It all starts with Shayna and I staring at the beautiful sunset. Wait, that's just me staring at the beautiful sunset while Shayna takes the opportunity to...
...push me into the deep fresh snow!
Look how happy she is as I try to dig myself out.
The armless poles.
That brings us up to last weekend. We left work Friday afternoon and headed to Craters of the Moon. Not sure why I was taking pictures of weeds, but I figure it'll provide a break from the skiing and...
...wacky poses. Ryan jumped the gun on the "stick out your tongue and your arms" pose.
Shayna tries her best to get Chris into the snow (are you seeing the trend?)...
...but that backfired.
Do you remember the somersault picture on top of Inferno Cone? Well this is the same place - just a different season.
Here's the crew smiling, followed by the usual...
...hands out tongues out pose.
If you think it is hard to get one person to do a headstand, try to get three people doing it simultaneously. Granted, I cheated and used the tree trunk. Shayna attempted to use the tree branches, but failed. And Chris, well, he's about 0.76 seconds from landing in the snow too.
But after a few more tries, we figured it out.
And by figured it out, I wasn't referring to figuring out how to go down hill successfully!
Saturday morning, Dave, Chris, Shayna and I headed to Kelly Canyon for some more cross country skiing. Here we have a "like Father, like daughter, kind of" 80's garb competition going on.
Dave didn't appreciate how quickly us young folks got up after falling. Of course, listening to Shayna laughing back there didn't help... but it was every entertaining.
Some of the beautiful scenery we were privileged to ski through!
It was awesome - not breaking trail, the scenery.
In the continual game of "See who you can cover in snow by hitting the tree branch with your pole on your way by," Shayna lost.
We all decided to make our own trail down this steep hillside, without much success. Here is Dave tangled up in a tree...
...and Shayna tangled up in another tree.
But once we got down the embankment, skiing through this snow covered short pine tree forest was incredible.
I'm not sure a caption is needed for this face plant. (And yet there is one - oh the irony.)
If you come out and visit, we'll find a tree for you to hide behind too!
Dave "resting" (what you always do when it's easier then getting up).
Considering I'm the one with the camera and the blog, you'd think I could avoid the entertaining fallen pictures.
A great ending to, well, the afternoon. At this point, the night was still young.
After returning home for some grub and dry clothes, we picked up Allen and headed back to Kelly Canyon for some downhill night skiing. Allen has never skied or snowboarded, and really doesn't appreciate our brand of adventures. In his words, "This is so weird. The malls still open, its prime shopping time, Five Guys and Taco Bell are serving, there's video games to be played, sleep to be had, and I'm going to do something outside?!?"
Allen heads up the tow rope on the bunny hill.
He's happy because he hasn't figure out how to strap his other foot in yet. Without any instructions from us skiers, Allen picked up snowboarding very quickly and we decided it was time for him to head up the slopes. Here's a quick video of Allen's first trip down the slopes.Look how happy he is with his progress!
Somewhere near the man in the yellow suit were three of his girls racing down hill. (L to R: Ashley, Rachel, Kristen)
If there's one thing I can't pass up on a Sunday afternoon, it's a home cooked meal! But first, we headed out along the river for a little walk. These are the girls that sided with the "pink lovers" and insisted on throwing snowballs at those in blue.
Here you can see how protective they were of Shayna, deflecting all incoming snowballs and kidnapping attempts.
I thought growing up with 3 sisters was bad - can you imagine having 5?!? (Of course, it was probably that 1 brother that caused all the problems.)
Lydia turns her frown upside down for the camera.
Look how happy she is as I try to dig myself out.
The armless poles.
That brings us up to last weekend. We left work Friday afternoon and headed to Craters of the Moon. Not sure why I was taking pictures of weeds, but I figure it'll provide a break from the skiing and...
...wacky poses. Ryan jumped the gun on the "stick out your tongue and your arms" pose.
Shayna tries her best to get Chris into the snow (are you seeing the trend?)...
...but that backfired.
Do you remember the somersault picture on top of Inferno Cone? Well this is the same place - just a different season.
Here's the crew smiling, followed by the usual...
...hands out tongues out pose.
If you think it is hard to get one person to do a headstand, try to get three people doing it simultaneously. Granted, I cheated and used the tree trunk. Shayna attempted to use the tree branches, but failed. And Chris, well, he's about 0.76 seconds from landing in the snow too.
But after a few more tries, we figured it out.
And by figured it out, I wasn't referring to figuring out how to go down hill successfully!
Saturday morning, Dave, Chris, Shayna and I headed to Kelly Canyon for some more cross country skiing. Here we have a "like Father, like daughter, kind of" 80's garb competition going on.
Dave didn't appreciate how quickly us young folks got up after falling. Of course, listening to Shayna laughing back there didn't help... but it was every entertaining.
Some of the beautiful scenery we were privileged to ski through!
It was awesome - not breaking trail, the scenery.
In the continual game of "See who you can cover in snow by hitting the tree branch with your pole on your way by," Shayna lost.
We all decided to make our own trail down this steep hillside, without much success. Here is Dave tangled up in a tree...
...and Shayna tangled up in another tree.
But once we got down the embankment, skiing through this snow covered short pine tree forest was incredible.
I'm not sure a caption is needed for this face plant. (And yet there is one - oh the irony.)
If you come out and visit, we'll find a tree for you to hide behind too!
Dave "resting" (what you always do when it's easier then getting up).
Considering I'm the one with the camera and the blog, you'd think I could avoid the entertaining fallen pictures.
A great ending to, well, the afternoon. At this point, the night was still young.
After returning home for some grub and dry clothes, we picked up Allen and headed back to Kelly Canyon for some downhill night skiing. Allen has never skied or snowboarded, and really doesn't appreciate our brand of adventures. In his words, "This is so weird. The malls still open, its prime shopping time, Five Guys and Taco Bell are serving, there's video games to be played, sleep to be had, and I'm going to do something outside?!?"
Allen heads up the tow rope on the bunny hill.
He's happy because he hasn't figure out how to strap his other foot in yet. Without any instructions from us skiers, Allen picked up snowboarding very quickly and we decided it was time for him to head up the slopes. Here's a quick video of Allen's first trip down the slopes.Look how happy he is with his progress!
Somewhere near the man in the yellow suit were three of his girls racing down hill. (L to R: Ashley, Rachel, Kristen)
If there's one thing I can't pass up on a Sunday afternoon, it's a home cooked meal! But first, we headed out along the river for a little walk. These are the girls that sided with the "pink lovers" and insisted on throwing snowballs at those in blue.
Here you can see how protective they were of Shayna, deflecting all incoming snowballs and kidnapping attempts.
I thought growing up with 3 sisters was bad - can you imagine having 5?!? (Of course, it was probably that 1 brother that caused all the problems.)
Lydia turns her frown upside down for the camera.That was all in one weekend. Did you notice what was missing? If not, I'm sure you'll see plenty of pictures of the Teton's before this post is complete!
Starting on Friday, we headed to Grand Targhee for some more downhill skiing adventures. Here Shayna gives Rachel bunny ears... with a mitten.
L to R: Joe, Rachel, Shayna, Kristen, Chris
After the snow stopped, it was a foggy day up on top, adding an extra challenge.
Chris will tell you - it's no fun if you can't see where you are going and what you are skiing over. Of course, we just watch for the yellow suit and...
...those who didn't see the bumps and buried their rumps!
Neat pictures heading up the chair lift...
...with invisible support poles.
Following are some views heading down the mountain in the fog.
Couldn't decide which one I liked better, so you get sepia...
...and color.
It was so peaceful, especially without many people on the mountain that day.
A couple more, just to make sure you got the picture.
Such a pretty sight!Those who have spent an entire day skiing know that the last run is most dangerous - especially if you're not used to being in a fog all day (that's a joke). You always want to make the most of your last run, but you are also the most tired and tend to be sloppy. We had found a really steep section of mountain - one of those sections I'd never attempt without fresh powder. It all started so well, but after a few seconds, well, it was all downhill. Curtesy of Chris, you now have a quick disasterous few seconds of skiing on video. The bad news was that I could hardly walk Friday night or Saturday morning, but with the weekend schedule packed, there was no time for pain. So naturally, we headed to Grand Teton National Park for some sunrise cross country skiing!
The sunrise shines off the clouds covering the Teton Range peaks.
The sun rises over the horizon and breaks through the clouds to the East...
...shining across the fields...
...and adding color below the Jackson Lake Dam.
I love how the clouds are billowing off Mt. Moran as we started out on our journey.
A hairy pine tree.
Wow! And to think that we were the only ones up (or crazy enough) to enjoy such awesome beauty.
For the full effect of God's beauty and amazing creation, you might need to click on these panoramics.
On our way back, the sun was warming the snow and entire pine trees would empty their boughs of snow... in this case, on me.
Not to disappoint, here's a few more pictures of the Teton Range as some of the clouds moved off of them.
If you click on it, you can see the jagged, majestic peak of Grand Teton.
Another beautiful view across the fields.
Zooming in on Southern, Middle and Grand Teton.
Similar view in color.
One last look before we headed out of the park and off to see lots of...
...elk...
...elk...
...and more elk! (Are you hunters jealous yet?)
Speaking of 2 for 1 deals...
...but this poor guy sustained some damage to his right antlers, probably during a fight.
If you look close, this guy has no ears! (A reminder to keep your ears covered lest you get frostbite!)
Have you been wondering how we got so close to the elk? Well it was at the Elk National Refuge on a sleigh ride!
I couldn't resist posting this picture. Notice how Shayna and the horse are spying on each other out of their peripherals (I don't blame the horse).
Starting on Friday, we headed to Grand Targhee for some more downhill skiing adventures. Here Shayna gives Rachel bunny ears... with a mitten.
L to R: Joe, Rachel, Shayna, Kristen, Chris
After the snow stopped, it was a foggy day up on top, adding an extra challenge.
Chris will tell you - it's no fun if you can't see where you are going and what you are skiing over. Of course, we just watch for the yellow suit and...
...those who didn't see the bumps and buried their rumps!
Neat pictures heading up the chair lift...
...with invisible support poles.
Following are some views heading down the mountain in the fog.
Couldn't decide which one I liked better, so you get sepia...
...and color.
It was so peaceful, especially without many people on the mountain that day.
A couple more, just to make sure you got the picture.
Such a pretty sight!Those who have spent an entire day skiing know that the last run is most dangerous - especially if you're not used to being in a fog all day (that's a joke). You always want to make the most of your last run, but you are also the most tired and tend to be sloppy. We had found a really steep section of mountain - one of those sections I'd never attempt without fresh powder. It all started so well, but after a few seconds, well, it was all downhill. Curtesy of Chris, you now have a quick disasterous few seconds of skiing on video. The bad news was that I could hardly walk Friday night or Saturday morning, but with the weekend schedule packed, there was no time for pain. So naturally, we headed to Grand Teton National Park for some sunrise cross country skiing!
The sunrise shines off the clouds covering the Teton Range peaks.
The sun rises over the horizon and breaks through the clouds to the East...
...shining across the fields...
...and adding color below the Jackson Lake Dam.
I love how the clouds are billowing off Mt. Moran as we started out on our journey.
A hairy pine tree.
Wow! And to think that we were the only ones up (or crazy enough) to enjoy such awesome beauty.
For the full effect of God's beauty and amazing creation, you might need to click on these panoramics.
On our way back, the sun was warming the snow and entire pine trees would empty their boughs of snow... in this case, on me.
Not to disappoint, here's a few more pictures of the Teton Range as some of the clouds moved off of them.
If you click on it, you can see the jagged, majestic peak of Grand Teton.
Another beautiful view across the fields.
Zooming in on Southern, Middle and Grand Teton.
Similar view in color.
One last look before we headed out of the park and off to see lots of...
...elk...
...elk...
...and more elk! (Are you hunters jealous yet?)
Speaking of 2 for 1 deals...
...but this poor guy sustained some damage to his right antlers, probably during a fight.
If you look close, this guy has no ears! (A reminder to keep your ears covered lest you get frostbite!)
Have you been wondering how we got so close to the elk? Well it was at the Elk National Refuge on a sleigh ride!
I couldn't resist posting this picture. Notice how Shayna and the horse are spying on each other out of their peripherals (I don't blame the horse).
Of course, that wasn't all for the day. Like last weekend, we headed back to Kelly Canyon for some downhill skiing at night. By the end of the night, Allen was a pro and I could walk again! Nothing like a little exercise to stretch out the strained muscles. But enough skiing for one weekend - it's time for you all to get back to work...
