We took advantage of warm winter weather to do some camping at Deception Pass. We had hoped to camp at Bowman Bay but found it closed (contrary to their website!) so we are camped above Cranberry Lake. It was cool last night and Snowden would not leave bed until a giant plate of bacon was readied for her this morning.
One of the highlights of this weekend was skate skiing on a dry, warm day at the pass. Warm skiing is in the 30’s: you don’t have to wear a jacket, you use lightweight gloves, you can ski farther it seems because you warm up sooner, you can take a break and play with your 2 year old on the trail.
Last year Snowden was very happy to ride in the sled, she usually fell asleep after the first 20 minutes or so. This year, she’s still excited to get in her cozy ride but she talks and chirps and exclaims behind Sean and eventually wants to get out and move around. The first time we went up this year, she got out at the end of our fairly short ski and watched Sean cruise down a small bunny hill near the parking lot. She walked onto the slope, stood in the fall line in her blue baby boots and yelled “weeeee” and waited to swoop down the hill with the same ease as her Dad, no skis on.
This weekend, half way through our outing we got out and took turns skating back and forth on the flat trail with her in our arms. Typical of her age, she wants to ski by herself. We’re going to be trolling the local used sporting goods stores for some baby strap-on skis this week. I can’t wait to see her reaction to the experience. At least she’s going in with a positive attitude and can always retreat to her sled if the challenge of gliding (more likely trudging) along with sticks underfoot proves to be too much.
This is the time of year we start thinking about taking a mini ski vacation, usually a long weekend in the Methow Valley if we can manage it. The light snow falling out the front window as I write this is making me think about trail conditions and choosing the right wax, about fires in a wood stove and and stepping out on a chilly afternoon feeling under-dressed but knowing that I’ll be very warm after the first few gliding steps on my skis.
All this musing brings me to the Rolling Huts at Wesola Polana which we discovered last summer. There is no website for this property yet, nor was the owner around when we stayed in a hut in August so I know very little about this brilliant lodging project. What I do know, I love!
There seems to be continued development going on, mostly in a large old barn right on the cross country ski trail as it parallels highway 20 half way between Mazama and Winthrop. Behind, several huts grouped together offer mostly self-contained places for, at most, a couple and a small child to sleep and relax. The huts are on giant steel wheels; they are not rolling anywhere any time soon but the wheel design allows for the buildings to side step a traditional foundation and leave a very light footprint on river front property. Grass grows under the units, a narrow gravel path leads to the front steps. Each has a partially covered deck, modular furniture that can be moved inside or out, a picnic table down on the lawn and a private portable toilet upstairs and off to the side. No kitchen, but a water spigot out front and a lit pathway leads to a large bath house for everyone to share .We loved staying here in the summer. Now I’m looking longingly at the winter photographs.
I had a conversation with a (renting) friend earlier this week about how much more appealing the idea of buying a vacation style property out of town, with a modular cabin of sorts on it (is this what you had in mind S.&C.L.?), is compared to buying a traditional home in the city. A rolling hut would be perfect for my dream plot in the S.J. Islands, or for that matter, just a bit down the road from Wesola Polana. The trick is not finding the architect or the land, but keeping our lives similarly modular and portable while retaining a sense of stability and home.