Happy New Year 2017!

We had a quiet New Year's Eve.  We celebrated with a relaxed dinner and went to bed early in preparation for a day on our snowboards.  On New Year's Day we headed to Black Mountain which is located in Jackson, only a few miles down the road from our chalet.  We arrived to learn that the lifts were not working.  No worries! This gave us the opportunity to get some practice on our split-boards.

We made a quick trip back to the chalet, exchanged our regular snowboards for our split-boards, and returned to Black Mountain.   We made several trips skiing up using skins and riding down in board-mode. This was the perfect preparation for an upcoming trip to British Columbia to do some back-country riding with our split-boards.  With each lap we were able to practice the ski-to-snowboard transition and the at the bottom of the hill reapplying our skins for the ski back to the summit.  It was great fun!

Bruno skinning up Black Mountain

Sheri's board in ski-mode.

Sheri's Trip to Bend, OR

In the first week of the new year Sheri traveled to Bend, Oregon for work.  In spite of a lot of snow on both coasts and travel delays across the country, she made it to Bend without complication.  Bend has received records amounts of snow this winter, and while she was there they received an additional 16".  She enjoyed seeing lots of snow in town and on the distant mountains, including Mt Bachelor.

It was a productive week, and fun too.  One evening Pfizer employees were treated to a tour of the Deschutes Brewery followed by dinner in the tasting room.   Deschutes Brewery was one of the first craft breweries in the US.  It was fun for the pharmaceutical scientists and engineers to compare the stainless steel equipment and bottling process in a brewery to those in a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant.  The Mirror Pond Ale is excellent, and highly recommended!

Best of ...... 2016 Christmas cards

Each year as we take down the Christmas cards we have received we conduct a straw poll to identify our favorites.   This year (once again) we had a lot of good cards to choose from.  A special highlight this year was a 3D card that looked like a Poinsettia which we really enjoyed.

Christmas 2016

After a festive start to the holiday with Christmas in Song and dinner at the Weekapaug Inn with Mark and Jen, we headed to New Hampshire to celebrate Christmas and New Years. We arrived in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, and happy to find snow on the ground. We settled in for dinner with plans to celebrate Christmas with a XC ski outing.

Christmas at the chalet

Christmas Eve

We woke early on Christmas Day, opened our stockings and then headed for the trails at Jackson XC ski center.   While there was plenty of snow, rain earlier in the week had rendered it "boiler-plate ice" as Bruno likes to call it.  So our best option was the groomed trails in Jackson, and we were not disappointed!  We enjoyed an after-ski cocktail, lunch and then opening many gifts from friends and family.  Many thanks to all for your thoughtful gifts.  Per tradition, a photo of Bruno in his new Christmas socks.

The day after Christmas we woke early and headed to the trailhead of Mt Tremont, which is located in Bartlett and only a short drive from the chalet. Mt Tremont is on the 52 With a View list and we have been eager to explore this mountain.  While not a long hike, it offered a very sustained and steep climb.   The snow got deeper as we hiked, but managed to get to the summit in just boots as the trail was mostly packed.  The skies cleared as we arrived at the summit and we were rewarded with stunning views.  The trek back down required micro spikes to keep us on the trail. It was fun to be back on the trails in the winter after some great winter hiking in early 2016

A few days after Christmas Santa brought us about 8" of fresh snow which was nice to have on top of the old snow pack.  

Along with the snow came the Mitchell-Dignan clan.  We enjoyed showing them the back-country trails in Jackson. We also skied to the Shovel Handle Pub, one of our favorite spots, for a pint late in the day.  We arrived back at our cars just before the need for a headlamp.  It was great to have Denise, Mike and Audrey with us on the trail!

The fresh snow also gave us the chance to enjoy a day at Bretton Woods with fresh powder and some sunshine.  The view to Mt. Washington  is one of the rewards of spending time on the Bretton Woods trails. This day the views were limited, but we caught a few and enjoyed warm temperatures and decent New England packed powder.

As Christmas gift to each other we explored Fryeburg, ME and had dinner at the Oxford Inn.  The inn is located on Main Street only a short-distance from the famous fairgrounds.   The inn is warm and cozy, and the service was friendly and relaxed. The food was fantastic and we will definitely make a return visit. 

Celebrating Christmas in Song

The last few years we have enjoyed attending "Christmas in Song" at the Watch Hill Chapel with Mark and Jen, followed by dinner at the Weekapaug Inn. This tradition has become one of our favorite ways to start the holiday season.

Christmas in Song, hosted by the Ocean House,  includes musicians from local schools and singing groups.   There was a group of carolers at the entrance  of the chapel when we arrived, which immediately put us into the Christmas spirit.  This year the musicians included a quartet from Stonington High school and a four-some that played carols on the bells. The finale was the song "Feliz Navidad" sung by everyone in attendance.

Dinner at the Weekapaug Inn did not disappoint. We had a drink by the fire when we arrived which gave us time to catch up on the last few months which have been busy for all of us.  Our dinner was lovely, the service attentive and relaxed, and the food was fantastic.  But mostly it was the company that we enjoyed.  Jen and Mark are like family and it was a really special to share an evening with them in such a spectacular place.

Snowmen

This year's "fun with marzipan" project resulted in a family of snowmen.  We enjoyed making them and we hope that you enjoyed eating them!

Early December in New Hampshire

In early December we enjoyed a weekend taking it easy at our chalet in New Hampshire after several weeks of travel for work.

On the way to the chalet from Connecticut we made a short diversion to IKEA to pick up some shelves for the spare room.  On Saturday, after several hours assembling the numerous parts, we were able to organize our hiking, camping and ski-in gear on the shelves.  It looks like we have a real gear room now!

On Sunday we ventured out for a short hike to Square Ledge near Pinkham Notch.  There was a decent covering of snow on the trail and we were grateful to have our microspikes and a thermos of hot tea with us. The "view for effort ratio" was very high and we enjoyed a nice hike with great views.

On the trail

Rocky features along the way

A nice place to rock climb in the summer

Tea at the top

Views from the summit