No matter how much I think life is going to slow down coming up soon, it just never seems to. While we left our work-stay in Sandy, Marmot House, we thought we would gain a lot more free time, but that hasn’t seemed to be the case.

While we were sad to leave Arehn and Jim, who we had grown to be close with during our time at Marmot House, we were excited to be closer to work and enjoying the lack of a commute. We had a great going away dinner with them, and are already excited to stop by when we’re back in the area. We’ve been staying in the SkiBowl parking lot, while spending our last week at work before headed to Colorado for a little while. Being in the parking lot has been great, except for the lack of winter sun in the PNW. When we get off work all we have is a short walk before being home, and it has made balancing schedules and getting to bed at a decent hour so much easier. It has been a little bit louder not being in the forest, but not needing to turn the truck on for days at a time makes up for it.

With the change in location solar hasn’t quite been getting it done in terms of power here. We have been able to keep enough charge to keep the heater running at a balmy 45 degrees, which makes us very thankful for our 20 pound space heater (Sunny) that sleeps under the blankets with us. Cooking also helps us get some more heat. We also managed to bump the cargo light when we got here, and realized we had a dead battery many days later. Luckily, AAA is very helpful in this area and showed right up to give us a jump!

Although our location has been slightly different, our day to day has been the same. We’ve been working our normal schedules at SkiBowl, and I’ve continued to edit videos for Stella, who has started her Calendar Year Triple Crown attempt, making my job with her much busier. Besides that I’ve been trying to get out on morning walks on the Mirror Lake Trail, which is attached to the SkiBowl parking lot. It’s a beautiful walk in the woods and some great alone time for the day. I’ve been knitting more and more, having made two scarves, five hats, and a cowl since I picked up knitting in December (not including my first piece that somewhat resembled a scarf).

We’re so grateful for the experience we gained here this winter. We learned so much from Arehn and Jim about caring for an old growth forest, and how to use the land to the most of it’s ability. I’ve learned so much in patrol, from running toboggans to avalanche training. We’ve both made some amazing friends that we’re sad to leave for the summer. The Mount Hood area is gorgeous, and while I’m excited for our upcoming trip, I’m also excited to come back to finish out the season.

Today we head out to Silverton, where we’ll spend a couple weeks snowboarding, exploring, visiting with family and friends and doing a whole bunch of things that fill our cups up. I’m excited to be on the road again, forgetting how much I love road trips after being so stationary for so many months. I’m also excited to use my passenger seat time to knit, the true reason I picked it up. Anyways, that’s about all for now! Stay tuned to hear about Silverton soon!

Life Doesn’t Slow Down

Stationary at SkiBowl