Salmon Hills

Gail and I (and Bean) recently went back to Salmon Hills for some cross country skiing. We spent Christmas there but even a region renowned for lake-effect snow sometimes fails. There was plenty of snow for skiing but it rained Christmas Eve and then froze so all the trails were coated with ice. This time there was plenty of snow again, but it had rained a couple days earlier so the trails were a bit icy again. No worries, lake-effect was predicted overnight guaranteeing fresh snow for skiing in the morning before we would return to Ithaca. These are the yurts you can stay in, they also have a hotel.

Salmon Hills

When we got up in the morning about 20 inches of snow had fallen in less than seven hours. It didn't let up for the remaining six hours we were there and the cars in the picture completely disappeared. The front loader did a good job of clearing the parking lot so people could come and go. People said it wasn't snowing five miles to the south so we decided to leave around noon; too bad for us we had to drive about 15 miles west first, straight into the storm.

Salmon Hills

Here comes Gail in the morning to join Bean and I on the trails for a ski. She and I had gone snowshoeing earlier before the trails were groomed. Notice the snow sliding off the roofs of the yurts, the paths between them would fill up with waist-deep snow in less than an hour.

Salmon Hills

The snowbanks were no match for Bean. Fortunately the ski did tire him out and he didn't bark at the windshield wipers for the hour and a half it took us to drive 15 miles to get out of the snowstorm.

Salmon Hills

Here's how things looked when we finally got to Route 81. This is the entrance ramp. We took Route 11 and in less than 11 miles the road was dry and the sun was out.

Guitar Hero I

Gail has gone out and gotten a nice little Martin to go along with her guitar lessons. They sound good together. Unlike me with my banjo playing, she doesn't need the netting that's behind her(click on the picture) to stop beer bottles that are thrown from the kitchen.