Now that I’m back, I feel comfortable sharing that I spent most of last week away. Regular readers have no doubt already guessed that I was at my home-away-from-home on Schweitzer Mountain in Idaho. Since this makes two years in a row, I guess it’s my new Christmas tradition. Mr. Karen took the few days before Christmas to drive out there, while I, with my slightly less generous holiday and vacation time, flew out Christmas Day. On the flight from Detroit to Seattle, there was actually an empty seat next to me, so I sat Sock Monkey there for a while. What the lady in the window seat thought of that, I do not know. She was probably just happy that Monkey was not hogging the armrest. I had a long layover and then got on the little plane to Spokane, on which there were no empty seats but there was very excited little boy in front of me. Listening to him talking to his mom kept me quite entertained, like when she asked him what they were going to say to Grandma and Grandpa when they got to the airport, and he replied, “We saw snow from the plane!” I think she was going for “Merry Christmas”, but I liked the boy’s answer better.

I did have to do some work while I was up on the mountain, but fortunately the internet in the condo was functioning properly from the start this trip, so I was able to do what I needed to do from the comfort of my own couch. We didn’t get nearly as much snow this trip as last Christmas, but we did get some, and compared to many other resorts this season, Schweitzer is in great shape. The low points weather wise for the week were one night of rain and one day of wind so bad half the lifts were closed, but you gotta expect stuff like that when you do an outdoor sport. For a holiday week, crowds weren’t bad at all; we did run into a few lift lines some days, though mostly they weren’t bad, and there’s enough terrain that once people are off the lift they get spread out pretty good. On our last ski day, which came after about 5 inches of snow fell overnight, I had some runs entirely to myself—no one above me, no one below, just me and the slope and the snow. It was wonderful!

On this date in 2011: Sock Monkey Goes on a Ski Trip
2010: Ombre Nails
2009: Evidently I’m a Graver
2008: New Year, New Socks
2007: No entry
2006: I’m All Out of Love
2005: Bargains
2004: No entry
2003: No entry