Winter

 

 Town of Twisp under a blanket of snow

Eastern and Western Washington have radically different winter climates. Close to the "warming" influence of Puget Sound water, Seattle stays fairly mild in the winter. 

Yes, it's wet and gloomy, but the temperature seldom goes below freezing at night. The grass stays green and spring comes early. Fortunately, heavy snow is rare, because it shuts down the city. I know that sounds cute, but you have to experience a Seattle snow event first-hand to appreciate it.

 

Anyway, over in Eastern Washington, snow is no big deal and it piles up into March. In places like the Methow Valley, the first snow is embraced with excitement as the start of the winter recreation season.

 

Ice skating rink in Winthrop

 

 

Over the years, we've made several winter trips to Twisp. I'm looking forward to seeing our house this weekend in the snow, and reassuring myself that everything works in sub-freezing temperatures.  

 

The first winter of long-distance home ownership is a bit nerve wracking. But what treat after a long day of winter travel to unlock the door, turn up the furnace and be at home. Fingers crossed the neighbor plowed the driveway and water comes out of the faucets. 

 

We all wanted to take a horse-drawn sleigh ride at Sun Mountain Lodge. They start up this weekend, and the reservations were already filled. Darn. Now the girls are talking about maybe ice skating in Winthrop.

 

I was a pretty good skater as a kid, not to brag. Of course, my ankles were considerably younger then. I should still be good for a few sedate turns around the rink, as long as I don't start showing off :-) 

 

We learned to skate on the frozen creeks and ponds in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Later, living in Colorado, the mayor of our small town flooded the tennis court with a garden hose at night, and the ice would be smooth as glass the next morning. Hard to imagine such a sweet thing now. What fun we had-- a bunch of rowdy teenagers playing crack-the-whip. Winter was really winter back then.