The Platts and Troutners go winter camping in style at Rock Ridge yurt
- February 19-20, 2005
- Trip start 6:30am
- Ski start 8:30am
- Team: Art, Carol, Kelsey, Tegan; and John, Julie, and Jasmine
- Return to car at noon the next day
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It was Art's 50th birthday, and Carol had planned a surprise. No, the trip wasn't the surprise, and neither was staying in the yurt(s). The surprise was the arrival of his daughter, Kelsey, from Reno. Since the 3 of us and our gear seemed to fill up our full-sized pickup, we were surprised they fit 4 people into their car. |
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After some industrial-strength packing, we headed out on skis to the Rock Ridge yurt. It's mostly pretty flat, but there were a few good climbs. This was especially noticeable if you were using wax on your skis, since it was old, rotten snow and quite warm. But with a little fresh snow on top here and there, just to add some spice (or ice) to the skiing. Julie attempted to de-ice her skis with the "Whacking" method, and found the limit of impact strength of one of her ski poles. |
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We did eventually get to the yurt, and the girls were overjoyed. |
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These yurts are pretty deluxe. All the cook gear you could want, propane cook stove, a great wood stove with lots of firewood, ... the list goes on. We had taken advantage of this by pulling sleds loaded with food and goodies... even a birthday cake. The only thing missing was a good waiter. |
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After dinner, the girls entertained us with their musical talents. They played some sort of Turkish dirge several times, but I think here they were playing the Beatles hit, "I Am The Walrus." |
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The Troutner girls. |
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| Although it's often a hard thing turning 50, Art made the most of it before he took his teeth out, hung up his hairpiece, and hit the sack right at 8:15. In fact, the entire evening seemed very festive. Even washing dishes was done in a chorus line. |
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