Spring Break

Last week was officially spring break by my school's calendar definition, but it flew by in a blur of interstate highways and ski lifts and I'm still having fun. Zach and I left Olympia a week ago Sunday to drive 12 hours to Montana. We spent a day at his dad's house and almost went skiing at Bridger Bowl, but the 25 mph winds discouraged us from leaving the fireside. We continued on to Denver (another 11 hours) and finally landed in Golden. The winds followed us all the way, nudging the car back and forth on the road and whistling across the chimney of the house. My first task in Golden was to meet with a woman who had skis my size so we tracked her down in the parking lot of the town's gear shop. $175 later, I had my own pair of K2's Lotta Luvs!

The very next day we took off for the front range, persevering through white out conditions over Loveland Pass. We hit Keystone first, but were sorely disappointed in the icy, hard packed snow. The weather cleared up enough to enjoy sunshine, but the lack of edge on the icy snow was too scary to be fun. We tried Vail the next day and were met with blue skies and sunshine warm enough to soften the packed snow. Conditions were as good as could be for Spring skiing and I loved having 5000+ acres to romp through!

We came home to Golden for a couple quiet days and then zoomed off to New Mexico to watch spring creep across the Rio Grande valley. I was most excited to meet the first baby goat, Ricky. He's a lap goat! When you sit down in the pen, he just climbs right in and rubs his adorable little head under your hands. Momma goat is always standing guard, no matter how far away the rest of the herd moves. The rest of the mommas are due to give birth any day now. I love being on a farm, in all the small ways: watching Frankie, the cat, eat a fresh caught vole; raking poop and distributing it over the pastures; choosing what seeds and fowl to purchase for the summer.

Next on my list is skiing at the Taos Ski Valley. I was there in February and I loved it. Most of the terrain is steep, but I'm a much better skier already and I'm looking forward to trying some runs that were just too intimidating last time. And as always when farming in the desert: I'm praying for rain.