My winter break is quickly coming to an end.  It is amazing how fast 2 weeks can fly by.  Time off is definitely a benefit to the teaching profession.  So, what have I been up to over the last couple of weeks?

My vacation got off to a busy start with a run up to lost lake on Thursday 12/18 (school was cancelled on Thursday and Friday due to all the snow).  Andrew joined me and the dogs for a 2 hour slog in about 8 inches of fresh snow.  Nothing like a strenous workout to kick start the vacation.

Friday, while Heather worked, I joined Andrew and some others for a backcountry ski trip.  We parked at the Heather Meadows lodge and began a tour around Table Mountain over to Ptarmigan Ridge.  We took 2 short runs in some awesome low-density powder that was almost waist deep.  A traverse around the west side and up over Table Mountain brought to our last run of the day, a moderately steep, longer run down the break between the east prow and west cliffs of Table Mountain.  Again, we found deep, low-density powder.  The only drawback was the overall snow depth was a little lacking and many of us found a few rocks with our skis. 

Due to the great skiing and large group, I was a bit late for Heather's office party, the Mindfly Mystery Murder.  Although we were about an hour late, we were quickly able to integrate into the game thanks to the great planning by Kyle.  Initially I wasn't sure about how the night would go, it turned out to be a lot of fun with some good conversations and lots of laugh.

Rich and Katrina were staying with us for a couple of days and we had planned a snowshoeing trip in the hills, however, another winter storm was moving in and they wanted to head home to Olympia a bit earlier than planned.  This meant plans had changed from a strenous day of excercise to a leisurly breakfast at the Old Town, a trip to Fun to Shop (for Heather and Katrina) some sledding (for Rich and me) and an ealry goodbye as Rich and Katrina hit the road around 1:00.  Since we were already out and about, Heather and I made a trip to the dreaded mall (thanks for the tools Mary ) and ran some other Christmas errands.

Sunday found us on another adventure, this time a 4 hour ski tour in the Chukanuts.  We headed up on our tele skis while our oft- accompanying, strenous activity seeking, dog loving friend, Sam Clay, joined us on a pair of backcountry skis.  Mocha and Lucy were also eager and willing to make the trek with us.  We headed up Cleator Road, skied down to Fragrance Lake, through the wooods, to the top of Burnout.  We were hoping for a fast ski down the road but the deep snow slowed us a bit.  Once we connected back in to Fragrance Lake Road, the pace quickened and my quads were burning before long.  A 20 minute ski on the Interurban Trail brought us back to the cars, exhausted but feeling great.

Because the time-optimist in the group (me) incorrectly judged the length of our tour, Heather and I were late in getting to Dierdre's for a small dinner party.  Even though the snow was coming down, we made the trek back out to Deirdre's and enjoyed some great food and company.  Troy's putanesca was delicious and Deirdre's  baked pears put the finishing touch to an enjoyable evening.  

Monday, while Heather had to go to work again, I headed up to Mt. Baker for some 'on area' skiing with Sam, Dirk, Randy and John.  Good snow and small crowds made for a great day out on the slopes.  I still don't have those tele turns down but I'm sure working on it.

Tuesday started out early with a strenous session at the gym with Heather and Adam.  It has been quite awhile since I have done the 'torture chamber' and I was sore for week.  Guess I need to get into the gym a bit more often.  I used this early start as an opportunity to get a bit of grading done, however I spent the time checking email and reading the paper.  Not very productive in terms of getting work done, but then again, this is my time 'off.'

While the snow was heavily falling early Wednesday morning I headed out join Adam for a bit of duck hunting, something entirely new to me.  It was snowing so much that we had to brush off the decoys every 20 minutes or so.  6 ducks down, a couple of hours cleaning, some homemade biscuits and I was headed back to town.  Quite an adventure that I'll write more about later.

Christmas Day was full of adventure with a trip out to Blackberry Acres for a nice Christmas dinner and games with our friends Adam, Lenore, Nate, Christina, Enid and Rich.  You can read the full story in Heather's blog:  'Blackberry Acres.'

On Saturday, we joined Sean for an epic run up on Galbraith.  Although we didn't go very far or for that long, it was one of the more difficult runs I've ever done.  This was mostly due to the large quantity of wet, high density snow that covered a thick layer of slippery ice.  After a climb up the ridge, I wasn't sure that I could keep running but somehow we all pushed ourselves to go a bit farther and finish out in style.  

Another day of skiing 'on area' at Baker kept Heather and me busy on Sunday.  The snow was great and although the crowds were a little larger we had a good time.  Heather worked on her tele turns and skied in style, especially for her first day back on the slopes this season.

So that, pretty much wrapped up the first part of my winter break.  Full of fun and staying busy.  This seems to be how most of my breaks start off, busy and full of activity.  For some reason, though, I don't seem to be able to maintain this for very long as you will find out if you read Part 2 of A Teacher's Winter Break.