Huckleberry You!
Wednesday, Feb. 08, 2006 at 9:20 a.m.
Well, we made it back from the snows of Idaho!
Oh, sorry, I just have to do this.
Idaho? IDAHO?? No, you daho.
You know what I like about cold places? Everyone�s wearing so much stuff that we all look very fluffy. Here�s a snap of myself and Hubster during our ski lesson:
Aren�t we cute??? I found those jackets at Goodwill for $3.50 each. And yes, mine is utterly colorful, but if I was going to slide down a mountain on slippery sleds strapped to my feet, I sure as hell wanted to be found in a snowdrift. We had a lot of fun both this day and the day we snowboarded. In fact, Hubster enjoyed snowboarding so much he went back for another lesson, and now we have a winter hobby. If only it would freakin snow in northern AZ!!
I know it looks like I�m holding on to Hubster for dear life, but at the time, I was having severe difficulties exiting the ski lift. Like everytime I attempted to do so, my feet went out from under me and I landed flat on my back and cracked my head on the snowpack. After about the 6th time, I was a little woozy!
We had wonderful weather most of the time we were there. Mostly overcast with powdery snowfall, but no wind. Only one day did we have rain, and that was the day we went to visit a wild elk herd via haywagon. What we didn�t realize was that the elk really like hay:
Actually, this is a project by ranchers in the area to protect their ranches as well as the elk after hunting season. By feeding them hay, it keeps the elk from raiding rancher�s barns and keeps them healthy for the next hunting season. The cow next to me was not satisfied with eating the hay I was sitting on and wanted the stuff in the middle of the wagon. She also kept sniffing my face to make sure I wasn�t hay. I guess I�m keeping my affinity for hoofed animals. And see that scarf I�m wearing? I knitted that!!
Here is one of the three bulls that were in the area:
He was right up next to Hubster and getting mighty close with those antlers. This bull has a special classification due to the number of points on his antlers, but I can�t remember what all they were.
And here are my in-laws, married 51 years:
Aren�t they cute?? We actually got the FIL to go skiing with us that one day. He said his skis were way too slippery. One thing I realized about skiing is that you have a lot more velocity when you�re heavy like me. I was schussing at breakneck speed down that bunny slope. At least I didn�t knock over any little kids though.
The main reason for going to McCall at this time of year was for the Winter Carnival, which culminates in an ice-carving contest which is apparently quite the competition. This is one of the pieces in progress:
It turned out to be an Egyptian-themed statue with Horus, I think. There was also a very nice statue of Thumper, a wizard on a motorcycle, and a satyr playing pipes.
Like I said, there was lots of snow. How much? Check out the snow load on the roof of our resort:
That�s one of my BILs on the left. Hubster and he had this odd sort of contest to see how many little snowmen they could build on the roofs of each other�s cars. And here�s an icicle guaranteed to put someone�s eye out:
Oh, we had so much fun. I am so snowboarding again. Perhaps I will someday master the art of exiting the ski lift!