Moose Alley

You may recall that last year Elvis ripped up Sugarloaf. This year we met up with her again along with some friends for a weekend filled with sunshine, warm weather, puppies and skiing.

After the morning drop off we took a short hike down the Golden Road before dropping deep into Brackett Basin. 

Elvis hit up Mountain Magic for the day to work on her skiing and have fun with friends before showing off her skills by visiting her friend Amos's house on Moose Alley off off Whiffletree.

It was a beautiful day to hit up the mountain and I'm pretty sure that a good time was had by all. 

I even managed to get a bit of knitting done in the warm sunshine. This doesn't happen often- knitting outside in the warm sunshine on Timberline. First off, it's the east coast- a sunny warm ski day is to be treasured. It means getting out of bed early to walk the pups so you can still get on the hill at a decent hour and not lingering over the Bag Burger at lunch time... even if it is so much better now that they offer gluten free buns that really just makes the Gucci burger. 

We were able to squeeze a lot of good times in and were pretty exhausted by the end of the weekend. We missed our cousins by one weekend but thankfully they had sent along photos of the crew regrouping at the Bag over lunch so we got to live vicariously through text messages. 

Of course Elvis went home with new knitwear from Aunt K8 Knits... 

for more photos from the weekend click here

Colby Rips the 'Loaf

 Last year Dave and I trekked to Summit County for some ski time with the Frisco 5, this year it just wasn't in the cards as the 5 hour drive has become a 40 hour adventure but we did get to have Colby join in on the fun and become a Sugarloafer.

He even got a Sugarloaf handknitted hat to mark the occasion. Although he sported this red helmet for his time on the slopes.

We also got to enjoy the company of Keith who made the trek north from Beantown for a weekend of fun upta camp. 

And ended the night in true campchaos fashion with a small campfire.

Valley Adventures and Spring Meltdowns

A few weeks ago I enjoyed a great tromp through the woods with the pups in the early afternoon sunshine.

It was a beautiful Winter day and the pups relished in the early March sunshine and snow. The sun was just right and hitting their golden fur to make highlights that even Bliss couldn't achieve.

Chaos dreams of summer swimming while Mayhem eats a bit of snow.

And I enjoyed my new pink hat that I had knitted out of a fat ball of Rasta by Malabrigo.

It's true knitting has trumped blogging this year... by a lot. At some point I'll have to do a project rundown of the hats, sweaters, socks and other worsted goodies that have flown off my needles but today's all about meltdowns...
This weekend temps crept higher and the snow softened...

we enjoyed some time on the hill with this guy...

and this gal...

in the warm spring sunshine. Then a funny thing happened- temperatures didn't drop back to normal but kept creeping higher.  We pulled out a few pairs of shorts and sported them with our mud boots for an afternoon walk in the sunshine.

And realized that we could have worn chacos.

The pups didn't mind and went for a swim in the river.

Today I wore my chacos everywhere.... I walked in the woods and through a melting iceberg.

The water that skimmed the iceberg on the trail was almost warm and the air felt like an afternoon in June. At no point did I regret my shoe choice as I skimmed along the trail over dry ground, mud, ice and hardpack snow. I should have- this is March in New England. Water on top of melting ice should be COLD. The air temperature should have turned my toes bright red and shot pain through them. But it didn't. I was warm in my shorts, t-shirt and Chacos on a shady trail at 5:30pm in March. 

Another great day for playing ball and enjoying golden hues dancing in the sunshine. It's bittersweet, winter was short as was the snowfall and while we're enjoying this odd weather it's not ideal for a ski resort.

Anyone wanna go play in the river soon? I hear the boating is great and the bike trails are gonna be drying like spilled water in the Sahara.

Elvis goes to Mountain Magic at Sugarloaf

A few weeks ago my brother, Virg, came over to visit us along with his 5 year old daughter, Elvis. Virg hasn't skied in at least 6 years and was pumped to be back out on the slopes. They arrived to camp chaos on Friday night and we got Elvis suited up in a helmet and goggles for her day on Saturday.

Elvis jumped ski school for the day where she joined Coach Emily and other 5 year old never-ever skiers and mastered the art of slidding downhill and stopping. The program is called Mountain Magic and it certainly describes how the day went for Elvis. We skied by a few times during the day and it was obvious that she was having a blast with her Coach and teammates. After we picked her up at the end of the day we took a few laps on the Birches with her so she could show off her new skills. It was obvious from the look on her face as she clicked into her bindings that a skier had been made that day at Sugarloaf.

Elvis also got to watch me finish her pink sweater...

and enjoyed sledding around camp chaos with her furry cousins...

Adventures in winter wonderland

I'm happy to report that winter is in full swing here in Carrabassett Valley. While that means I now also have to shovel the driveway again I consider it a fair trade to be able to play in the snow.
This morning I dropped Dave off at work while temperatures hovered around the 10 degree mark. It's not really that cold but I wasn't feeling the need to rip at 35mph downhill so I headed north on 27 to Flagstaff Lake with my little furry buddies. 

We ventured out to Myer's Beach and enjoyed a great walk through the woods to the frozen lake. It was a good Chaos sized walk to the beach- about 15 minutes and we then enjoyed some time enjoying the sunshine that streamed over the backside of the Bigelow Mountain Range.

Mayhem even took a quick moment to enjoy the stillness of the morning at the lake. But just one moment... little dog doesn't stay still for long.

I bribed him with the promise of the tennis ball to capture another view on the frozen tundra. The lake was beautiful and we did see a few snowmobiles enjoying some playtime too. The lake had a false stillness, if I waited long enough and if the pups were quiet enough then we could hear the movements of the ice forming below us.

The last month has looked a bit like this (cue photo montage)




In the last month we moved everything into storage, drove to Maine and back, moved things out of storage and into new place, spent time with friends, played with the puppies and got married.

Phew...

gondola cabin #38

we camped out thursday night at the woods lake campsite. I had a late afternoon meeting that ran into the evening so dave drove out and set up camp while chaos scouted the area. We drove out after the meeting in a rain storm that never really let up. Although it was a sweet site we hung in the tent and watched Into the Wild on the ipod touch. There's something about a rainy night that makes me love this movie.
We awoke the next morning to more rain. Mornings are usually sunny but it was pouring. Chaos and I ventured out of the tent for a short walk and were drenched. we left camp set up trying to be optimistic that we would be back for another drier evening with friends that night and headed in for breakfast at the Blue Jay.
We headed into town and met Jess at the Farmers Market to pick up some cheeses and other goodies for that evening. the plan had been to have our friends camp out with us on friday night to celebrate my birthday but the rain changed our plan and we invited them to the house for dinner instead.
We headed up the gondola with Jess and all ventured out at the top to enjoy the break in the sky. Jess headed down to Mountain Village while Dave and I caught cabin #38 back to Telluride and the 4runner. He asked if I wanted my birthday present then handed me a bubblegum machine ring. I took it out and asked what it meant. After I put on the black glass ring he pulled out the real ring. The Bigelow Range are the mountains that our camp bordered and that are best viewed from Sugarloaf. While we were back east this spring Dave had called Liz, the designer, about the ring. Liz has a great line of jewelry and was eager to make Dave a ring. They worked on the details and the ring arrived last monday in telluride. I love those mountains and it is a great symbol for us.
our friends came over for dinner and no one noticed the small detail... we had been pretty adamant that we were on the 10 year program that his older brothers had followed so he caught pretty much everyone off guard. I guess last birthday's kitchen aid mixer had to be topped somehow!

We spent the weekend having fun with friends, attending a wine tasting and a Citizen Cope concert and spreading news. Thank goodness for facebook and the blog or else we would have killed our cell minutes for the month! Tonight we had ice cream in the famous kitchen aid ice cream attachment and enjoyed a quiet night after a busy weekend.

No details have been decided but stay tuned. Any ideas for a fun event.... must include one fabulous golden retriever....

a little drive....

so for off season i thought i would use up some vacation time and go for a little drive. We left Telluride two weeks ago and ended up back in maine. Dave came along for the first part of the trip and we went bouldering on our drive in Kansas, stopped in MA to see his parents and visit Fenway then hit Sugarloaf for some Reggae and time with good friends at sno dundah. Dave flew home then i hit the road with chaos to visit family in northern maine then will head to south carolina in a few days before making the drive west again.



Here's a little video of Elvis and Chaos playing this morning at a park in the county (super northern maine). My brother has a pretty sweet computer hookup and last night I played Elvis some videos of her cousins in Asia.

Yeah Wescott!

So our Sugarloaf buddy had a fine showing here at the Jeep King of the Mountain Race here in Telluride. Seth took home the silver and had fun doing it. We had a nice crew of sugarloaf exiles on the finishline cheering him on. At first Dave & I took the banner to the start and Seth was in the gate along with 3 others.

We yelled "go wescott" but he was in race mode and tuning out the world. Someone saw our banner and yelled "Sugarloaf" and Wescott broke his trance and looked around and spotted us and pumped his fist in the air. We then moved to the finish to watch the rest of the heats and cheer him on.

A Telluride Day

So how is life in telluride different from sugarloaf? There's a few things that stand out- some good, some bad and some just different.

First, we can go a month without driving and still go places. That's a hard thing to do- especially in the original camp chaos location.

Rent is 3 times higher. Groceries and other stuff cost more too.

Chaos goes to work in my office. It helps to pay for his dog food and treats. He also goes to the bank and shops in some stores too. He rides the Gondola like a pro but does love to bark and chase them given the chance.

The terrain is different. I would do bad things for a run on Narrow Gauge or Tote Road right now. There has been a lot more snow and a lot less rain. There's also more opportunity to play in the trees here.

There's some good open space out behind our house but gone are the days of letting Chaos out on his own. He's more apt to play in the road or chase elk here. This is bad on frigid days and great on bluebird days.

Mu-nee Kitty gets bath time just like Chaos!

She's one grumpy wet kitty. We're also working on the relationship between the cat and the dog... I am still determined that they will be buddies! Progress is good... she now sleeps in the dog's house on his bed as he tends to sleep on our bed.

We can ride the gondola to the grocery store instead of driving 5 miles. The store also has produce that is fresh and looks good. This was not a strong point at Fodder's Market.

We pick up a lot of dog poop.

Most things can be access by the gondola. Sometimes it's a pain but great for a night on the town and no one has to be a DD. In fact they have a safe ride home program that runs after the G closes for the nights we feel we may need to close a joint down.

I can now say I've had the best truffles ever-Telluride Truffles made right here in town.

We have more that 3 restaurants and bars- over 40 places to get a bite to eat here! There's even international cuisine like thai, chinese, mexican and italian. We do miss Bag burgers, D'Elies sandwiches and Gepetto's but it's hard to complain with so many options.

We don't have to wear 15 layers to go outside in January. We're down to 10 on a bad day and that's the only time we wear scarfs!

Our people aren't here. We're meeting people but good friends take time to cultivate.