Crystal Mountain...

What a weekend we had on Crystal Mountain!  {big smile}

Miss M. had already arrived there Thursday evening and we got there around 10 am on Saturday morning (Mr. G. had to work on Friday). The weather was super cloudy and the wind was gusting so hard they had to  close the gondola to the top. 

We had to park at the end of the road and then we got picked up by a snowmobile (!)(plus sled) by Miss. M.'s friend to make it up the 6 mile road to their cabin. I must say getting up and down that mountain in that manner was the most terrifying experience ever. For me that is, the rest all thought it was awesome of course.  <wink>  Man, those things go Fast!

So, on Saturday the weather was pretty awful but when we woke up on Sunday this was the view from the cabin's porch:

So blue and so bright! We could actually see the top of the ridge while the day before we could only see half way up...

Anyway, enough chit-chat, you want to see the pics of course. I had a hard time sorting through them since most of them came out so beautifully. Here is a small assortment. By the way, most of these pics are pretty much straight out of camera, so they are barely altered, except for the obvious ones... Here we go:

"Powder Bowl"

Some local wildlife. ("Camp Robbers")

It was very 'warm' (relatively speaking) so there were some pretty icicles to behold.

Mr. G., Miss M. and Master C. getting ready to hit the slopes!
By the way, we didn't see Master C. again 
until the end of the day after he had done 28 runs!

View when you get up the ridge stepping out of the gondola: Mount Rainier in the 'flesh'!!!!
It was a big Tadaa-moment...

Miss M. made it all the way up and was rather exhausted!
She hadn't been snowboarding in a couple of years, 
but picked it up right where she had left off...

And this is where we rested: on top of the world!
(view is toward the West)

Views toward the East...

Mr. G having the time of his life!

Our hosts' daughter (13!)  has ski-racing for a sport. Here she comes barreling down the mountain! (so glad my kids haven't taken up this sport...)

A para-glider-skier! So cool, first he was skiing and then he was flying!

Miss M.s classmate (and our hosts' son) doing some flips on a giant inflatable pillow!

Towards the end of the day, on my way back to the cabin. (Lenticular cloud formation which means a change in the weather is coming, and yes indeed, that is exactly what happened yesterday)

Beautiful light caught my eye...

The cabin's entrance, almost all the way snowed over...

So yes, it was an awesome weekend. My cheeks were red by the end of it, both from the sun and from the permanent grin on my face!

Now this morning, this is what we woke up to...