What all that white stuff is good for

...besides providing summer water, that is...

We had parts of 3 great days of skiing. "Parts" of days make sense for us now, since we both qualify for free-old-person-skiing at Monarch. What a great deal! When the weather is a little iffy, like it was for most of our stay, we just wait it out until there's some clearing.

The first two days on the slopes it was still snowy and foggy, which I find pretty scary conditions...

By contrast, this was the top of the same run on the good day we had, weather-wise. Is there anything more gorgeous?!

This is the top of Little Mo, one of my favorite runs, and the only blue that I attempted. Our one full

day also allowed us to have lunch in the great restaurant at the ski area, a luxury our kids introduced us to a few years ago. When they were little, we always packed lunches. How much nicer to have a yummy sandwich and beverage brought to your table, when your legs are exhausted from un-used-to exercise.

I thought it was funny that they advertised a beer possibly named after that favorite run of mine?

The scenery that you can see in the photos at the top of the post is one of the main reasons to go skiing here. [And to think that it's free!] Here's a view looking west from the top of the highest lift, Panorama, that takes you right up to the Continental Divide. That's Pacific drainage territory you're looking at, which always seems so exotic to me...

But the scenery of the slopes themselves is really beautiful, especially when there's been so much snow. It clothes the trees in such lovely mantles, don't you think?

It's always something of a shock to come back to springtime in South Texas after being immersed in deep winter. But it's also pretty nice to be greeted by these beauties...