Neighborhood ski report


In a prior life I must have lived somewhere where it snows a lot. Maybe it's my Polish roots. Sometimes I think I must have lived in Norway. There's part of me that can't wait to put on the boards and ski right from the door of my house. It is possible only once every few years here in Portlandia. Today was the day.

I had some work to do that kept me busy until mid-afternoon, but that left enough time for me to do all the skiing that my out-of-shape body could manage – a couple of slow, careful hours. Along the way, I received everything I look forward to when I anticipate this kind of day.

There was plenty of snow to ski on. The wind we've been having caused some small drifts, but you could cruise up and down the curbs without watching exactly where they were.

I encountered a few dozen other folks out there with the same agenda as mine, but not too many. A couple of guys really knew what they were doing, flying down the streets on skate skis. But I was content to shuffle along on my basic cross-country setup. You didn't really need skis. The dog walkers were doing just fine. Nor did I see a single snowshoe.

The earphones were in, with the songs that I listen to on those rare occasions when I run. They're uplifting, no matter the context. Jimi Hendrix's "Spanish Castle Magic" came on, which always gives me a boost, and just then a dad and his little daughter crossed my path, she being pulled along on a plastic dish by him, both beaming. "Whee!" I said to them. Life is good.

About an hour into my run, the Portland snowstorm did what Portland snowstorms do in the late afternoon. It turned into sleet, and even a slight touch of the dreaded freezing rain. Things started to get a little slick just as I was getting tired enough to make things generally a little difficult. And so around the corner and back up the street to our place I shuffled. 

The beer you drink right after you've been skiing is different from all other beers. It's science. And with that beverage, straight outta Hood River, another neighborhood ski run is in the books. 

Like they do in Norway, I think.

Comments

  1. Snowboarding the neighborhood has been great this morning. Urban cross is really fun, too. I did a semester at Purdue before I figured out it wasn't for me. There was a rareish large snowstorm, so I got out the sticks and skied all over campus. The nearly uniform response I got from the engineers in training was amusing. "You've got the right idea."

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