An Alternative View of Winter Sports

Westward, Ho!  What a great name for a mini-chain of motels.  I think our family stayed in all of these sometime in the 60s.

More later......

(Later the next day...)

I know for sure we stayed in one in Palm Springs.  We always went there for our Easter vacations, but we also occassionally went there in the winter.  The weather could be very warm during the day, and freezing at night, but it was definitely (and continues to be) a wonderful winter playground.

And check out Las Vegas - not a single theme hotel/casino to be seen, and I'm pretty sure that view is of the Las Vegas strip.

None of these Westward Ho's still exist, although there are Westward Ho's in Bend, Oregon; West Yellowstone, Montana; and Clovis, New Mexico.  The Las Vegas Westward Ho closed in November 2005, the Palm Springs Westward Ho has been reborn as the Ace Hotel (which actually looks pretty good), and it's not clear whatever happened to the San Diego Westward Ho.

I can't think of another brand that used a rallying cry (Westward, ho!) as its name, with the possible exception of Yahoo!  Additional examples, readers?

Lake Tahoe

Couldn't let the series of winter sports venues continue without a shout out to our local winter sports haven, Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe is home to multiple ski areas including Heavenly and Kirkwood near South Lake Tahoe, and North Star, Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, Tahoe Donner, and Mt. Rose near North Shore.  I've skied (if you can call it that) at Heavenly, Kirkwood, North Star, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows.  Each has its own appeal - some are best for families, others are best for advanced skiers, others are favored by snow boarders over skiers.  Even if you don't ski or board, or prefer to visit Lake Tahoe during other seasons, it's a very cool place to go.

When I found these postcards, they brought up a host of memories.  One I sent to myself from a ski trip over a long weekend we took with three other families; one was sent from a family/business weekend (aka a boondoggle to which I got to bring my husband and kids). 

The trip we took with three families was one of those "memorable" weekends, for all the wrong reasons.  While we did have fun and of course the kids had a blast, the house we rented (sight unseen of course) had paper thins walls.  I recall a baby who cried all night one night, but worse my husband had either a stomach bug or food poisoning so the entire house listened to him retch all night long.  To say the least, it wasn't the most relaxing weekend, as no one got much sleep.

The boondoggle, on the other hand, was superb.  We rode on a luxury bus from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe and were ensconced in the Resort at Squaw Creek.  My kids were more used to staying in rental houses than resorts and  between the outdoor skating rink, the pinball/video arcade, the snack stocked mini bar, and the location, were quite impressed (they were probably 5 and 3 at the time).  At one point, one of them asked, "Can we live here?"  He had no concerns about the four of us in one room with two double beds, as long as he had unlimited access to all the features of the hotel.  The older of the two was able to take what were probably his first ski lessons, the younger spent some time in day care, and my husband and I got to ski at Squaw! 

P.S.  It's Postcard Friendship Friday - you know what to do.

Mt. Hood, Oregon

In the continuation of the winter sports theme, next up is Mt. Hood.  Not only is Mt. Hood a winter sports playground, it is also open for skiing year round. However, summer skiing is recommended primarily for advanced intermediate skiers and above.  That's certainly not me!

This card comes to me from the Mystery Sender, who as regular readers know has been sending me postcards almost every day, usually information filled and always signed "Peace", since early August.  (See first reference to Mystery Sender here.)  At times I think I know who the Mystery Sender is, but when I've posited he/she taunts me for being wrong.  And then he/she throws a curve ball, which may or may not be a clue.  The most recent "clue/curve ball" is that the Mystery Sender has lots of postcards from Mt. Hood (see message on postcard on the right above), with the foreshadowing:  "you'll see". 

Additionally, the Mystery Sender keeps asking me why I haven't mentioned "the banana".  I think "the banana" might have been lost in the mail, or else it's a metaphor I'm clueless to decipher!

The Grand Tetons

Continuing on the theme of winter sports areas in the world, here we have the Grand Tetons, although this picture is taken in Grand Teton National Park in the summer rather than the winter.

The winter sports areas in the Grand Tetons include Jackson Hole, Snow King and Grand Targhee.  Jackson Hole and Snow King are in Wyoming; Grand Targhee is on the other side of the Tetons, outside of Driggs, Idaho (featured earlier in the blog as the home of The Spud Drive-In) but maybe just on the state line and still in Wyoming.   When we visited Driggs, Idaho our friends' family ran the Teton Tepee Lodge, and we helped bartend and serve for a wedding reception.   Our friends told us that sometimes it snows there as late as July and as early as September.  Doesn't make for a very long summer!

My mom sent me this postcard from her collection of a few she's saved over the years.  On it she writes that she remembers camping here in 1941, right before WWII began, and seeing moose in the meadows near the lakes.  I think it's a little too crowded for that now.