Winter

The winter season was pretty subdued. In fact, it was so mellow that it felt abnormal. Being that a lot has actually happen; here is a briefing to catch you up to speed, cause things are about to get back to normal.

The months of November through February were pretty standard. We went to work, came home for dinner, went out occasionally, and caught up on sleep on the weekends. Being in a new town with limited friends is a tricky ordeal, especially when your favorite outside activities getkyboshed by a freak ice storm. I was able to run enough to train for the Orcas race, so that was nice. A fellow Meadows employee, Ryan, liked running as well so we got to go on road adventures. Aside from running though, I didn’t do much outside activity. It’s an easy sport to do without planning, or without beta from friends… so I stuck with that.

Then the month of March went from 0-60 in no time. Pat went to Crystal Mountain with Ben for Patroller training. Ben’s wife Katie and I drove up to join the guys a few days later and we all got to ride some fun, steep terrain. The next weekend, a storm was hitting Mt Baker two days before it was going to hit Mt. Hood, so we packed up last minute and made the drive north. We were awarded with some 5+ feet of snow in two days. It was awesome and exactly what we’d hoped would happen. Really, and this isn’t an exaggeration, it was chest deep. Then we returned home and got to ski more powder the following week.

All this activity was followed by St. Patrick’s Day weekend. That Friday, my Mom came to town. At the same time, Pat’s sister Annie drove in and many of Pat’s friends from school visited as well. Trying to figure out how to coordinate time and that many people was not easy, especially since I am not good with organizing those things. It proved to be a good weekend, and everyone was happy. It was great to have my Mom around and I think she really liked Hood River. We walked around through town, did some shopping, and hung out. Unfortunately, I had a medical procedure done that same week, so I was a bit uptight and snappy at times, but I think everyone understood. My Mom left on a Thursday and the following Sunday I had planned to run the Gorge 50K.

Like a whirlwind, the Gorge race was followed by our last two days of work and then us packing up and moving to Nebraska for a few months. Our road trip will be about 1800 miles. It will take four days to get to Omaha, visiting Bridget, Chris and Corinne in McCall, and then staying with Becka and Teal in Laramie, WY. Crazy? Yeah, I know. Maybe this last month is making up for all of the