Snow is on a lot of our minds after this past weekend's storm.
Not all will agree, but it seems to me that the best way to get through the winter in the "North Country" is to simply embrace it, summoning up that inner child (health permitting) to go play in the snow, either on the slopes or just out on cross-country trails. In Vermont, we mostly look forward to snow because it sure beats the damp chill and bleakness of a winter of freezing rain -- common in places just south of us, and useless for any outdoor activity. It's also preferable to the threat of falling iguanas that Florida has been plagued with lately.
So, it was disappointing for us to watch Boston and other cities get buried by storm Kenan while seeing not a single snowflake fall outside of our windows. Fortunately, though, the month of January was cold enough so that the snow from prior storms has remained on the ground, providing decent and uninterrupted conditions for all snow sports.
We took full advantage of those conditions last week at Sunday River in Maine, enjoying five days of skiing with close friends: Jerry and Laura Kimble, Diane Lototski and husband Brian, and John's brother Jay and wife Andrea.
(A side note here: this trip was a long time coming - originally planned for Montana in March of 2020, John and I had to drop out at the very last minute due to broken bones, while the rest of the crew flew out on March 13 only to have to scramble to find flights home three days later when the ski area, along with the rest of the country, shut down due to the pandemic)
Skiing can be a very costly sport, but there are packages and discounts to be had with some pre-planning......or, if you just live long enough. There was a time about 35 years ago that most ski areas offered free skiing for those 70 and above; that practice has fallen by the wayside because now there are too many in that age group that still hit the slopes. However, Sunday River was celebrating "Senior Week", and for seniors like myself, that meant purchasing a five-day pass at a discounted rate. For those over 80 years of age - no names mentioned - a five day pass was an unbelievable $9 (that's nine dollars for the week, or about the same as the price for two cups of coffee at the mountain's lodge).
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| Senior week at Sunday River: Jay, Laura, Jerry, Brian, Chris, John, Diane, Andrea |
Seniors or not, it was wonderful week - many laughs, a fair amount of skiing, and a lot of kvetching about our senior skier aches and pains. The weather was on the cool side but mostly sunny and clear, giving us views of the White Mountains all around us and even a few glimpses of the Presidential Range some thirty miles to the southeast. When one morning dawned with temperatures in the minus double digits, some of us took the day off from skiing to check out nearby Bethel Maine, where we found a hidden "gem" - actually a multitude of gems - at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum.
The two-story exhibit follows an expertly curated path from the story of Maine's early mining days, including samples of minerals and naturally formed crystals found in the region, to a gallery of meteorites from the moon, Mars, and beyond that found their way to the Earth. The displays are all interactive, providing a deeper dig into each of the items on display.
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| From the moon |
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| Just one of the many crystals on display - all or most mined in the region. |
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| Snow comes in many forms.....but we prefer the real stuff! |
All in all, a good way to spend a cold January day - and well worth a detour if you're ever in the area, less than an hour's drive from Mount Washington.
As I write this, they're forecasting another storm for later this week. Be careful out there...but if you can, go out and play in it!
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P.S. This Sunday, February 6, is the anniversary of what we refer to as Storm Larry, which closed down Hamilton and the entire state and region in 1978.
