A little break

Thanks to a small subsection in our pilot contract, I was able to procure an extra 5 days off this month. I'll be switching bases from the Motor City to our base in the frozen tundra, so the company had to give me 5 "moving" days. I took full advantage of the extra days off and went snowboarding out west.

First off, I have to say thanks to Uncle Den for letting me come out and crash at his place. I really appreciate your hospitality and I had an absolutely wonderful time. My second thanks goes out to my beautiful wife for letting me go without her. Unfortunately its tax season for her and she is not able to take any time off from Jan. 1 thru Apr. 15th. It would have been great to have some other people come with me, but nobody was able to come on such short notice, maby next time.

And now to the highlight and purpose of the trip, the snowboarding.... It was fantastic!!! Luck was on my side and I happened to show up the day after the mountain got a fresh coating of 6 inches of powder. Den happened to live about 15 minutes from a little mom'n'pop place called Pebble Creek in Inkom, ID and I must say, that place was great. It had nice steep vertical, lots of trails, great natural snow and a variety of terrain. The best run was a double diamond named "The Rock". There was 1-2 feet of fresh powder in the tree line which made for some awesome runs down the mountain. I was able to make first tracks down a lot of my runs due to the many lines I could take through the trees. It had been a long time since I had such great conditions for snowboarding. Pebble Creek is far superior to any of the little hills they have in WI. Not only is it "real" snowboarding, but it's cheap too! $35 for a day pass, $25 for a half day. I hope to be able to do it again next year.

Overall it was a great trip. Idaho is a very scenic state with picturesque mountains and a quiet laid back atmosphere. I loved it out there. I'd love to spend more time out there.