Skiing finally

Well the first ski trip is on the radar. We are headed to Lutsen next weekend. I can't wait. This winter has been odd so far. But it looks like the conditions are finally good and it is time to go. I have been waiting for Lutsen to be 100% open at least on their primary runs which they now are and it looks like they have great coverage so we are going to go it a go.

The holidays are pretty much over. We don't do anything exciting for New Years so that doesn't really count for us except for the not having to work part which rules. I think tonight we are going to get a pizza and watch the Wild game. Melissa has discovered a new found love for hockey, which is awesome. She likes to watch on TV and go to the games in person so Win - Win...

I am kind of bummed that Christmas is over though. I like Christmas a lot. And it always makes me sad when it is over. *sigh*

50 days till our ski trip to Big Sky!!! Sweet!

Not Much

well we finally have some snow on the ground. Not much but at least it is going to be a white Christmas. I haven't been out skiing yet which is hard to believe but like I said there isn't any snow! I keep waiting and hoping that we will get some real stuff here in the next few days, but there is nothing in the forecast so I wait.

Meanwhile the west is finally starting to get some snow and it is piling up out there nicely. Big Sky is now 63 days away and they are getting snow almost daily. So as long as they have lots for us when we get there I will be happy.

Christmas is almost here. I am excited. I love Christmas time. We have a nice tree up in our house and some lights around the house outside. It looks really nice and festive. My shopping is pretty much done. I just need to pick up a few small things and everything will be done. It is hard to believe that another Christmas is just a few days away. Even though I still love Christmas it is a bummer to be old and not have quite the same excitement as I did when I was little waiting for Santa Claus to come. Even though he does still swing by our house. Which is pretty cool of him. We don't really have much in the way of plans hooked up for Christmas. I think we are going to have a couple of nice days off, relax and enjoy each others company.

My classes are done and that is exciting. I think they both went pretty well and I was happy with how I did. I am waiting to get my grades, but I think I am in the 90% range for both classes. So that is good.

Melissa and I went to a Minnesota Wild hockey game the other night and just had a blast. Those games are so much fun. I love hockey, I wish I could go to more games but they are pretty expensive. So it was fun to go, hopefully we can get to another game before the season is over.

Think snow...

Snow Please

So this is the time of the year when I start to get antsy for some snow. it is also the time of year when I start to watch the snow at the western resorts pile up and question why I live here. But anyway, all the same it is almost Thanksgiving and the weather is unfortunately really nice and warm. Bummer! No snow in sight well at least for the next week or so. It is even far to warm for the area hills to be making snow so there are really no opening to report. Ugh!

In other news life is good. Melissa and I went to our first Vikings game last weekend. It was pretty fun. The tickets were a little to pricey for me but it was a fun time none the less. The crowd was interesting. A little to redneckie for me but hey who am I to judge. It was loud in the dome and there was a ton of energy and the Vikings won so all in all it was a good day.

Melissa and I are headed out of town next weekend and I think we are both really looking forward to it a lot. It will be nice to get away and spend some time just the two of us. So I am really looking forward to that.

My classes are almost done and they are going pretty well. I will say that I am glad they are almost over because neither one has been my favorite class by any means. I am enrolled in a history of the Vietnam War class for spring and am looking forward to that.

Life is good. Work is pretty good and I guess that is all... Just wish we could get some snow. I am starting to get the itch.

Busy

So things are going good. Mini Medical school is rocking and rolling again at the U of M. Last night was the 2nd week of 5 and it was good. I love Mini-Medical school it is such a fun learning experience. It is also fun to spend a night at the U and see what is going on there.

Wednesday is Melissa and my 4th anniversary. She has to work late on Wednesday so we are planning on doing something together on Thursday instead. Plans are still up in the air but it will be fun. Also this weekend the bluegrass band The High 48's are playing at Dulano's Pizza in Minneapolis so we are going to go and see them. They are a great little band and it turns out that I know the banjo player. Tony and I were friends in high school so it was cool to see him the last time we saw them play at Dulano's.

Work is busy, but seriously who cares about that. I sure don't

In other news I have been going to the gym a lot lately and really enjoying it. I have started swimming and I love the workout that I am getting from swimming laps. I am planning on swimming at least 2 days before work. At least I am going to try. I am not sure that I am going to be able to get up that early to make it for an hour of swimming and them get to work on time but we will see. At least right now at least I am thinking about it. I am mostly working out to make up for the fact that I didn't do any running and hardly any biking this year. I had a hard time getting into it, which I guess was a bummer. But I am enjoying the gym.

Melissa and I bought tickets to an upcoming Vikings game so that will be interesting. I have never been to a Vikings game and neither has she so we are both looking forward to that. We are going to the game on November 15th vs the Detroit Lions. We picked that one because the Vikings should be able to beat them and if I am going to pay all of that money to see them play I would like to see them win at least.

We have had a tease of winter here in Minnesota all ready, we have seen snow on the ground twice. The snow didn't stick around for very long but it was nice to see. I am hoping for lots of snow this winter. I really want to ski in some good conditions. Big Sky is only 122 days away...

Updated Life Adventure List

1. Heli-ski
2. Learn how to Surf ---- DONE
3. Drink a Guinness in Dublin
4. Ski Liberty Bowl,Big Sky Montana ---- DONE
5. Ski Wardance,Big Sky Montana ---- DONE
6. Backpack in Glacier National Park
7. Canoe trip in the BWCA ---- DONE
8. Hike the Inca trail to Macchu Picchu Peru
9. Camp on the beach in Maine
10. See the Sistine Chapel, Rome
11. Eurorail Trip
12. Ski Marx Bowl, Big Sky Montana
13. Bordeaux tasting trip in Bordeaux France
14. Ski Castro Bowl, Big Sky Montana
15. Go to The Burning Man Festival
16. Camp in Yosemite National Park
17. Climb the stairs at Half Dome at Yosemite National Park
18. Paint at Devils Tower
19. Road trip to Memphis to see Graceland
20. Road trip to Louisville to the Baseball bat factory
21. Take the Amtrak to Seattle
22. Camp in Alaska
23. Ski Big Couloir, Big Sky Montana
24. Hot Spring Bath in Iceland
25. Trek in Greenland
26. Antarctic Cruise
27. Ski in the Southern Hemisphere
28. Scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef
29. Have Tea in Nepal
30. Trek to the Everest Base Camp
31. Camp at Zion National Park
32. Go look for Area 51
33. Take a road trip with no plans
34. Climb Bear Butte in South Dakota
35. Camp beneath The Grand Teton
36. Ski Jackson Hole
37. Have Lobster in Maine
38. Go Bone Fishing in the Caribbean
39. Catch a Green Cutthroat Trout in Colorado ---- DONE
40. Mountain bike at Whistler Bike Park
41. Road bike tour of Napa Valley wine country
42. Ski the North snow field, Moonlight Basin Montana
43. Camp at the bottom of the Grand Canyon
44. Boogie Board in Hawaii ---- DONE
45. See an active Volcano
46. Go storm chasing for tornados
47. See the Last Supper painting
48. See the Leaning Tower of Piza
49. Ski Rendezvous Bowl, Jackson Hole
50. Backcountry Ski in Jackson Hole
51. Winter Camp
52. Take an Avalanche Safety course
53. Live out of my car for a week on a vacation.
54. Sleep under the stars with no tent.
55. Go bouldering in Joshua Tree
56. Eat at Cliff Bar above 11,000 feet ---- DONE
57. Stand at the gate of Auschwitz, Poland
58. Camp at Arches National Park Utah
59. Circle tour of Lake Superior
60. Go Bass fishing in Florida'
61. Ride a century
62. See the Giant Redwoods in Sequoia Park
63. Walk on the Great Wall of China
64. Play Golf at Pebble Beach
65. Visit in Banff
66. Watch Soccer live in England
67. See the Normandy Beaches, France
68. Ride Slickrock Trail, Moab Utah

BWCA re-cap...

So everything went really well for the first 12 hours or so of our BWCA trip. We got our canoe at about 9am and got loaded and were on the water at 930am. We headed due north up Sawbill Lake. The goal was to make it to Cherokee Lake about 10 miles away. We made it to our first portage and that was fine, in fact we made it to Cherokee found a nice campsite and got everything set up with no problems. Our tent site was awesome, up on a rock out cropping 3/4 surrounded by trees. We went back out in the canoe and got water for drinking and cooking and headed back in. We were tired and were hungry so we decided to have an early dinner. I fired up the stove and got some dinner cooked. Melissa and I sat down by the lake and enjoyed our dinner and enjoyed each others company. We then gathered wood for a campfire. We finally got a small fire going, we had a tough time finding dry wood but finally gathered enough to get something going. The fire turned out to be great. All of this time we noticed that the wind was picking up little by little. By the time we called it a night and hit the tent which was around 8pm the wind was blowing hard. I would guess 30mph for sure. We sat in the tent and played cards and talked and listened to the wind. The next day when we woke, it was blowing even harder, raining, there were white caps on the lake and it was cold... Ugh. We decided to just lay around and see what happened and hoped it would clear. Nope 5 hours later, same thing, 10 hours later same thing, 15 hours later same thing. At some point in the morning I ran over and got our food bag out of the tree because it looked like it was going to be a long day in the tent and we had to eat. And at that point I did not care about bears or anything, it couldn't get much worse. We ended up sitting in our Mountain Hardware tent for a total of 37 hours. It was horrid. I became an expert at cooking in the vestibule of the tent which was good. The weather was so bad and the wind was blowing so hard that I was actually a little nervous about the tent a couple times. I restaked it, early in the morning on day 2 to tighten everything up which helped a lot. After that she weathered the wind perfectly. That was a rock star tent. Melissa was a great sport through the whole day and in fact the whole trip. We sat around, played cards, read, talked and joked about being trapped. Finally Friday night I looked at her and said, "if the weather breaks at all tomorrow we are outta here." Well Saturday morning we got up, it was gray, drizzling and a little less windy. The bonus was the wind changed direction and was now blowing out of the north and we had to travel south, so the wind would be at our back if we left. I looked at her and said, "what do you want to do." She looked at the sky and said, "lets get outta here while we can." I laughed and like a well oiled machine we packed up camp perfectly and systematically. Got everything into our packs and loaded the canoe and shoved off. We had the wind to our backs and the paddles were flying. We paddled the first mile in about 20 minutes, knocked off 3 portages another 4 miles of paddling in 2 hours, did an 80 rod portage in 5 minutes and made it back to the landing were we left Thursday morning 4 hours and 15 minutes later. We checked our canoe back in, spoke with the girl about our weather trouble, and slammed two Isle of Pines Root Beers. We found out that most of the area was with out power due to the storm. Melissa and I were bummed. It was our first trip in the BWCA and the weather sucked. We couldn't do anything. The lake we were on had tons of islands that we wanted to check out, but couldn't because of the dangerous winds and the waves. So the trip just turned out to be a dud... We did decide to spend our final night in Duluth. So we stopped at our favorite place to eat on the way back to Duluth, we had a great lunch and more laughs. We got a nice hotel room in Canal Park, had nice hot showers, and went out and about down by the little shops that we like to look in. We had a great dinner, a good night sleep and got up Sunday and headed home. The weekend turned out to be great. The camping part was what it was and it was a bummer that the weather couldn't help us out but all in all it was fun. We are going to try again next year, same time, same place. We are going to go a different direction but it should be interesting to say the least...

Holy Shit is all I have to say... 36 hours tent bound in the BWCA. I am friggin' ready to wait out a storm on K2... I really didn't think I could sit in the same place for a day and a half. Nope I can. When I can sort out our weekend in the boundary waters, I will post more. Right now I am trying to put all of the pieces in place.

God, winter can't get here fast enough.

We are all set for the BWCA. I am looking forward to our trip. I am just hoping that the weather holds. It doesn't have to be perfectly sunny, but I really just do not want any rain and crap. I would like our first trip up there to be nice. Hopefully we don't get eating by a rogue grizzly bear.

or Big Sky trip is set. 3rd full week in February. We are staying up on the mountain, I found a new secret spot to stay that is cheap and full of awesomeness. I can't wait. 142 days till I am shredding pow.

Send good weather karma my way please.

It's about friggin time.

Like I try to do every year. I post a blog story about the first snowfall of the year. Well it happen yesterday. The Colorado high country saw the first snow of the season. The picture above was taken at Copper on Monday September 21st. I have been waiting for this day since the last snowfall of the season last year. Here is the story:

The snowbirds are already shivering in their shoes, but skiers and snowboarders are cheering the arrival of the season's first snow in Colorado's high country. Above is a photo taken at Copper Mountain yesterday morning (Monday, September 21). CBS's Denver affiliate, KCNC Channel 4's 10:00 p.m. news last night (and presumably other stations' news too) reported that snow-hungry locals in nearly Breckenridge were seen around town in their ski duds, carrying their boards, and Loveland fired up its snow guns yesterday as well. And this morning's newspapers printed first-snow-of-the-season pictures too. It's a perpetual early-opening ski area -- historically often the first in the nation, in fact.

Well. We are making plans. I just booked our hotel room for our ski trip this winter. We are headed back to Big Sky once again. I have been getting a lot of grief from a couple of my friends about not "trying" somewhere else. While this might be true why change something that we both love? Big Sky has just an amazing vibe, the people are great the skiing is unbelievable, it is quiet, and it is amazing beautiful. We best of all it makes for a really fun road trip. So we are headed back. Lets just say that I am already looking forward to that trip.

In other news, we are 90% set for our BWCA trip. The last thing we have to work out is our food plans. We are still working on a menu. Hopefully we will have that all nailed down by the this weekend. I am looking forward to heading up there. I am really hoping for nice weather. We have a couple of great routes planned so we can changed things up if we have too...

Tonight is our last Twins game for the year. We did have tickets to the Oct 2nd game but had to sell them due to our BWCA trip. I was a little bummed about that, but we have seen some great baseball this year. I am looking forward to next year and to check out the new stadium. I am hoping the seats I picked out are good. I think they will be but you never know.

I am also watching football this year. Which is different for me. I have never been much of a football fan, but I watched the Vikings vs Cleveland game last Sunday and it was a fun time. Melissa and I had a football "party" I think we are going to do another party this Sunday.

School is going pretty good so far. I think I like both of my classes. I am learning some stuff so I guess that is really all that matter right?

Hmmmmm

So I think my mountaineering goals are unfortunately starting to dim. I have been researching and looking into different options. I have found a couple and they seem good. A couple in Washington that do their training in and around Mount Baker or Mount Rainier, and one up in Alaska, all have excellent programs but the problem is gear. I have a lot of stuff but of course the things that I do not have are the most expensive things. Boots, a 4 season tent, a expedition grade down sleeping bag, a down parka and other odds and ends. All totaled the gear is in the neighborhood of $2500 or so dollars. Plus $2100 for the class and $400 for the airline ticket. I can swing it but I just don't think I should. It is not fair for me to spend our money so foolishly. So I am headed back to the drawing board a little bit and see if I can come up with anything.

In other news Melissa and I are headed to Lutsen for the long weekend. I am really looking forward to it. We haven't been up there since ski season so I am looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend.

I am also going to join the gym where Melissa works out some time this late fall. I am going to start training for the mountains for both skiing and just in case climbing. So that should be fun. I have a found a great training schedule for Denali so that is what I think I am going to stick to at the gym.

Life is good. Just wish I had more free time.

Ideas that cost money.

I am toying with the idea of taking a mountaineering course next spring/summer in Washington with a long term goal of climbing Denali and Cho Oyu with in 5-10 years. I am almost 95% I am going to take the course next year but beyond that things are a little hazy. Mountaineering is very expensive. A sponsor would be cool. Frank I am looking your way, I promise to wear your patches and fly your flag from the top of either Denali or Cho Oyu. Normally Everest is a goal for the aspiring mountaineer, but there are a few reasons that isn't even in my sights. It would cost me about 50 - 75k which I do not have. The success rate is far to low and for the price you have to pay it is not worth it. And it is much much to dangerous. So after some research I found that Cho Oyu is an 8000m peak and is much better to attempt. The success rate is much higher. It isn't "as" dangerous as Everest, but yet you get the experience of what it is like to work at that altitude. It is the 6th highest peak in the world and that seems to suit me fine. I am kind of a 6th kind of guy.

This all started last winter. I had this strange revelation when I was skiing at Big Sky and I stopped to rest while skiing Liberty Bowl, which is a run that starts from the top of Lone Peak at 11,166'. Anyway, I stopped to rest like I said, I sat down in the snow and started looking around at the beautiful scenery. And then it hit me, holy shit I was sitting on the side of this giant piece of rock. I looked around, I was the only person there, it was silent except for the wind blowing lightly. I swear to god that I could hear the snow hitting the ground. I felt so small in the world. It was the weirdest and most incredible feeling I have ever had. I sat there for about 10 minutes and just thought about how when I am gone this mountain will still be here and that maybe some other lucky person will stop in this spot and have the same feeling. Then I started thinking, this mountain is 11,166' high. I have skied probably about 1000 or so vertical feet so I am still above 10,000 but there are places on earth that are twice and almost three times this high. Denali 20,000, Cho Oyu is 26,000, and of course Everest at 29,0029. I started thinking what would it be like to sit in the snow on the side of one of those and look off into the distance. What would that be like? Well, I think I want to find out.

The class is an 8 day mountaineering training session on Mount Rainier in Washington. I think I have found the place that I am going to do the class through so now I just need to make the decision, and start collecting some gear that I will need. Luckily I have the most supportive wife in the whole world, she knows of the revelation that I had on Lone Peak and understands my whims better then anyone. She has a beautiful and VERY understanding heart. I told her of the costs and she said that was fine we will figure things out. So I guess I really don't have any excuse not to do it. Hmmm what to do, what to do...

So anyway. It is a cloudy rainy day here in the beautiful twin cities area of Minnesota. Even though I am not a football fan what so ever, I guess I have to mention that the Vikings signed Brett Favre to the team yesterday. I was listening to the radio on the way into work this morning and now all anyone is talking about is how the Vikings are going to win the superbowl. I think that is so funny. I remember a few years back after signing some player, I have no idea which one they were going to win the superbowl as well and I think didn't even make it to the play offs. I guess I hope they would make it and win, I guess that would be cool, although it would not make a bit of difference at all in my quest to retire early...

I have begun to look at my new text books for my up coming classes and I have to say that they both look really interesting and I am really looking forward for my classes to start. My Psychology book really looks good so I am hoping that the instructor is good and that the class is interesting and fun. I am also taking personal wellness, and that class looks interesting as well.

Melissa and I have a couple of long weekends planned and I can't wait for them. It will be nice to get away again. One of them is up to Lutsen which will be fun, we both love it up there and it will be great to head up, and just hang out. We don't really have anything special planned while we are going to be there, so we will just go with it and see what happens.

We are also planning a BWCA trip for early October. I am nervously excited about that trip. I am hoping that everything comes off without a hitch and that we are able to go. Melissa is still waiting to hear on her vacation time.

It is Wednesday and I am feeling lazy again today. The weather perfect lazy day weather...

Lazy Days

Lately I have just really been feeling lazy. I think I have ridden my bikes a total of about 200 miles this year. I just have had no desire at all. It just hasn't been that fun to me for some reason. Oh well. I think it might be the crappy summer weather we are having either it is cold or it is hotter then hell and humid. Anyway. I am taking two classes this fall, they start next Monday and I am looking forward to them as I inch ever closer to my degree. I really enjoy taking classes, it is a great distraction from every day life and I love to learn. I really think I am enjoying college much more now as an adult then I would have straight out of high school. Although I am now to old to do what I really think I should have.

Melissa and I are planning a trip to the BWCA for the first weekend in October. It looks like I am finally going to get up there. I have been talking about it forever and was to chicken to pull the trigger. Looks like this is going to be the year. We have a tenative route picked out and have our entry point. I even have a outfitter chosen for our canoe rental. We are starting to plan for gear and get things together. Luckily we have a ton of stuff so really the only thing we will have to rent is canoes and paddles. I am excited about the prospect of finally getting a trip in up there. The weather hopefully will be good. It will be nice and cool and hopefully there will not be any bugs and hopefully no bears.

I have really no had much desire to work lately either which isn't a huge shock to anyone but coming back from Hawaii and then going back to work was really hard. I wish I knew what I wanted to do when I grow up. I am just not sure that being an IT guy is it.

My 20 year High School reunion is this weekend. I am really looking forward to that. it should be great. I can't wait to see other people that I have not seen since high school. Should be an interesting night.

So

Much to talk about. I am sorry I have been away for so long. I was really trying to be better at updating but apparently I suck. Anyway. Wow, Melissa and I just got back from our vacation to Maui. We were going to go camping in Yellowstone and in Jackson Hole but I found an unbelievable deal to the Ritz Carlton at Kapalua in Maui and it was incredible in every way. We left on Friday July 24th, had a nice flight to Phoenix and then changed planes and flew then on to Maui. We upgraded to first class for the flight and it was awesome. Nice comfy seats and good food and drinks. We landed in Maui at about 230 in the afternoon, got our convertible and headed to the hotel. The drive to the hotel was beautiful right along the ocean. We found our hotel checked in and were incredibly happy with our room. It was an awesome room, with views of the ocean and the golf course. We were both so happy. The environment was so beautiful. We hadn't even been there 3 hours and we were both so happy. We settled in and then headed down to the beach. I really wanted to get into the ocean. Our beach was perfect, long white sand beach, the water was warm and the sun was out. It was great. After the beach we headed back and changed for dinner. We had a club level room so there were 5 included food times during the day which turned out to be really excellent. And we took advantage of all of them. There was a breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, appetisers, and a deesert. Even though they were billed as "light" there was a lot of food and more then enough to make a meal out of. They were all really nice. First day in the books was a complete success.

The rest of the week, went pretty much like this. Get up at about 715ish, go have breakfast, go to the beach, or into town shopping or site seeing, come back to the hotel have lunch, head back out to the pool or more beach time or more site seeing and shopping, maybe have the tea time if around the hotel, or be back by 6 to have the "dinner" then relax maybe go down for a dessert, or just hang out in the room and watch a little TV and then hit the rack by a little after 10. We got up early every day and went to bed pretty early everynight. Hanging out in the sun made us both sleepy, but we got good sleep every night, so we were ready to go each day. I have never stayed in a hotel that was so quiet at night and where I slept so good. It was heavenly.

Some fun extra things we did: We went out on a catamaran and went sailing and snorkeling. Which was great, the boat was awesome as was the snorkeling site. They took us to Honolua Bay which was great. Lots of fish, saw 3 huge sea turtles, and lots of great coral. The reefs there were a little different then the stuff I have seen in the Caribbean. So it was neat to see a different reef system. We ended up going back there for snorkeling again on our own. We also went surfing which was really fun. Both Melissa and I did pretty well. We both got a couple of great rides in, it was great. I can't wait to go again and give it another try. We also did a lot of shopping and looking around at other beaches. Lots and lots of fun.

Hawaii is a great place and we were so gald that we went. It is very expensive. But it is amazing. Life is good there, Maui is so laid back and awesome. Everyone has a surfboard on their car and there aren't really any big cities so everything is pretty local and fun.

Now is back to reality and life is back to the ho-hum pace... I am already starting to think about the next trip. I am hoping Melissa and I can get to Chicago here before fall and also we are thinking about our big ski trip. I think we are headed back to Big Sky in most likely the end of February. I am looking forward to skiing already.

My 20 year high school reunion is a few weeks away. I am looking forward to going to that and seeing everyone. Should be interesting.

It's back

Well this weekend turned out to be a good one. Melissa was gone all weekend at a "girls weekend" so that sucked, I missed her, but she had fun and I had fun so it was all good. Friday night I watched a couple movies and just hung out, it was really nice and relaxing. So that was cool. Saturday I met a couple friends at the Twins game. That was a lot of fun. It was cowboy hat night which was interesting, everyone was wearing their cowboy hats and watching the game. The Twins ended up losing but it was a fun game. So all in all it was a good night. Sunday I slept in which was heavenly and anxiously awaited the arrival of our Thomas Everhart. The framer was headed over with it to hang it for us. He got there early and it was amazing. I could not take my eyes off it. It was just beautiful in every way. Even though the framing was ridiculously expensive it was incredible, just a perfect job. I had it hung above our sofa in the living room and it really looks perfect. I called Melissa whom was on her way home and told her how awesome it looked and told her I could not for her to see it. She said she was 30 minutes from home. And exactly 30 minutes later she walked and she also just loved the work. We looked at it all day long and every time I view it, it brought a big smile to my face.



Pillow Talk - Thomas Everhart

Another Fun Weekend

This turned out to be a really fun weekend. Saturday I went to the Murphy ride and BBQ and saw a bunch of friends there. It is funny because last summer I stated the ride and BBQ's at Murphy via invite only, now they are huge events with a tent for shade and lots of people. I guess they are fun but they have sort of lost there exclusivity. I sort of feel like my ride has been exploited. But oh well. I am glad to see that I created something that people liked enough to carry on and to bring to everyone. So anyway the ride was fun. I am not a huge fan of that trail, but it was a nice day. After doing the 10 mile loop everyone met back in the lot and got the grills going. There was a ton of food and that ride has become quite the production. I sort of did my own thing and sat by my car and grilled and listened to the Twins game on the radio. It was a fun afternoon. Melissa didn't make it she is fighting a bad cold. I was bummed that she wasn't there. I am hoping she makes the next one.

Saturday night we made a trip to REI. Melissa needed a few things and she found everything she needed, she that turned out to be a successful trip.

Sunday I helped my friend Steve run the committee boat for the Medicine Lake Sailing Club. I have crewed for Steve on his boat which was a blast. But this time I was out with him while he ran the race. It was fun to see that side of it. It was a perfect day out on the water. My head is really sun burnt but it is all good.

Hoping for a good week. We have a Twins game on Wednesday which I am looking forward to. Other then that it should be a nice quiet week..

Trail work and other things.

Last night was MORC trail work at Lebanon Hills. It was also the MORC monthly board meeting which means that I got to run trail work last night. Although we had a small crew we got a ton of stuff done which was really fun. Sometimes trail work can be a little frustrating, but last night was great. I am really looking forward to getting out there and trying out the things that we did. Lebanon has really been riding great this year and has been a lot of fun.

In other news, it appears as though I am going to be taking the lead dirt boss roll at the Terrace Oaks mountain bike trail in Burnsville. It is a smaller MORC trail, but a fun ride. It will be fun to do my own thing and hopefully get a good crew to come and help me. That is the only problem with Terrace Oaks, it is not one of the more popular trails and is sort of forgotten about so it doesn't get much love. Hopefully I will be able to change that.

I am taking a summer class right now to work more toward my degree. So I am currently taking an Digital Photography class, so far it is great. I am having a lot of fun. I used to love photography and it is fun to be getting back into it. I am thinking about a digital SLR camera. But I am not sure.

Hawaii is coming up very fast. We are looking at tours and things, and I am trying to figure out the best way to see Pearl Harbor. We will be in Maui the whole time, so I am pricing flights, tours and trying to figure out the best and cheapest way to do that. I guess it would be stupid to be there and very close to Pearl and not go and see it, which I really want to do. We have a Luau booked and I am really looking forward to that, cheesy tourist thing I know, but you gotta do it right? it will be fun.

The weather here is just terrible, I am really hoping that it clears up and actually warms up... Ugh!

Re-Cap

So Vegas turned out to be really dang fun. I haven't been there in ages and could not believe how much has changed. They are still building hotels like crazy and I mean big hotels. They is one that is gigantic and I have no idea what the name of it is. Oh well that just means we will have to get back out there and see it when it is done. They flight out was really nice, I am not a real good flyer but it was quick and very smooth. We left on time and arrived on time, we got our luggage and rental car quickly and made for our hotel. We stayed at Mandalay Bay and it was great. The hotel is beautiful and it smells really good on the inside. We heard they fragrance the air the there. The trip turned out to be all about the relaxing and eating. We hung out at the pool everyday for about 3-4 hours which was really nice. There is a wave pool and a sand beach which was a blast. Melissa and I got some good body surfing in and it just made me want to leave for Hawaii ASAP... I am not sure I am going to make it until July to go... Anyway, after the pool we would head out to In-n-Out burger and have lunch and then hit the strip and shop or just look around. This was Melissa first time eating at In-n-Out and here first lunch looked like this.



She took her first bite, stopped looked at me and said Holy Shit this is really a good burger. I smiled, and we continued to eat in In-n-Out bliss. We ended up eating there 3 more times. It was heavenly.

Vegas is a great spot, there is no where else like it on earth, a city built around, sex, crime and money. Everything is seedy, but so over the top. It is so fun to visit. I don't think I could live there, but man it is a fun place to go.

We did some shopping that was really fun we bought a piece of art which I am so excited about. It is a Thomas Everhart. We love it and can't wait till it show up.



It is beautiful in person and it will look great above our bed. It is 50x20 so it will be just awesome. I am hoping that it arrives this week so we can get it in for framing. Besides the art Melissa bought a couple scarves at Hermes'. Shopping in Vegas is so much fun.

We also went to a Vegas 51's AAA baseball game. The game was pretty good. Vegas pulled it off in the 9th with a great come from behind win. After the game there was a great fireworks display. We sat 6 rows behind home plate, the seats were great and they were cheap, $14 a piece. That is one reason that I love minor league baseball. Nice and cheap and a fun time.

The flight home was a nightmare, it was delayed almost 10 hours... UGH! But once we got in the air it was great, we got home safe and now it is back to reality...

I am hoping we can sneak out of town once more before we head to Hawaii... I would really like to do something I am just not sure what.

Nothing more to say...

Taking Chance

I saw the movie Taking Chance on Saturday and it was excellent. It is the story of a Marine Officer that gets escort duty for a fallen Marine. Pretty basic. The movie follows their journey home. If you get a chance see this movie. While I am not a military person I have the most respect for the men and women that serve this amazing country. I found this movie so uplifting. It was a made for HBO movie and is now on DVD. It the was made from the following "Trip Report" Enjoy:

"Taking Chance"
A personal narrative by Lieutenant Colonel Michael R. Strobl

Chance Phelps was wearing his Saint Christopher medal when he was killed on Good Friday. Eight days later, I handed the medallion to his mother. I didn't know Chance before he died. Today, I miss him.

Over a year ago, I volunteered to escort the remains of Marines killed in Iraq should the need arise. Thankfully, I hadn't been called on to be an escort since Operation Iraqi Freedom began. The first few weeks of April, however, had been tough ones for the Marines. On the Monday after Easter, I was reviewing Department of Defense press releases when I saw that a Private First Class Chance Phelps was killed in action outside of Baghdad. The press release listed his hometown as Clifton, Colorado — which is near where I’m from. I notified our battalion adjutant and told him that, should the duty to escort PFC Phelps fall to our battalion, I would take him.

I didn't hear back the rest of Monday and all day Tuesday until 1800. The battalion duty NCO called my cell phone and said I needed to be ready to leave for Dover Air Force Base at 1900 in order to escort the remains of PFC Phelps. I called the major who had the task of informing Phelps’ parents of his death. The major said that the funeral was going to be in Dubois, Wyoming. (It turned out that PFC Phelps only lived near my hometown during his senior year of high school.) I had never been to Wyoming and had never heard of Dubois.

With two other escorts from Quantico, I got to Dover AFB at 2330 on Tuesday night. First thing on Wednesday we reported to the mortuary at the base. In the escort lounge there were about half a dozen Army soldiers and about an equal number of Marines waiting to meet up with "their" remains for departure. PFC Phelps was not ready, however, and I was told to come back on Thursday. Now at Dover with nothing to do and a solemn mission ahead, I began to get depressed.

I didn't know anything about Chance Phelps; not even what he looked like. I wondered about his family and what it would be like to meet them. I did push-ups in my room until I couldn't do any more. On Thursday morning I reported back to the mortuary. This time there was a new group of Army escorts and a couple of the Marines who had been there Wednesday. There was also an Air Force captain there to escort his brother home to San Diego.

We received a brief covering our duties and the proper handling of the remains, and we were shown pictures of the shipping container and told that each one contained, in addition to the casket, a flag. I was given an extra flag since PFC Phelps’ parents were divorced.

It turned out that I was the last escort to leave on Thursday. This meant that I repeatedly got to participate in the small ceremonies that mark all departures from the Dover AFB mortuary.

Most of the remains are taken from Dover AFB by hearse to the airport in Philadelphia for air transport to their final destination. When the remains of a service member are loaded onto a hearse and ready to leave the Dover mortuary, there is an announcement made over the building's intercom system. With the announcement, all service members working at the mortuary, regardless of branch, stop work and form up along the driveway to render a slow ceremonial salute as the hearse departs. On this day, there were also some civilian workers doing construction on the mortuary grounds. As each hearse passed, they would stop working and place their hard hats over their hearts. This was my first sign that my mission with PFC Phelps was larger than the Marine Corps and that his family and friends were not grieving alone.

Eventually I was the last escort remaining in the lounge. The master gunnery sergeant in charge of the Marine liaison there came to see me. He had a pouch with Chance Phelps’ personal effects. He removed each item: a large watch, a wooden cross with a lanyard, two loose dog tags, two dog tags on a chain, and the Saint Christopher medal, which was on a silver chain. Although we had been briefed that we might be carrying some personal effects of the deceased, I was taken aback. Holding his personal effects, I was starting to get to know Chance Phelps.

Finally we were ready. I grabbed my bags and went outside. I was somewhat startled when I saw the shipping container, loaded three quarters of the way into the back of a black Chevy Suburban that had been modified to carry such cargo. This was the first time I saw my "cargo," and I was surprised at how large the shipping container was. The master gunnery sergeant and I verified that the name on the container was Phelps', and then they pushed him the rest of the way in and we left. Now it was PFC Chance Phelps’ turn to receive the military — and construction workers' — honors. He was finally moving towards home.

As I chatted with the driver on the hour-long trip to Philadelphia, it became clear that he considered it an honor to contribute to getting Chance home. He offered his sympathy to the family. I was glad finally to be moving, yet I was apprehensive about what things would be like at the airport. I didn't want this container to be treated like ordinary cargo, but I knew that the simple logistics of moving around something this large would be difficult.

When we got to the Northwest Airlines cargo terminal at the Philadelphia airport, the cargo handler and hearse driver pulled the shipping container onto a loading bay while I stood to the side and executed a slow salute. Once Chance was safely in the cargo area, and I was satisfied that he would be treated with due care and respect, the hearse driver drove me over to the passenger terminal and dropped me off.

As I walked up to the ticketing counter in my uniform, a Northwest employee started to ask me if I knew how to use the automated boarding-pass dispenser. Before she could finish, another ticketing agent interrupted her. He told me to go straight to the counter, then explained to the woman that I was a military escort. She seemed embarrassed. The woman behind the counter already had tears in her eyes as I was pulling out my government travel voucher. She struggled to find words but managed to express her sympathy for the family and thanked me for my service. She upgraded my ticket to first class.

After clearing security, I was met by another Northwest Airlines employee at the gate. She told me a representative from cargo would be arriving to take me down to the tarmac to observe the movement and loading of PFC Phelps. I hadn't really told any of them what my mission was, but they all knew. When the man from the cargo crew met me, he, too, struggled for words. On the tarmac, he told me stories of his childhood as a military brat and repeatedly said that he was sorry for my loss. Even here in Philadelphia, far away from Chance's hometown, people were mourning with his family.

On the tarmac, the cargo crew was silent except for when they gave occasional instructions to each other. I stood to the side and saluted as the conveyor moved Chance to the aircraft. I was relieved when he was finally settled into place. The rest of the bags were loaded and I watched them shut the cargo-bay door before heading back up to board the aircraft. One of the pilots had taken my carry-on bag himself and had it stored next to the cockpit door so he could watch it while I was on the tarmac. As I boarded the plane, I could tell immediately that the flight attendants had already been informed of my mission. They seemed a little choked up as they led me to my seat.

About forty-five minutes into our flight, I still hadn't spoken to anyone except to tell the first-class flight attendant that I would prefer water. I was surprised when the flight attendant from the back of the plane suddenly appeared and leaned down to grab my hands. She said, "I want you to have this," as she pushed a small gold crucifix, with a relief of Jesus, into my hand. It was her lapel pin and it looked somewhat worn. I suspected it had been hers for quite some time. That was the only thing she said to me the entire flight.

When we landed in Minneapolis, I was the first one off the plane. The pilot himself escorted me straight down the side stairs of the exit tunnel to the tarmac. The cargo crew there already knew what was on this plane. They were unloading some of the luggage when an Army sergeant, a fellow escort who had left Dover earlier that day, appeared next to me. His "cargo" was going to be loaded onto my plane for its continuing leg. We stood side by side in the dark and executed a slow salute as Chance was removed from the plane. I then waited with the soldier and we saluted together as his fallen comrade was loaded onto the plane.

My trip with Chance was going to be somewhat unusual in that I had an overnight stopover. We had a late start out of Dover and there was just too much traveling ahead of us to continue on that day. (We still had a flight from Minneapolis to Billings, Montana, then a five-hour drive to the funeral home. That was to be followed by a 90-minute drive to Chance's hometown.)

I was concerned about leaving him overnight in the Minneapolis cargo area. My 10-minute ride from the tarmac to the cargo holding area eased my apprehension; just as in Philadelphia, the cargo guys in Minneapolis were extremely respectful and seemed honored to do their part. While talking with them, I learned that the cargo supervisor for Northwest Airlines at the airport is a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve. They called him for me and let me talk to him.

Once I was satisfied that all would be okay for the night, I asked one of the cargo crew if he would take me back to the terminal so that I could catch my hotel's shuttle. Instead, he drove me straight to the hotel himself. At the hotel, the lieutenant colonel called me and said he would personally pick me up in the morning and bring me back to the cargo area. Before leaving the airport, I had told the cargo crew that I wanted to come back to the cargo area in the morning rather than go straight to the passenger terminal. I felt bad for leaving Chance and wanted to see the shipping container where I had left it for the night.

The next morning, the lieutenant colonel drove me to the airport, and I was met again by a man from the cargo crew and escorted down to the tarmac. The pilot of the plane joined me as I waited for them to bring Chance from the cargo area. The pilot and I talked about his service in the Air Force and how he missed it.

I saluted as Chance was moved up the conveyor and onto the plane. It would be a while before the luggage was loaded, so the pilot took me up to board the plane where I could watch the tarmac from a window. With no other passengers yet on board, I talked with the flight attendants and one of the cargo guys. He had been in the Navy and one of the attendants had been in the Air Force. Everywhere I went, people were telling me about their relationship to the military. After all the baggage was aboard, I went back down to the tarmac, inspected the cargo bay, and watched them secure the door.

When we arrived at Billings, I was again the first off the plane. The funeral director had driven five hours up from Riverton, Wyoming, to meet us. He shook my hand as if I had personally lost a brother.

We moved Chance to a secluded cargo area, and it was now time for me to remove the shipping container and drape the flag over the casket. I had predicted that this would choke me up, but I found I was more concerned with proper flag etiquette than the solemnity of the moment. Once the flag was in place, I stood by and saluted as Chance was loaded onto the van from the funeral home. I picked up my rental car and followed Chance for five hours until we reached Riverton. During the long trip I imagined how my meeting with Chance's parents would go. I was very nervous about that.

When we finally arrived at the funeral home, I had my first face-to-face meeting with the casualty assistance call officer (CACO). It had been his duty to inform the family of Chance's death, and I knew he had been through a difficult week.

Inside I gave the funeral director some of the paperwork from Dover and discussed the plan for the next day. The service was to be at 1400 in the high school gymnasium up in Dubois, population about 900, some 90 miles away. Eventually, we had covered everything. The CACO had some items that the family wanted inserted into the casket, and I felt I needed to inspect Chance's uniform to ensure everything was proper. Although it was going to be a closed-casket funeral, I still wanted to make certain his uniform was squared away.

Earlier in the day I wasn't sure how I'd handle this moment. Suddenly, the casket was open and I got my first look at Chance Phelps. His uniform was immaculate — a tribute to the professionalism of the Marines at Dover. I noticed that he wore six ribbons over his marksmanship badge; the senior one was his Purple Heart. I had been in the Corps for more than 17 years, including a combat tour, and was wearing eight ribbons. This private first class, with less than a year in the Corps, had already earned six.

The next morning, I wore my dress blues and followed the hearse for the trip up to Dubois. This was the most difficult leg of our trip for me. I was bracing for the moment when I would meet his parents and hoping I would find the right words as I presented them with Chance's personal effects. We got to the high school gym about four hours before the service was to begin. The gym floor was covered with folding chairs neatly lined in rows.

There were a few townspeople making final preparations when I stood next to the hearse and saluted as Chance was moved out of the hearse and into the gym. A Marine sergeant, the command representative from Chance's battalion, met me inside. His eyes were watery as he relieved me of watching Chance so that I could go eat lunch and find my hotel.

At the restaurant, the table had a flyer announcing Chance's service. Dubois High School gym, two o'clock. It also said that the family would be accepting donations so that they could buy flak vests to send to troops in Iraq.

I drove back to the gym at a quarter after one. I could have walked; you could walk to just about anywhere in Dubois in 10 minutes. I wanted to find a quiet room where I could take Chance's things out of their pouch and untangle the chain of the Saint Christopher medal from the dog-tag chains and arrange everything before his parents came in. I had twice before removed the items from the pouch to ensure they were all there — even though there was no possibility anything could have fallen out. Each time, the two chains had been quite intertwined. I didn't want to be fumbling around trying to separate them in front of his parents. Our meeting, however, didn’t go as expected.

I practically bumped into Chance's stepmom accidentally and our introductions began in the noisy hallway outside the gym. In short order I met Chance's stepmom and father, followed by his stepdad and, at last, his mom. I didn't know how to express to these people my sympathy for their loss and my gratitude for their sacrifice. Now, however, they were repeatedly thanking me for bringing their son home and for my service. I was humbled beyond words.

I told them that I had some of Chance's things and asked if we could try to find a quiet place. The five of us ended up in what appeared to be a computer lab — not what I had envisioned for this occasion. After we had arranged five chairs around a small table, I told them about our trip. I told them how, at every step, Chance was treated with respect, dignity, and honor. I told them about the staff at Dover and all the folks at Northwest Airlines. I tried to convey how the entire nation, from Dover to Philadelphia, to Minneapolis, to Billings and Riverton expressed grief and sympathy over their loss.

Finally, it was time to open the pouch. The first item I happened to pull out was Chance's large watch. It was still set to Baghdad time. Next were the lanyard and the wooden cross. Then the dog tags and the Saint Christopher medal. This time the chains were not tangled. Once all of his items were laid out on the table, I told his mom that I had one other item to give them. I retrieved the flight attendant’s crucifix from my pocket and told its story. I set that on the table and excused myself. When I next saw Chance's mom, she was wearing the crucifix on her lapel.

By 1400 most of the seats on the gym floor were filled and people were finding seats in the fixed bleachers high above the gym floor. There were a surprising number of people in military uniform. Many Marines had come up from Salt Lake City. Men from various VFW posts and the Marine Corps League occupied multiple rows of folding chairs. It turned out that Chance's sister, a petty officer in the Navy, worked for a rear admiral — the chief of naval intelligence — at the Pentagon. The admiral had brought many of the sailors on his staff with him to Dubois to pay respects to Chance and to support his sister. After a few songs and some words from a Navy chaplain, the admiral took the microphone and told us how Chance had died.

Chance was an artillery cannoneer and his unit was acting as provisional military police outside of Baghdad. Chance had volunteered to man a .50caliber machine gun in the turret of the leading vehicle in a convoy. The convoy came under intense fie but Chance stayed true to his post and returned fie with the big gun, covering the rest of the convoy, until he was fatally wounded.

After the admiral spoke, the commander of the local VFW post read some of the letters Chance had written home. In letters to his mom, he talked of the mosquitoes and the heat. In letters to his stepfather, he told of the dangers of convoy operations and of receiving fire.

The service was a fitting tribute to this hero. When it was over, we stood as the casket was wheeled out with the family following. The casket was placed onto a horse-drawn carriage for the mile-long trip from the gym, down the main street, then up the steep hill to the cemetery. I stood alone and saluted as the carriage departed the high school. I found my car and joined Chance's convoy.

All along the route, people had lined the street and were waving small American flags. The flags that were otherwise posted were all at half-staff. For the last quarter-mile up the hill, local Boy Scouts, spaced about 20 feet apart, all in uniform, held large flags. At the foot of the hill, I could look up and back and see how enormous the procession was. I wondered how many people would be at this funeral if it were in, say, Detroit or Los Angeles — probably not as many as were here in little Dubois, Wyoming.

The carriage stopped about 15 yards from the grave, and the military pallbearers and the family waited until the men of the VFW and Marine Corps league were formed up and the school buses had arrived, carrying many of the people from the procession route. Once the entire crowd was in place, the pallbearers came to attention and began to remove the casket from the caisson. As I had done all week, I came to attention and executed a slow ceremonial salute as Chance was being transferred from one mode of transport to another.

From Dover to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Billings, Billings to Riverton, and Riverton to Dubois, we had been together. Now, as I watched them carry him the final 15 yards, I was choking up. I felt that, as long as he was still moving, he was somehow still alive. Then they placed him at his grave. He had stopped moving.
Although my mission had been officially complete once I turned him over to the funeral director at the Billings airport, it was his placement at his grave that really concluded the mission in my mind. Now he was home to stay and I suddenly felt at once sad, relieved, and useless.

The chaplain said some words that I couldn't hear and two Marines removed the flag from the casket and slowly folded it for presentation to his mother. When the ceremony was over, Chance's father placed a ribbon from his service in Vietnam on Chance's casket. His mother removed something from her blouse and put it on the casket. I later saw that it was the flight attendant's crucifix. Eventually friends of Chance's moved closer to the grave. A young man put a can of Copenhagen on the casket and many others left flowers.

Finally, we all went back to the gym for a reception. There was enough food to feed the entire population for a few days. In one corner of the gym there was a table set up with lots of pictures of Chance and some of his sports awards. People were continually approaching me and the other Marines to thank us for our service. Almost all of them had some story to tell about their connection to the military. About an hour into the reception, I had the impression that every man in Wyoming had, at one time or another, been in the service.

It seemed like every time I saw Chance's mom, she was hugging a different well-wisher. After a few hours at the gym, I went back to the hotel to change out of my dress blues. The local VFW post had invited everyone over to "celebrate Chance's life." The post was on the other end of town from my hotel, and the drive took less than two minutes. The crowd was somewhat smaller than earlier at the gym but the place was packed.

The largest room in the post was a banquet/dining/dancing area and it was now being renamed "The Chance Phelps Room." Above the entry were two items: a large portrait of Chance in his dress blues and a wooden carving of the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor, the Marine Corps emblem. In one corner of the room there was another memorial to Chance. There were candles burning around another picture of him in his blues. On the table surrounding his photo were his Purple Heart citation and his Purple Heart medal. Above it all was a television that was playing a photomontage of Chance's life from small boy to proud Marine.

As had been happening all day, indeed all week, people were thanking me for bringing Chance home. I talked with the men who had handled the horses and horse-drawn carriage and learned that they had worked through the night to groom and prepare the horses for Chance's last ride. They were all very grateful that they were able to contribute.

After a while we all gathered in the Chance Phelps Room for the formal dedication. The post commander told us of how Chance had been so looking forward to becoming a life member of the VFW. Now, in the Chance Phelps Room of the Dubois, Wyoming, post, he would be an eternal member. We all raised our beers and the room was christened.

Later, a staff sergeant from the reserve unit in Salt Lake grabbed me and said, "Sir, you gotta hear this." There were two other Marines with him and he told the younger one, a lance corporal, to tell me his story. The staff sergeant said the lance corporal was normally too shy to tell it, but now he'd had enough beer to overcome his usual modesty. As the lance corporal started to talk, an older man joined our circle. He wore a baseball cap that indicated that he had been with the 1st Marine Division in Korea. Earlier in the evening, he had told me about one of his former commanding officers, a Colonel Puller.

So, there I was, standing in a circle with three Marines recently returned from fighting with the 1st Marine Division in Iraq and one not-so-recently returned from fighting with the 1st Marine Division in Korea. I, who had fought with the 1st Marine Division in Kuwait, was about to gain a new insight into our Corps. At that moment, in this circle of current and former Marines, the differences in our ages and ranks dissipated — we were all simply Marines. The young lance corporal began to tell us his story.

His squad had been on a patrol through a city street. They had taken small-arms fire and had literally dodged a rocket-propelled grenade that sailed between two Marines. At one point they received fire from behind a wall and had neutralized the sniper with a SMAW (shoulder-launched multipurpose assault weapon) round. The back blast of the SMAW, however, kicked up a substantial rock that hammered the lance corporal in the thigh, missing his groin only because he had reflexively turned his body sideways at the shot.

Their squad had suffered some wounded and was receiving more sniper fire when suddenly he was hit in the head by an AK-47 round. I was stunned as he told us how he felt like a baseball bat had been slammed into his head.

He had spun around and fallen unconscious. When he came to, he had a severe scalp wound but his Kevlar helmet had saved his life. He continued with his unit for a few days before realizing he was suffering the effects of a severe concussion.

The staff sergeant finished the story. He told how this lance corporal had begged and pleaded with the battalion surgeon to let him stay with his unit. In the end, the doctor said there was just no way; he had suffered a severe and traumatic head wound and would have to be medevac'd.

The Marine Corps is a special fraternity. There are moments when we are reminded of this. Interestingly, those moments don't always happen at awards ceremonies or in dress blues at Birthday Balls. I have found, rather, that they occur at unexpected times and places — next to a loaded moving van at Camp Lejeune's base housing, in a dirty tent in northern Saudi Arabia, and in a smoky VFW post in western Wyoming.

After the story was done, the lance corporal stepped over to the old man, put his arm over the man's shoulder, and told him that he, the Korean War vet, was his hero. The two of them stood there with their arms over each other's shoulders, and we were all silent for a moment. When they let go, I told the lance corporal that there were recruits down on the yellow footprints tonight who would soon be learning his story.

I was finished drinking beer and telling stories. I found Chance's father and shook his hand one more time. Chance's mom had already left, and I deeply regretted not being able to tell her goodbye.

I left Dubois in the morning before sunrise for my long drive back to Billings. It had been my honor to take Chance Phelps to his final post. Now he is on the high ground overlooking his town.

I miss him.

So

The weekend was really fun. Saturday I helped a friend move which is the nightmare of being a friend, helping a friend move. But it turned out to be the easiest move in the history of moving. He had packed all of his stuff into a pod and had the pod shipped to his new house, so basically we unloaded the pod. There were 5 people total and I think it took, 40 minutes tops. It was sweet. It was also great because I got to see my friends brother whom I haven't seen for a while, so Scott and I had some great laughs while working. After the quick move I went home and sat in the garage and listened to the Twins game on the radio and had lunch. I have this strange new obsession with sitting in my garage and listening to baseball games on the radio. It is a little odd. But it was a fun time.

Saturday night Melissa and I tired a new restaurant that is right down the street from us. Ramy's, it is a pizzeria/Mediterranean food place and it is awesome in every way. The food is fantastic. I had a gyro, and Melissa and Chicken kabobs, rice and a Greek salad. We took home a piece of Tiramisu which was a huge piece for $2.50 and it was just awesome. The guys whom own the place are super cool and it was really dang good. We went back last night to try their pizza. Had a Margherita Pizza which was also just excellent... I highly recommend this place.

Sunday we did our first ride and BBQ of the season at Murphy. The ride was fun. Melissa and I were both riding our single speeds, so we just puttered a long and enjoyed being outside on the trail. After we all gathered around and grilled lunch and hung out and enjoyed the sun. It was a great day.

I am hoping this week goes by fast, Melissa and I are leaving for Las Vegas this weekend and I can't wait. I haven't been there in so long, I am excited to go... In-N-Out burger. Yummy.

Not to horribly much going on. But let me re-cap. I have been out riding more and my riding chi is coming back. Last night I rode Lebanon which was just a blast. I was on my single speed 29'er which I have a new found love for and it was just a great ride. I ended up riding by myself which was fine. I went at my own pace and did my own thing. Lebanon is in awesome shape. The new obstacles are really fun, I was able to ride the new log ride last night, it was great, so much fun. I am going to ride again on Sunday I think, sounds like the weather is going to be a little shaky the next couple of days. So yeah biking chi is back...

Also Melissa and I are going to Maui. We have a vacation planned for July to the Ritz-Carlton at Kapalua. I can't wait. We were originally going to do Yellowstone and Jackson Hole, but I found a killer deal for Maui so we decided to go while we had the time and the extra cash laying around. We are planning on relaxing on the beach for 8 days. I am going to go surfing, snorkeling, mountain biking, kayaking and I think we are going to get a dive in as well. Should be a blast. I think I might be able to cross at least one or two things off the life to do list as well. Sweet!

No plans for the weekend really, besides maybe riding. I slept terrible last night so I am really tired today. I was going to go to the Twins game tonight but I think I am just going to go home and fire up the grill and listen to it on the radio.

Also I was just thinking Vegas is right around the corner as well. I can't wait to get back there. That is going to be a fun weekend of relaxing, shopping and eating In n Out burger.

Double double please...

Sorry

So I am sorry I have been away for a while. Not much is going on really. I have been out riding a few times. Nothing really exciting there at all. Rode over at Lebanon Hills twice. Once with my friend Jodi and a couple other people and once by myself. They were both fine rides, but I am just not in the spirit of riding at all this year, so it really wasn't a very exciting ride. Hopefully that will pass and I will get more in the mood but as of right now I have no desire. I have more desire to go and ride my skateboard which is a little scary but at least it is fun to me. I have been out skating a lot, both around my house and at the local skate parks. It is slowly coming back to me so it is getting fun again. Sure there are going to be a ton of tricks that I could do in my teens that I can't do now but I guess that is to be expected. It is still fun to get out there and give it a go again.

In other news, Melissa and I are going to Las Vegas, I am really excited. We are going for Memorial Day weekend. We are going for 4 nights and are staying at Mandalay Bay. I can't wait to get out there. It has been a long time since I was in Vegas and it is going to be great. We have a few things planned, In N Out burger daily, swimming in the awesome pool that Mandalay has and relaxing. We are also going to go to a Vegas 51's baseball game. We have great flights both there and back so it will rule. YEAH!!!

The Twins are playing pretty good baseball so far this season. I have been to a few games and they have all been really fun. I have been to 3 games they won 2 and lost 1. But both games I have seen them won have been awesome. Come from behind wins late in the game. Those are always the best. People leave early and miss the best baseball. I always laugh to myself.

Big Winners

So last night at the Twins game Melissa and I were sitting in our seats and I was getting my scorecard ready just like I do at every game and a guy in a Metrodome outfit came up to us and said "Do you guys like these seats?" We said, "Yes they were our season ticket seats." He said, "would you like to move to seats behind home plate?" We both said, "yes." and he said, "congratulations, that we were the Majestic Fans of the game." It was pretty cool, besides the upgraded seats, we both got a Twins t-shirt and they showed us on the score board. We went from our seats in 227 row 9 which is just to the third base side of home plate in the upper deck to section 125 row 29 which was right behind home plate on the lower deck. It was pretty cool. I love our seats a lot but it was fun to sit behind the dish. The best thing about sitting down there was you could really hear the crack of the bat. You can of course hear it where we sit, but it sounds so much better from down there. So that was really cool. The game was good, the Twins lost but there were some great plays and lots of hits so it was a fun game to score. It was fun to sit in those seats, I would never pay that kind of dough but it was fun. I am a firm believer that the real fans sit up in the upper decks on the 1st or 3rd base lines because you can see the play develop better up there. But that is just my opinion. My next game is this coming Friday. Should be a fun one as well.

In other news I got my skateboard out a few times this past weekend. It was fun to ride it again. I was happy to see that I could still ride it, the trick part will hopefully come back since I don't quite have my balance back, but at least I can still ride. I am planning on getting out maybe tonight for a bit after work. I have to get a part for my board and am thinking about do that right after work.

Melissa and I are trying to plan a Memorial Day weekend get away. We are thinking of heading to Las Vegas, but I am not sure. I love Vegas so we will see what happens. The idea of 3 days of In-N-Out Burger might be to much to pass up.

Baseball is here...

Happy Baseball Opener. Tis a great day indeed. Another baseball season is here. I am looking forward to the season this year. Melissa and I once again have our 20 game season ticket package for the Twins and it looks like they might be a pretty ok team again. I am a little worried about the pitching staff but other then that it should be a fun year. Tonight is the opener for them, our first game is tomorrow. Should be a fun night.

In other news, this is my least favorite time of year. I call it mud season. The ground is wet, snow is melting, lots of rain, lots of mud. In fact we had some snow this past weekend so we had to start the melting process all over again. I would say we saw about an inch and half of very heavy wet snow at our house. The flakes were huge and it was fun to watch it snow, but at the same time it was very bittersweet, thinking to myself this would probably be the last snow for the season around my house. (sigh)

Also this is the time that I watch the resorts out west start to close down for the year. March proved to be an epic month for the resorts I pay attention to, 12-14 feet of snow at almost all of the ones that I care about. Looks like it was another excellent year snow wise for my favorite places. The first one to close for the year ended it season yesterday, Jackson Hole closed after received a little over 11' of snow in March and closed being 100% open, hmmm I wonder how that sits with the hard cores at JH...

I still have no interest in riding my bikes. Melissa is really looking forward to getting on her new road bike and it looks like it is going to be really nice by the end of the week, so it looks like there might be a ride in my future. To be honest at this time I could care a less...

So Painful

See this is why I really need to move west, I get powder alerts from all over the country. At 930 this morning I got hit with them, this is snowfall in the past 24 hours:

Snowbird, Utah - 18" 100% open
Alta, Utah - 21" 100% open
Jackson Hole, Wyoming - 21" 100% open
Grand Targhee, Wyoming - 14" 100% open
Bridger Bowl, Montana - 13" 100% open

Compared to:

Lutsen,Minnesota - 0" - barely hanging on...
Welch Village, Minnesota - Closed for the season
Afton Alps, Minnesota - Closed for the season
Buck Hill, Minnesota - Closed for the season

Not Much Going On

Not to much has been going on lately. Things are quiet. I hate this time of year, snow is gone here so skiing is over and the trails are still to wet to bike on. I believe in Montana they call this mud season. Here in Minnesota I call it boring season. I think the thing that is hardest for me is the fact that the ski resorts out west are just getting hammered with snow still. I am just not ready for skiing to be done. Yes call it a sick obsession. Oh well at least I know what I like. I still have no interest in riding my bikes. I am not sure how much riding I am even going to do this year. Melissa got a really nice road bike, we picked it up yesterday, so I am guessing she is going to want to do a ton of road riding. I like to ride with her so looks like I might be logging some time on my road bike as well versus my mountain bikes. But as of right now I have no interest in riding either.

I am however looking forward to getting out and doing some camping this spring and summer. Melissa and I have a couple of ideas for camping trips so hopefully that will come off. Our main trip this summer is hopefully going to be a trip to Yellowstone and to Jackson Hole, I haven't been to Yellowstone in about 25 years so I am really looking forward to getting back there. I am hoping to get some hiking, and fly fishing in while we are out there. I will have more details on that trip as it gets closer.

Life Adventure List

So I have had a few requests to publish my list of 68 things that I want to do before I die. I am hesitant to do so because it is a silly list of things that have meaning and are important to me, so the list will not mean the same to you. But I guess at the same time it brings you a little closer to how my crazy mind works. I wrote this list 2 and a half years ago at The Tea Garden on Grand Ave in St. Paul. It is in no particular order and was not set up for ease of completion. Enjoy:

1. Heli-ski
2. Learn how to Surf
3. Drink a Guinness in Dublin
4. Ski Liberty Bowl,Big Sky Montana ---- DONE
5. Ski Wardance,Big Sky Montana ---- DONE
6. Backpack in Glacier National Park
7. Canoe trip in the BWCA
8. Hike the Inca trail to Macchu Picchu Peru
9. Camp on the beach in Maine
10. See the Sistine Chapel, Rome
11. Eurorail Trip
12. Ski Marx Bowl, Big Sky Montana
13. Bordeaux tasting trip in Bordeaux France
14. Ski Castro Bowl, Big Sky Montana
15. Go to The Burning Man Festival
16. Camp in Yosemite National Park
17. Climb the stairs at Half Dome at Yosemite National Park
18. Paint at Devils Tower
19. Road trip to Memphis to see Graceland
20. Road trip to Louisville to the Baseball bat factory
21. Take the Amtrak to Seattle
22. Camp in Alaska
23. Ski Big Couloir, Big Sky Montana
24. Hot Spring Bath in Iceland
25. Trek in Greenland
26. Antarctic Cruise
27. Ski in the Southern Hemisphere
28. Scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef
29. Have Tea in Nepal
30. Trek to the Everest Base Camp
31. Camp at Zion National Park
32. Go look for Area 51
33. Take a road trip with no plans
34. Climb Bear Butte in South Dakota
35. Camp beneath The Grand Teton
36. Ski Jackson Hole
37. Have Lobster in Maine
38. Go Bone Fishing in the Caribbean
39. Catch a Green Cutthroat Trout in Colorado ---- DONE
40. Mountain bike at Whistler Bike Park
41. Road bike tour of Napa Valley wine country
42. Ski the North snow field, Moonlight Basin Montana
43. Camp at the bottom of the Grand Canyon
44. Boogie Board in Hawaii
45. See an active Volcano
46. Go storm chasing for tornados
47. See the Last Supper painting
48. See the Leaning Tower of Piza
49. Ski Rendezvous Bowl, Jackson Hole
50. Backcountry Ski in Jackson Hole
51. Winter Camp
52. Take an Avalanche Safety course
53. Live out of my car for a week on a vacation.
54. Sleep under the stars with no tent.
55. Go bouldering in Joshua Tree
56. Eat at Cliff Bar above 11,000 feet ---- DONE
57. Stand at the gate of Auschwitz, Poland
58. Camp at Arches National Park Utah
59. Circle tour of Lake Superior
60. Go Bass fishing in Florida'
61. Ride a century
62. See the Giant Redwoods in Sequoia Park
63. Walk on the Great Wall of China
64. Play Golf at Pebble Beach
65. Visit in Banff
66. Watch Soccer live in England
67. See the Normandy Beaches, France
68. Ride Slickrock Trail, Moab Utah

Life Lists...

So this past weekend I did end up going to the Welch Village ski patrol tryouts. There was an informational meeting and then you did a ski tryout. The informational meeting was great and it was a bummer for me at the same time. After listening to the meeting I decided not to ski because there was no way that I would be able to dedicate the kind of time that they were asking for. I was really bummed, I really wanted to be a patroller, but it would have become my life starting next fall and not ending till April of next year. The training process is very intense and that is fine but it is a huge time commitment. A huge one, the first aid class is 2 nights a week starting in September for 4-5 hours a night and runs for 3 months. Then after Welch opens for skiing you are required to patrol one shift a week and then you have to be there every Saturday for 12 weeks for on slope training. That is what killed it for me. The first aid class would be great and I would have no issues or problems with that. But 12 Saturdays in the winter means that I don’t do anything but ski at Welch all winter. No trips and that idea doesn’t fly with me and it is not fair to Melissa. I also started thinking, that even though being a patroller would be great, I wonder if it would begin to turn skiing into a job and ruin it for me. That I don’t want that at all. I love skiing and I never want it to feel like a chore. So I spoke with one of the guys running the tryout, told him my position and said that I was withdrawing my name. He understood, seemed disappointed, as was I but understood. I drove home bummed out. Oh well…

The weather has changed here, it went from winter to spring in a couple days, the temps have been in the 50’s and today there is a chance at 60… That will pretty much spell doom for skiing around here. The snow is melting fast and I am sad about it, but I guess that is the way it goes. There are things that I am looking forward to for the summer. I really want to do some camping again this summer and Melissa and I have talked about some long weeks out and about camping so that should be fun. I also want to do some indoor rock climbing at Vertical Endeavors this summer. I used to do a lot of climbing a few years ago but got out of it and I would like to do it again. Also I guess I will ride my bikes some this year as well.

In other news, I have a life goal list of 68 things that I want to do before I die. I made this list about 2 years ago and I look at it every month or so, I was able to cross 2 more things off of it after my trip to Big Sky. I skied the runs Liberty Bowl and Wardance. With that my total of life adventures is currently at 63… Man I need more vacation time.

Once again

Well once again I have been reminded that my timing sucks. A few things this week have reminded me of that, one and probably the most important one at this point in life is the fact that 36 hours after I leave Lutsen they get about a foot of fresh snow. UGH! Just once I would like to be there when Lutsen has a real powder day. The skiing on Sunday was so bad, that knowing that I missed the fresh snow is like twisting the knife, covered in salt, wrapped in a rag soaked in rubbing alcohol in an open wound about 3 inches deep. But such is life. Well I guess there is nothing I can do. Mean while just to add to the torture of Eric, the resorts out west are getting hammered with late winter powder. Remind me again why I live here? Oh ah because I have to be a responsible adult and work full time. That's right. (sucks)

I am still about 90% sure I am going to tryout for the Welch Village ski patrol for next season. The tryouts are this coming Saturday and I am pretty sure I am going to go and check it out.

I am headed back to school... Yeah! I have been taking classes here and there trying to finish some kind of a degree the past few years and I am going to try to get more serious about it. I am going to take 2 summer classes and then possibly 2 fall classes. The fall classes depend on whether or not I make the ski patrol, if I do then I will only take 1 class because the patrol training is a fairly big time commitment. Stay tuned for more on that. But I have the classes mapped out and I am ready to register.

I have been having a great time catching up with old friends on facebook. That is a really fun website. It seems to me that more people my age are using it now which is very cool. A lot of my old high school first are out there so that is fun.

More later.

Well

Unfortunately it is very possible that the ski season at Lutsen might be over. Melissa and I were up there this weekend and the skiing was pretty bad. Or lets just say got worse and worse as the day went on. Saturday was the better of the 2 days. We skied our favorite runs on Eagle and then spent most of the day over on Moose. It was pretty good over there, with the south facing slopes and a warm winter sun there was some good corn snow to ski in. So Melissa and I spent the day looking around Moose for good snow and did find some. I took a bad fall on Saturday, I am not even really sure what happened but one minute I was cruising a long and the next minute my right leg flew out from under me and down I went. I pulled my calf muscle pretty bad, it is still sore today. I could hardly walk Saturday, but didn't have that much trouble skiing so my fall didn't completely ruin my weekend. We had a nice dinner at Papa Charlie's that night and then went back to our room and sat in our hot tub. All in all not a bad day...

Sunday we awoke to cloudy skies and what looked like snow clouds moving in. So I thought maybe we would get lucky and have some nice fresh snow to play on. No such luck. We went out and discovered nothing but ice with a very thin layer of crystallized crap on the top and it was a very thin layer at that. We did however manage to find good snow and very little ice on Split Rock, Upper Chris's Couloir and Lower Cliff Run. So we spent a lot of time on those runs. We did make a trip to Moose to check out things over there and found conditions to be really bad, so we did about 4 runs sat in the chalet had a little lunch and then headed back to Eagle for a few more runs before calling it a day and heading home. I really want to go back up once more but if the conditions were like they were on Sunday there is no way I am going to bother. Hopefully Lutsen will get a least one more good snowfall and we can go up and finish on a good note.

I am always kind of bummed out at this time of year. As skiing here in Minnesota is quickly dying other places are still getting great snow and lots of it. So it is bitter sweet for me. I have to happy for my brothers and sisters out west choking on powder, but I don't have to like it.

Ramblings

Well my skateboard arrived and it looks pretty cool. I am looking forward to riding it. There is still snow on the ground and the streets and sidewalks are mostly still wet so I am going to have to wait a while before giving it a go but it won't be long.

Melissa and I are headed back to Lutsen for the weekend. I am guessing this may be our last trip up there for the year. I would like to sneak one more in but I am not sure that it is going to work out. But you never know.

Mini Medical school is awesome. I am taking a 5 week lecture course at the University of Minnesota. it is called New Frontiers in Medicine and so far it has been unbelievably interesting. The course cost me $75 and so far it is worth every penny. I am really enjoying it and learning a lot of very interesting things.

I am about 90% sure I am going to tryout to be a Welch Village ski patroller for next season. The meeting and ski try out is next Saturday March 14th. I think it might be a fun way to get some extra skiing and learn some new skills. I get really nervous about things like this so hopefully I won't chicken out and not go, because I really want to do it. Wish me luck.

Other than that not much going on. I am thinking of going back to school to finish some kind of degree. I am really starting to feel that I was really stupid for not going to school... It might just be the beginning of my mid life crisis... I am going to look at Porsche's tonight after work.

Lutsen

Melissa and I spent this past weekend up in Lutsen skiing. It turned out to be one of the best weekends up there condition wise that I can remember. Lutsen got about 11" of snow this past week and there was a lot of untracked lines left when we hit the slopes on Saturday morning. We stayed slope side so we walked out of our room and clicked in right on Bridge run and made our way down to Bridge chair. Once to the top we headed down Manitou and found George's run COVERED in fresh snow. Moguls and powder, some of the best turns I have ever had at Lutsen then transpired. I kept thinking, there is no way this can be Lutsen... The snow is so soft and light and fluffy and perfect, any minute I am going to wake up. Nope it was real and it was all over the mountain. The Lutsen grommers did something they don't do very often, they did not groom every square inch of groomable area and left some natural lines. This was awesome and I have already sent my email to them giving them kudos for doing so. Anyway after George's we skied Chris's Couloir which was in the best shape ever, eerily soft corduroy and a nice steep line = Eric happy... I was having a blast powering around the mountain. It was hard getting my Minnesota legs back after 5 days of skiing powder in Montana, but eventually everything came back and Lutsen was rocking... We did all of our favorite runs on Eagle mountain, Chris's Couloir, George's, Cliff, Split Rock, and Raven. After working the north face we headed to Expert's Cutoff which unfortunately the upper portion had been scrapped clean and a lot of grass and rock was showing so the first 15' were a little dicey not to ruin your skis, but the rest of the run was great. I love Experts Cutoff, it is a fun run with a good line and it is kind of hidden so it is not skied a lot. After Experts we headed to Moose to hit the trees. There was a huge ski race going on this weekend, so once we got to Moose we pretty much said ok one tree run and we are outta here. Moose was packed. Bummer. But the tree runs Red Fox to Bears Den turned out to be awesome. Good snow, good coverage and very little ice. Rare indeed, but awesome. After the trees we went and had some lunch at Papa Charlies. After a nice lunch we went and made some turns on the runs on Ullr mountain. I skied Big Bunny, which is the bunny hill, I love skiing that run, it is always a fun cruise and it is the first real ski run I ever skied so there is a certain sentimental thing there as well. After a few runs on Ullr we headed over to Mystery mountain and skied Maple Glade and then headed back to Eagle Mountain and finished our day with Split Rock and the upper chutes of Chris’s Couloir , Cliff and George’s run. What a great day. Skiing fresh snow at Lutsen is really fun and pretty rare; I never get lucky so this was a great day.

After a great night sleep we got up and headed out for our last day at Lusten for the weekend. Sunday turned out to be a great day as well. The races were still going on over on Moose so we stuck to Eagle, Ullr and Mystery Mountains. The skiing was still pretty good, but the fresh snow firmed up a bit but the corduroy was still nice and soft, we started our day skiing upper and lower KooKoo and then moved on to Manitou to Chris’s Couloir which was even softer Sunday then it was Saturday. Thinking back the only run we didn’t ski on Eagle was Hari Kari… Hmmm I under how I missed that. Oh well, next time. We made our way around skiing all of our favorite runs, we had to cut the day short because we had some stuff to do at home so we left about 1:30pm, but even with the shorten day it was still great.

We had a great weekend up in Lutsen and are going to head back next weekend to give it a go once again.

Tonight I have my mini-medical school class. I am looking forward to that, it should be great. I really enjoyed last week and it sounds like this week is going to be very interesting.

Otherwise this will be another week at work looking for a way to retire in the mountains…

So

Since I don't have enough things in my life already that could cause me to break my leg, I decided to buy a skateboard. When I was "younger" I used to skate a lot maybe I should say everyday since that would be more accurate. I was a huge skater in high school and even into my early 20's. And to be completely honest I miss it. It was so fun to cruise around on a skateboard, the feeling of sidewalk surfing is just really the best. So I bought one. Skateboards have changed quite a bit since I bought my last one but I still recognized a lot of the names and remembered how to put one together, so I got it and I think it is going to be pretty sweet. I ordered it on line and it will be here on March 2nd or 3rd. I found out that Eagan has a little outdoor skate park which is about 5 miles from my house so I am going to check that out a little bit this summer. I know I can still ollie so that is good. I usually borrow one of the neighborhood kids skates once a year and see if I can still do it. I can. So I just need to get my balance back and remember the fundamentals. I think it will be fun. I like my new board and I am very interested to give it a try again.

In other news I am going skiing tonight. I am meeting my friend Bryan down at Welch right after work. Hopefully the conditions will be good. It has been warm and the snow is pretty crusty, but I am hoping for the best. It looks like we are going to get a huge storm tomorrow. They are talking 8" of freshies. Hmmm powder night at Welch? Might have too...

Also I am about 90% sure I am going to tryout for the ski patrol at Welch for next season. Welch has a try out day on Saturday March 14th. Sounds like they have a meeting and then a ski test. I suppose they just want to make sure that you can actually ski. I hate that kind of stuff. I get nervous. But I think I am going to give it a try. Would be a good way to ski for free and to both help and yell at people. Could be fun.

It is very hard being back. Melissa and I have back to back weekends at Lutsen coming up so that will be awesome. I am looking forward to getting up there. We are spending one weekend up on the mountain at a ski in ski out place and the other will be down at the Cliff Dweller, which Melissa and I both like. So after all of that skiing in Minnesota will pretty much be done, unless of course we get some more snow... I will hope for the best.

Big Sky Recap

So I am having a very hard time getting back into the swing of things here at home. We got back from Big Sky late Friday night, which I guess was good because that gave us, Saturday, Sunday and Monday to recover and mentally prepare for returning to work... Looks like I needed another couple weeks because I am back at work but my mind is still in the mountains.

Let me just say that this ski trip was the best ever. Big Sky is an amazing place and I love it there. I feel that I come alive in the mountains and that is the place that I need to be. I wish, I wish, I wish. We made it out there in one piece, the drive was long but it was easy and it seemed to go by quickly. We made it to Billings MT, the first night which was our goal, which meant we had 2 days to make it the final 170 miles to Big Sky. We got a good night sleep in Billings and headed out fairly early on Saturday morning and headed to Bozeman. We made it to Bozeman and had the day to bum around and look around the town. We browsed in the shops and had lunch downtown. Then we headed up to Bridger Bowl and looked around there. The night before they had gotten 6 inches of powder so it was cool to see all of the skiers enjoying the fresh powder. Saturday night we enjoyed dinner from the Pita Pit, which is a place that Melissa and I had the last time we were out there. Awesome food, big filling Pita sandwiches. It was great way to end the evening in Bozeman.

My goals for this trip were as follows. 1. To ski an expert run out west, I have never officially skied a double black diamond out west so that was a goal. 2. To ski Liberty Bowl, which is a run from the summit of Lone Mountain, and also the route to ski the longest run at Big Sky, which from the summit back to the base area is 6.3 miles. 3. To ski the run Wardance, which is a single black diamond mind game that has trees and avalanche fences on the run. It is a run that you can see from the road up the mountain and it is ugly looking, I told myself the last time I was out there that I would ski it the next time I was in Big Sky, so 2 years later this would hopefully be the year.

Sunday started pretty early, it was going to be our first ski day. We had breakfast and made the 39 mile drive from Bozeman to Big Sky. We decided to start the trip out with a warm up day at Moonlight Basin. Moonlight is on the north face of Lone Mountain while Big Sky the big brother is on the south face. I love Moonlight, it is just beautiful and while it wasn't snowing like I had hoped for my first day it was an amazing blue bird day. We arrived at Moonlight and once again like 2 years before found a basically empty parking lot. Unbelievable considering the weather and fact that it was a Sunday. We got ready and headed for the lifts. We jumped on Six Shooter and headed up. The views were beautiful of the mountain. Crystal clear day, not a cloud in the sky. The trees had snow on them and everything was perfect. We chose an easy cruiser for our first run. The snow was perfect, nice and soft. God I love skiing on real snow like that, it makes everything so much easier. We did some nice runs and then decided to step it up a bit. We decided to try to head into Stillwater bowl. You have to take a traverse into the bowl off of Lone Tree triple, which turned out to be interesting… We took the low traverse instead of the high traverse like we should have and end up short of the bowl but instead on the run Obsidian. A very steep run that runs into a choke that is about 30-40’ wide and is in the 35-40 degree range. It turned out to be excellent. And it was a double black! I made it down in one piece, not the prettiest skiing in the world, but I was able to ski 90% of the run. The only part I had trouble with was the choke, I had to go sideways through that, the rock walls on the sides through me off a bit and I had a hard time making turns. Again it was all a mind game, it was wide enough to turn, but the high rock walls were throwing me off. But once through that I was fine and back to making good powder turns, the whole time with a big smile on my face. Melissa had a bad fall on that run, she wasn’t hurt but I think it scared her pretty badly. She fell and slid head first down about 60-75’ of the run. But she was tough and made it out the bottom in one piece, but I don’t think I could have talked her into skiing Obsidian again… The rest of the day at Moonlight was excellent, we did a great tree run called Old Faithful which I really enjoyed, we found some good snow in there, it was tight and twisty and made you think about your line before making the turns. The day ended and it was amazing. First ski day in the books.

Monday we woke to snow falling. It was great. The sky was cloudy and the flakes were large and fluffy. I knew it was going to be a good day. We arrived at Big Sky, got ready, got our tickets and headed up the mountain. I had made the decision that I was going to go straight to the tram and head up to Liberty Bowl right away or I thought I would chicken out. After 2 lifts, I saw that there was no line for the tram so I had no excuse. I headed down toward the tram took off my skis and got right on the first available tram. The peak was covered in clouds which I think helped me a bit. I am not a big lover of heights and I thought that might make the tram ride a bit easier for me. But I don’t think it mattered, the tram turned out to be awesome. Such a relaxing and beautiful ride to the top. I was a little bummed that it was cloudy because the view was incredible even for what I could see through the clouds. Once to the top I followed the other passengers to make it look like I knew what I was doing, I put on my skis and looked for the signs and saw the way to Liberty Bowl. It was amazing, by the time I was on my way into the bowl the clouds had set in and the visibility was really bad. The clouds made for some challenging skiing for sure. I found the entrance to the bowl and started down, a couple turns into my run, I saw some posts with bright green dots on them, I laughed because I thought of Whitefish and how they have the same thing to mark the center of the run in foggy or cloudy conditions, so I felt more at home and knew that as long as I stayed close to the posts and looked for the next one I would not fall of the mountain. The snow was awesome up there, nice and fluffy and deep! There were areas in Liberty bowl where the snow was a good 12 – 14 inches deep. My Mantras were getting their first real work out. Nice deep powder and lots of it. I continued down Liberty Bowl and about halfway down the clouds cleared a bit or maybe I just got under them a little more and the whole bowl opened up for my viewing pleasure. I couldn’t see much in the way of views around the mountain but I had a great view of the lower portion of the bowl and could now see more of where I had just been. At that point I had the biggest damn smile on my face. Even though it is not the same I am sure, I started to understand a little more what the big mountain riders must feel. I felt like a pro, cruising down this huge run on the side of the mountain, working perfect powder turns, stopping every once and a while just to check on my progress and enjoy the views. I made it down Liberty Bowl and entered the bottom portion of the run called Screaming Left which would take me to Middle Road and back to the mall. Well I didn’t cut Screaming Left high enough and was to low to make it back without riding another lift. But it turned out fine; I took the run Sunlight back to the Shedhorn lift. I rode that back to the top the whole while happy with myself for crossing off another goal, well at least part of it, I skied from the top of the mountain. I knew I would do it at least once more before the end of the day and I knew where to go, so I knew that I could officially cross off my other goal, skiing the longest run at Big Sky. Anyway I made it back to the base area and met back up with Melissa. She asked how it was and the only thing I could say was, “Amazing” I told her that she had to come up with me and that we would do it together, it was incredible. It was a beautiful ski run and it was so fun to ski from the top. She agreed and off we went to the tram. Once again there was no line and we got pretty much right on and headed up. The clouds were a little thicker and it was snowing when we got off and clicked in. I showed Melissa where to go and she was gone, she skied Liberty Bowl like a champ, she powered down it in what seemed like no time at all. We made it into Screaming Left and this time did it right. We made it to Middle Road and skied the 6 miles back to the base area. WOW what a run. My legs were tired but it was great. Melissa called it a mountain tour, and she is right, you completely wrap around the entire mountain. It was just awesome. We stopped and had lunch. Then I realized that I had skied almost 9,000 vertical feet in just 2 runs! Nice! After lunch we took it easy on some nice groomers on Andesite mountain. Deep South turned out once again to be just an awesome run. There was lots of fresh untracked powder over there, it had snow pretty hard the whole day up until early afternoon when the clouds started to break, but the little snow storm left us lots of freshies to play in. We also found great snow on Elk Park Meadows. What a day… Ski day 2 down.

Tuesday we awoke to more snow falling, it was snowing pretty hard and stayed that way all day. Today was the day that I was going to ski Wardance. We headed up the mountain and did a couple of warm up runs before I headed over to the entrance to Wardance. I looked in and decided to go for it. The entrance is a great glade filled with lots of powder and some small pine trees. It was great skiing and a lot of fun. Then I got to where Wardance takes hold. The fences were cool to see from up close, but the run was a lot wider then it looked from the road a thousand feet down. So I smiled to myself thinking, another skiing mind game. Although Wardance was not as bad as it looked from the road, it was a not gimme for me either, there were lots of little pine trees that always seemed to be in my way. But I was able to navigate my way around them and get some good turns in on the steeper tight terrain that was Wardance. I stopped every once and a while and took some pictures of the run. It was snowing, the view was great and it was a fun run, what more could you ask for. I got to the bottom of Wardance and thought to myself, I did it, I double checked quick to make sure that I was still alive and had all of my parts… Which I did, so I did indeed do it.

Let’s see, in 3 days, I skied my first out west double black diamond, I skied from the top of Lone Mountain, I skied Wardance, and it was snowing like hell outside, what more could you ask for. I headed back to the lift and went back to meet Melissa who decided to sit Wardance out, we met back at the Chalet and had some lunch. After lunch we headed back out and up to The Bowl. The Bowl was awesome, good snow and lots of it. I managed to find (which isn’t too hard at Big Sky) some untracked powder and pretty much had a full line of untracked powder to myself, it was heavenly. The snow was so soft and was nice and deep in a few spots. It ruled. We lapped the bowl a couple times and then headed down; we decided to try the run Crazy Horse which is an intermediate run that would take us back to the base lifts. Holy crap was that the right choice. The whole run was powder and nice powder too! The edges were deep and I was getting knee and thigh shots the whole way down. It was the best powder skiing I have ever done and the best part was it was a blue run on the lower part of the mountain. It was so awesome. Being a Midwestern kid, I don’t get to ski very much powder so this was like heaven for me. Feeling the snow hit me in the upper part of the legs was incredible and I kept thinking what it would be like to ski in deeper snow and get chest and face shots. I can’t even imagine how awesome that would be, but I was in heaven with feeling the snow hit me in the knees and thighs. I was happy with that! I can see how people get addicted to skiing powder; there is nothing else like it on earth. We lapped Crazy Horse a couple times and each time we found deep snow and untracked lines. Again my Mantra’s were earning there keep, man I love my skis I just floated through the powder and made nice turns with ease. After a couple runs on Crazy Horse it was time to call it a day. Wow another awesome day at Big Sky.

Wednesday was my birthday and it was snowing when we left to head to Moonlight Basin. We decide to take a break from Big Sky and ski Moonlight one more time before the end of the week. It was snowing hard once again at Moonlight and as usual the place was empty. There were like 20 cars in the parking lot when we got there a little before 10am. We headed right up Six Shooter and went looking for powder. We found some good snow on Powder River, the edges were really good and there were some deep lines. I love the cruisers on the left side of the mountain. And this year was no different, Cinnabar and Wagon Trail while green runs are so much fun! You can just relax and carve some nice turns the whole way down the mountain. And the scenery is just awesome, the houses along the runs and the trees covered in snow just make for a magically experience. We lapped those cruisers a few times before heading in to warm up and have some lunch. While eating lunch I was looking at the trail map trying to figure out some new runs to try and a Moonlight Ski Patroller asked me if I had any questions about the map. I thought that was awesome and asked where should we go? Where is the best snow? He didn’t even hesitate and said ski the trees! He said the runs Single Jack and Double Jack were holding some excellent snow and that they were really fun runs. So we finished our lunch and headed out, he was right. Those were some excellent runs, lots of good snow in there. The trees were spread out enough that you could get some speed in there and not worry too much about killing yourself by hitting a tree. We made lots of good powder turns in there and stopped every once and a while to enjoy being in the trees and just how quiet everything is in the mountains. I thought that if you listened carefully you could actually hear the snowflakes landing. It was amazing! We skied the trees for the rest of the day. Single and Double Jack turned out to be the best just like the patroller had said, but we also skied Ulery’s Trace to Trapline which I really liked it was a little steeper and a little tighter. The snow was good on those runs as well. Skiing in the trees at Moonlight reminded me a lot of our trip to Whitefish last year. We skied in the trees a ton there and had a blast. Moonlight was the same way. The trees were really fun. What an excellent birthday. It snowed all day; we made some excellent turns and had a blast doing it. Ski day four was in the books.

That night Melissa and I went out for my birthday, we had a nice dinner and reflected on our trip up to that point it was great. It turned out to be an excellent day.

Thursday which would be our last day, we awoke to sunny skies. We skied Big Sky on our last day and thought that with the light cloud cover that it might be fun to check out Liberty Bowl and the views from the summit of Lone Mountain. We headed right for the tram. And needless to say it was breath taking up there. The views are incredible. It was just beautiful in every direction. I took about 20 pictures on the summit and then we dropped into the bowl and started our run. I stopped about every 3 or 4 turns just because the views were amazing. I took more pictures and then would continue on. During my run I had the weirdest revelation. I sat down in the snow and snapped some photos and thought to myself, holy crap, I am sitting on the side of a mountain in this beautiful place. I felt so small all of a sudden. But at the same time I have never felt anything like that before in my life. It was such a weird feeling. I sat there for a few minutes and drank the whole experience in. I looked all around and then got up and continued down the bowl. There was lots of great snow; I found lots of untracked powder to ski in so once again I had a smile the entire way down Liberty Bowl. Once at the bottom I stopped for some more photos and thought to myself, Liberty Bowl has got to be the most beautiful ski run in the US. I would be interested to see if the ski magazines had a poll as to the most beautiful run in the US what would win. Granted I haven’t skied a lot of different runs out west but out of the ones that I have skied Liberty was just breath taking in every way and would have my vote for the most beautiful ski run. It was an experience that I will never forget. I can’t wait to get back there and ski it again. After Liberty Bowl we mostly took it easy for the rest of the day, we skied our favorite groomers and just enjoyed the last few hours of our ski vacation.

The 15 hour drive home was filled with quiet memories of the runs that I did and Melissa and I did together. I love to share my time with her on the slopes. Skiing is something that we learned how to do together and it is something that I share with her and it is always special whether up at Lutsen or out west in the big mountains. My friends keep telling me that I have to try some other resorts out west which of course is true, but it is hard to leave Montana. The skiing is awesome, the vibe is unbelievably cool and there is no such thing as a lift line and it is such a beautiful place. Even though it is great for me I just don’t understand why more people have not discovered Big Sky… But like I said that is fine with me. The crowds can stay other places.

Once again this trip reaffirmed my love for the mountains. I am a mountain man in a flatlander’s body. I come alive out there and I love every minute that I am out in the mountains. But most of all I love to ski and I mean I love it. I would ski everyday if I could. I watch the storms move in and out of the west and track snow falls and smile when I think about the lucky skiers at the resort that just got dumped on that are having fun skiing in all of that powder. Someday that will be me. And because of that love, I ski here in Minnesota on the ice, the whole while dreaming of that nice soft powder, hoping that these icy lines here are making me a stronger skier for when I get there. I can’t be a fair weather skier. I can’t ski 5 days a year at some resort in the west where conditions are almost always good and call myself a skier. I have to take my lumps here in and ski on the 300 vertical foot hills of Minnesota. But all in all it doesn’t matter, skiing is skiing to me, it is always fun no matter what. I love it here as much I love it there. They are just different kinds of skiing. Now I have to get back to weather watching, Snowbird got 22” last night and Mammoth got 27” lucky people!