Happy New Year - Let's Hope its a good one.

Another year has begun and man what a way to start it off. I was fortunate enough to sneak in an adventure before and after this New Year started by driving to Spokane, Washington on a one lane road over Lookout Pass in what has to be the crappiest road conditions ever-packed snow and ice on the road and semis-ponder this for a moment-yep it sucked, but was exhilarating at the same time.

During this fun little adventure I came to the conclusion that Montana has only one snow plow for the entire western half of the state. I counted one; yes one, plow truck during my drive to and from Spokane. For contrast, in Idaho (you have to drive through the panhandle of Idaho and then in to Washington) as soon as you come off of the summit of Lookout on the Idaho side I saw three snowplow trucks spraying deicer, this was just on the way to Spokane. On the return trip from Spokane to Missoula, I saw seven; count them seven plow trucks in Idaho keeping the roads free and clear of snow and ice. Guess how many I saw in Montana, none until I was about 35 minutes outside of Missoula. Nuts, but on the bright side my winter driving skills are improving significantly.

The rest of the New Year adventure was spent living it up in Whitefish, Montana skiing, drinking beer, and hanging in good company: Sarah and Samy, oh yeah and Brown and Yellow dog. The skiing was epic! I mean how does it get any better than thigh deep untouched powder all day long (mind you I am a wuss and only skied half day, then took my self to the lodge bar)? And to top it off cross country skiing in Glacier National Park the next day under blue bird skies.

I can't think of a better way to start the New Year than spending it outside and with good friends. Cheers to 2009!