Seattle, making this a popular site for skiers from the Puget Sound and surrounding areas. It took us about four hours to reach the house from Hood River, so we arrived around 1pm on Saturday afternoon.


On arrival, we headed straight for the Ski Area. The lifts were only open for a few more hours, so we decided to do a little self-propelled lifting to ski some fresh powder. With our skis strapped to our backpacks, we slapped on our ski boots and snowshoes and started to climb. Ski boots are definitely not choice hiking boots, but after a few minutes, you are too busy saying "wow" to worry about your feet.

The first part of the hill was steep and the powdery snow was hip-deep for me. Tom was getting a serious cardio workout because he sank all the way into the snow, even with the tails on our snowshoes. I scurried right up the hill atop the snow like a little snow bunny. Sometimes being small DOES have benefits. ;)


Tom's dad got him a great birthday gift–a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx! We used the GPS to mark our tracks on this little hike & ski and Tom used the unit to aid his exploration of the backcountry terrain at Crystal.


After we got to a place that looked good to click in, we traded our snowshoes for our skis and I had my first experience skiing in deep powder. I've been jumping in feet first a lot lately. "Keep your tips up." "Squeeze an imaginary grapefruit between your knees." "Sit back and squat". "AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T FALL!" There's a lot to keep together when you're new to skiing and the conditions keep changing. Alright, here goes nothin'. WeeeEEEEEeeeee! Wait. How do I turn? And down she goes. :) FUN!

We got back to the car and lots more fresh snow. The big flakes were not gonna quit for a while. Off to the house in the woods and some champagne (of beers)! Hot dogs and beans and girl scout cookies for dinner. Anything hot would have done the trick. We watched a really cool movie about Mount Rainier and had many beer bottles and cans to recycle the following morning. ;)



Tom the snowshoe ninja.


On Sunday, we hit the mountain for our first day of real skiing. It snowed ALL DAY. The lift rides were incredible. What a beautiful place. Check some 360 degree views:
1. The Summit 2. Powder Bowl 3. The Main Lodge & Base

I spent most of my time on the green runs. I am mostly blue at Mount Hood Meadows, where we usually ski, but I am GREEN GREEN GREEN at Crystal Mountain. Fine with me though!
Our first run was a blue one, and I had a REAL hard time with the combination of moguls, soft snow, hard snow and steeps. I kind of lost my way on the blue trail and ended up hugging lots of trees on a long black diamond. After that catastrophe, I decided to share the greens with the pint-sized and other adult beginners. Tom spent most of his time up high. I'm jealous that I can't go up there yet, but going up means coming down. Hopefully I'll be able to do that stuff in a few seasons.


A fun day out followed by some maxin' and relaxin'. Dinner at a local coffee shop/restaurant in Greenwater. I got a new party hat at Wapiti Woolies. Beers and tea in front of the fire, good music and lots of smiles. :)


Monday morning, we got an early start and were excited to ski sans the weekend crowds. I was hoping for a clear day, so we'd be able to catch a glimpse of Mount Rainier, but it was cloudy. Everyone told me that "Mount Rainier is so close to Crystal, you can reach out and touch it". No such luck on this trip! A good excuse to go back this summer and next ski season.



Small heads + lots of headgear = silly.


I heart national parks! I'll be back to crawl around here very soon! A GREAT long weekend at Crystal Mountain.

Familiar Faces

This past President's Day was the first one that I've had recognized as a work holiday since my Devon Direct days. To celebrate the long-weekend, we hopped in the car and drove about 3.5 hours north to Port Orchard, WA to visit with my mom's sister–my aunt rose, her husband, Nathan and my cousin, Victoria.

The drive north on I-5 is boring and it was cloudy and rainy, so no views of Mount St. Helens or Mount Rainier on the way. We hung out for the afternoon around Port Orchard, driving around to explore some local points of interest. We had a low-key evening that night, with dinner in Tacoma, some shots of tequilla and a movie on the couch. Penny (the pooch) and Oliver (the cat) attacked each other and were a constant source of entertainment.

On Sunday morning, Nathan made us a great breakfast and we tried to catch the ferry to Seattle. Unfortunately, we JUST missed the ferry, so it was quicker just drive in. After about an hour, we arrived in hustling and bustling Seattle. It was a little nippy, but dry. :)

We spent some time exploring Pike's Place Market. I had a phenomenal bowl of crab chowder and a nice pint of beer. We also checked out a few cool furniture stores and some other shops.


There were a lot of people hanging out along the waterfront admiring the San Juan's at sunset. That night we had some fish on the grill and played cards–specifically a few games of "asshole". Fun was had by all. Hanging out with my aunt rose was strangely simliar to hanging out with my mom. It was nice to see some familiar faces!

Zig-zaggin' in Zigzag

A few weeks ago, Tom booked a really awesome log cabin that is tucked away in the foothills surrounding Mount Hood. The cabin, which is located in a uniquely named little town called "Zigzag", was built in the 1930s and overlooks Clear Creek. Not only the cabin, but the hot tub sits right atop the creekbank. I am spoiled! :)


Teddy partied hard with me, Tom and a few fellow Summiteers. When we first arrived at the cabin, Carley enforced her rule of shot-gunning a beer before unpacking. So, we popped our first can of PBR with a pen and guzzled the suckers. Things definitely got blurry.


Kate shoots a self-portrait of herself and Carley. I'm peeking in the side.


Tom tried to break the Guinness Book of World Records for length of time spent in a hot tub. The funny thing is that at one point there were five of us squeezed in the party tub with cases of beer perched within reach and a bottle of whiskey floating around. Unfortunately, Carley and I both worshipped the porcelain God that night. Excessive consumption + boiling for hours = the Pukes. FUN!

Abe and Nicole arrived late on Friday night and had so much fun that they decided to come back on Saturday night after a day on the mountain! The next morning, they made an awesome breakfast. Looks like everyone had a good Saturday night! Abe wrestled with the curtains for a while before passing out. It was awesome. :)


We packed it up on Sunday morning. Nicole, Abe, Carley and Tom pose for a quick shot before heading to the mountain.

By 9:00A.M we'd already enjoyed breakfast, a dip in the hot tub and a cold PBR–OFF TO THE MOUNTAIN! We had a fun time slidin' around and then shot home to Hood River in about 35 minutes. Location. Location. Location. Just the greatest.

Wahkeena Falls

A few weekends ago, we took a break from skiing to explore a new trail in the Columbia River Gorge. After consulting my little hiking guidebook, "Curious Gorge", I decided on the five-mile Multnomah/Wahkeena Falls Loop. Multnomah Falls is for sure a tourists waterfall. You can find people here with coffee in-hand on ANY given day. This loop hike starts with a mile climb to the top of Multnomah Falls and then decends down past Wahkeena. Unfortunately, the Multnomah side of the trail was "CLOSED DUE TO ICE ON THE TRAIL". So, we decided to do an out and back hike on the Wahkeena side. It's always just nice to get out. :)

There were a few signs on the trail warning of trail damage. One of the main bridges was destroyed in the flooding we had right before winter. Yowza!


This definitely wasn't one of my favorite trails, since the first few miles is paved. Ick.

Once you get a few miles in, the trail is dirt and much more enjoyable. It was raining and foggy in spots. Neat.


On the way out, we stopped at a lookout point to see what we could see. Washington smiles on the other side of the Columbia River.

Down below a little pond is frozen in some funny patterns. There's a lot of noise on many of the gorge trails that sit close to highway 84 and the train tracks–and this is one of them. The tourists can have this one. Sorry Wahkeena. Now let's ski before it's summer!

The Beauty of the Webcam

Sitting and listening to Sierra read me a book...talking with Damian while he colors me a picture of Thomas the train...eating some dinner while my mother gives me the lowdown on what's new with our crazy family...seeing the big smile of satisfaction that my sister gets when she cracks open a cold beer...all great examples of the beauty of the webcam for me.


Having a window into the home of my parents and of my sister is invaluable. It's just the greatest thing. My mom even gets to yell at me for picking my thumbs from 3,000 miles away. Pretty phenomenal. :)