Jim Darmiento, Rick Massie, my wife and I planned a trip to Winthrop, Washington for some cross-country skiing. Much of Washington didn’t have the normal snow fall for this time of year and our ski trip wasn’t looking good. This all changed a couple days before our departure from Seattle, we received a major snowstorm that hit the whole state. Luckily Jim drove his F-250 4-wheel drive truck over with 500 pounds of sandbags in back. After two mountain passes and numerous white-outs we made it to our cabin after 4 hours of driving.

Since our cabin was just across the river from Winthrop, we had dinner in the small village our first night at the Old School House Brewery www.oldschoolhousebrewery.com. This place is a local favorite and also attracts all the tourist too. The second night was Chinese hotpot that Linna Wei put together, after our first day of skiing nearly ten miles, spicy hotpot was the answer. Before we went out the second day, Linna and I cooked up some fluffy pancakes and thick bacon. We headed right out after breakfast and skied nine miles. After another great day out in the winter wonderland, Linna and I headed back to the cabin for a nap and other activities. For dinner, we headed back into Wintrop and hit the Old School House Brewery again, this time there were two guys playing music, Tim Snider and Redwood Son www.bit.ly/z2E4TP. I didn’t record this video, but found it on You Tube and it was the night we were there…I remember the lady dancing in front of us.

Sunday, was pack up and head back to Seattle. Since it was still snowing and the passes would be nasty, we decided to drive one pass via Stevens Pass versus Blewett and Snoqualmie. It was slow going over Stevens, but as we descended….snow become rain and then we just had wet roads home. After unpacking and taking a quick shower, Linna and I ended our evening at the Paramount Theater seeing David Garrett www.david-garrett.com.