Heading Back Home...Prematurely

Let's just say that we are not happy today. After a wonderful day in the northern Yellowstone area we received a weird email last night from TH. He wanted to see the "video of Houdini Cooper"...weird. After numerous phone calls we find that we must return home today.

It appears that there will be no more ski bumming for us this winter. Our crazy dog has decided he is the next Houdini and managed to escape both his crate and our friends' house. After a trip down to the swamp he went home where CH rescued him. Thank you CH for cleaning him up and keeping him safe.

We are not happy about this and had been looking forward to the Bridgers skiing with friends. Now we will be driving from Big Sky country back home...it's going to be a very long trip home. Very long and very quiet since neither of us is in any mood to talk.

Now for the Unusual...Poker & Skiing?

Today we woke to a few more inches of fresh snow and quite a bit more in the forecast. We decided that we'd rather ski/board tomorrow in a foot of snow so we took off for the Snowy Range just to drive around. The road out of Laramie wasn't so bad...snow blew across & you could tell that 'whiteout conditions' would not be too hard to imagine. As we drove we realized that we weren't the only ones heading out of town. An whole group of cars, SUV's & trucks were all lined up behind us...most unusual.

It would seem as if today was the day for the infamous "Murf the Surf’s Cross Country Ski Poker Run Benefit". The town of Centennial's population of 100 rose by 500 more people and untold numbers of dogs. What a sight! People in various outfits from standard ski wear, tutus, even a guy sporting buffalo hide. The dogs came prepared in their own outfits right down to their doggie booties. We're pretty sure that alcohol was the drink of choice. Why else would these people load themselves, their dogs and equipment into various shuttles that consisted of an old pickup truck and an enclosed box truck. We passed one such truck heavily laden as it weaved back & forth up the snow covered mountain road. Scary. Not sure the box truck was such a good choice for the ride up the mountain either.

Overall it looked like a fun way to spend a snowy Saturday in Laramie...should have broken out the snowshoes and given it a go. On second thought riding in those trucks looked kind of scary.

*truck photo by Andy Carpenean/Boomerang photographer from last year's event.

News from Colorado

A quick note since because we could lose the wireless signal in a matter of seconds...that has made it difficult to post anything. We've spent the last 3 days in Silverthorne, Co which is about 9 miles west of where we've been skiing & boarding. Actually we've spent far more time on the boards these past 3 days...never thought that would happen did ya?

A few pictures have been taken and once we have a better signal we'll be able to upload them so everyone can see where & what we've been doing above the tree line. Tomorrow we head once again to Laramie,. WY...more snowshoeing than boarding while we are there.

Stay tuned for some beautiful pictures!

On the Road Again

Tomorrow we head off on our Western journey once again. Stay tuned for the adventure...probably won't travel near as far as last year, but you just never know where the powder will fall.

First up a visit to Roanoke & Blacksburg to visit with the family then off towards Colorado by way of I-81...stay tuned!