Shaw Girl Happenings

Friday morning Rebecca and Molly meet us at the house and we all took off for 49 Degrees North. Rebecca announced that she had a new name for Molly, namely "Slow or Stopped". Seems like we're always waiting for Molly, but in reality, it was Katie who we waited for before we could drive off. Katie was poking around, getting her things in order in no particular hurry, while Daddy muttered away with impatience. I looked at him, and calmly said "Katie is our Molly", and everyone smiled and relaxed. We drove off, just 15 minutes behind our schedule. We do like to hit the slopes early.

49 Degrees North is in Chewelah, Washington, about on the 49th parallel, near the Canadian border. The summit, Chewelah Peak, is 5774 ft with a vertical drop of 1851 ft. Dad's got a season pass here. Cost him about $70 for the season. Last year, it was our favorite place to ski. This year, not our favorite. Only half the chairs were running, and the grooming was sub par. Although we did have another beautiful sunshiny blue sky day! Near the end of the day, all of us, including Daddy, headed for this supposedly blue groomer which none of us had ever skied. All started out well, nicely groomed and scenic, then the vertical ran out. We had to skate up the hill. By this time, if we had turned back, we would have had to climb the other way. The trail finally turned back down the mountain, but the grooming ran out. We were dealing with heavy powder, accented with granite and logs. Not good for 85 year-old legs. After maneuvering through this, we ended up on a gentle downward slope that ran over a mile, and then dumped us into the main bowl. After that run, we all called it a day and headed home.

Ahh, dinner! Pasta with shrimp and sauteed portabellas, salad, and a yogurt, fruit, chocolate parfait, all fat and sugar free. My mom's unbelievable. Then we all were ushered to the TV room to watch the Gonzaga Bulldog basketball game. Mother had a running commentary throughout the game. "He's a brute!" and "Look at his skinny legs, I don't think he's eating enough." So much fun!






This tree is an icon of Ullr, the prehistoric god of skiing. If you ring his bell, you will return to the mountains to ski another day. This is Matthew in '08.

Labels: food, Katie, Molly, Rebecca, skiing

Katie and I sure had a great trip out west to ski with Grandpa! Traveling out was a bit hairy, and a strange route to be sure. South to DC, west to Seattle, east to Spokane. Hot coffee spilled in my lap somewhere over the mid-west, and since I was boxed in between Katie and some huge guy who took his seat and half of mine, the coffee just settled into me and burned my skin. When we finally hit Spokane, 13 hours after we started, I smelled like sour milk (from the cream in my coffee), my thighs and belly stung with every movement, and I was not a happy camper. Somehow, our skis and boots got to Spokane 4 hours before we did. As soon as we hit the house, exchanged our hugs and hellos, I stripped off my smelly jeans, put on my pajama bottoms, and helped myself to Daddy's bourbon. Since he can't drink anymore, I figured I'd help him out by cleaning out the liquor cabinet, one drink at a time.



Even though skiing in the western Rockies with my 85 year-old father was the emphasis of the trip, my mother's cooking was the real highlight. That night, we enjoyed a roasted turkey breast, sweet potato fries, salad, and a blueberry cake for dessert. All of my mother's cooking is fat-free and sugar free, but it's hard to believe. One taste, and your eyes close, your taste buds tingle and you "mmmm" with delight. Katie and I didn't last long that first evening, and soon headed to bed. Katie got to sleep in my old 4 poster bed, which she thought was very comfy.



In the morning, we met up with Molly and Rebecca and headed over to Silver Mountain in Kellogg, Idaho. Our favorite run was on the Wardner Peak at 6200 feet. We traversed across this slope (i.e. cliff) on this tiny track until we reached "Meadows" an innocent enough sounding bowl with a warning sign of "experts only, ski at your own risk, death may occur." An ungroomed trail, with mogals everywhere, plus a few chunks of granite and trees thrown in for good measure, fell before us. Before we started, Katie and Molly struck a "heroic pose" to gear us up for the descent. It took us a good 1/2 hour to ski it down, as it was so long, but the effort was worth it, and the skiing was thrilling. That evening for dinner, Mother served us lamb stew with mashed potatoes, and bread pudding for dessert. So delicious, and again fat-free and sugar-free. Heaven. Early to bed again!Katie and Daddy on Silver's gondola and Rebecca & Molly, sporting tams, on gondola

Labels: food, Katie, Molly, Rebecca, skiing, Spokane