As we gaze out the front window today, we are watching the first snowflakes of the season. Hard to believe we haven't seen snow yet this winter, but it's been pretty warm actually. In terms of winter at least. The first year Dave and I lived in Kentucky it was an unseasonably warm beginning to winter. We were amazed that on Christmas Day that year we were outside with no coats on.
We arrived in Kentucky on Halloween Day of 2002 and drove just ahead of a snowstorm most of the way across the states. Driving over Lolo Pass in lots of snow in a Ryder truck isn't a whole lot of fun, But we were headed off of a new adventure, so the drive over the pass was kind of bittersweet in knowing we wouldn't see it again for a while. We actually stopped at the top, on the Idaho/Montana state line and slept a few hours, before heading off across the very wide state of Montana.
We arrived in Kentucky and it started raining. It actually rained for several days after we arrived. We unloaded that Ryder truck into a storage shed in the pouring down rain. We left Oregon because it rained so much ... never thinking that it rains just as much in Kentucky. When the northern states are getting snow, we are usually getting rain.
We learned that Kentucky doesn't always have such nice winters though. We've been through two ice storms since moving here. Whoa! When we have an ice storm, we really have an ice storm. We lost power for three days when one of them hit and that surely wasn't much fun. In the west, most everyone uses some form of wood heat, but not here. We couldn't have survived without a couple of kerosene heaters ... and they worked pretty good for heating up water for coffee in the mornings too!
One thing we do miss from the west though is snow skiing. Yeah, there are several ski hills in the area, but nothing like we are used to. We had several favorites, but I'm telling ya I'd be happy to ski at any of them, right down to Bald Mountain in Pierce! One of our favorites was Mount Bachelor in Central Oregon. 10,000 feet up and you could look 365 degrees around from the top. The longest runs back there are measured in miles, not feet. Most of the big mountains are actually volcanoes. From the top of Mt. Bachelor I think you see the tops of seven volcanoes. Kind of scary to think about it, but they aren't active. Not too active at least :-)
Another favorite was Big Mountain in Northwestern Montana. It was fun to go there because you can actually stay right on the mountain if you want to. Of course it's pretty expensive to do that, but we did it once and it was alot of fun. Most ski hills involve kind of a scary drive in, so staying right on the mountain is pretty nice. - one drive in and one drive out! The thing about the big mountains, they get their snow in hundreds of inches. When you ski past a tree on one of those mountains, it's actually the top of a huge tree! You only really realize that when you go to the mountain in the summer and see it for yourself.
Yes, we are used to lots of snow. Not exactly what we see in Kentucky. Or at least we haven't since we moved here. Maybe this year will bring it! Let's just hope we don't see an ice storm!
Have a great day everyone. And be safe out on the roads! It is still snowing after all.......
Pam
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