Here are easy and inexpensive steps and products that prevent freezing damage to the family boat with an “Outdoor Tip of the Week.”

Last summer, the good times rolled for thousands of Oregon boat owners when the salmon bite in the ocean and the Columbia River turned red hot. But that was then and now, my, how times have changed! Nature has hit the region with several storms that blew in and dumped buckets of rain – it’s only a matter of time before the freezing temperatures arrive – and a critical question for boat owners – have you winterized you boat?

Also, we’re full of spring break ideas for you and the kids, from arcades at the beach to spring skiing at Mt. Bachelor.

Check out our savory recipe of the month starring the Oregon pear as well as our list of outstandingly quirky things to do and places to see all over the state. Ever seen a ball roll uphill?

See you in Oregon, where we’re walking through a dinosaur park.

~The Editors

P.S. Tell Us How We’re Doing!

Photo by Andrea Hartman

Like the typical genius I am, I waited till the coldest day in North America to go skiing up at my beloved Willamette Pass. They were predicting temperatures in the teens, and snow on the Valley floor, but no, it’s MLK day and Andrea was going skiing!

My pal, and superior skiing buddy, Sara and I were up before the sun, and on the road by first light on our quest to make it to Willamette Pass before the first chairs started running. We drove on packed ice for the last leg of the trip, but it was nothing that slower speeds and four-wheel drive couldn’t handle.

Photo by Andrea Hartman

After a pit-stop at the lodge to use the facilities and purchase our lift tickets, we were snow-suited up, with boots on tight, skis in one hand and poles in the other.
But before we get to the slopes, a little background information:

Me: Learned to snowboard at age 14, learned to ski at age 18. That means 5 eligible seasons of skiing, if you subtract the winter I was planning my wedding.

Sara: Learned to ski when she was a little girl. Been on many skiing trips with her family. Eligible seasons of skiing: many more than me.

We gracefully made our way to the base of the mountain, sized up the high-speed summit lift and then opted for the Midway lift to take some warm up runs.

We skied the front side of the mountain for about an hour and a half. The snow was freshly groomed, and we swooshed, carved and whizzed our way down the mountain. But, sooner than later, I succumbed to the cold and headed into the lodge. Sara, meanwhile took her adventures to the backside, where some of my favorite runs live. You’ve got your just-right blue runs that have steep bits and not so steep bits, and in addition to the really hard black diamonds, some manageable black diamonds that are the perfect mix of moguls and smooth snow.

I sat in the lodge hoping my feet would thaw and watching the wind whip the dry snow around. The clouds eventually cleared and it turned into one of the most beautiful days I have ever seen at Willamette Pass with brilliant blue skies, and bright summer-like sunshine. Only the temperatures were more Arctic than balmy.

Around noon Sara met me in the lodge for lunch. After eating I decided that warm, fuzzy boots and the heated ski lodge sounded better than trying to manipulate my skis with semi-numb feet. I was in good company though. The folks we ate lunch with called it quits early too, and so did some other skiers – we weren’t the only ones leaving the parking lot by 1 p.m.

All in all, I am a little bummed it got so cold, but Willamette Pass is still my favorite place to ski. It’s the perfect size for a skier like me. It’s comfortable, yet still challenging. I’ll never get lost on this mountain, but there are always new adventures to be had. The best part? Lift tickets are still cheaper than almost every other ski area in Oregon, and this mountain is almost in my backyard (just over an hour outside Eugene).

When you go:
-Check www.tripcheck.com for road cams and the latest road conditions.
-From Eugene head East on Highway 58, the resort is directly off the highway, near milepost 62
-Bring $40 for a lift ticket, $42 if you don’t have a ski key.

For more information on skiing Oregon’s slopes, please visit our Ski Oregon section.

We’re also excited to give you a chance to win an escape for two to the Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.

Finally, we’re sharing a delectable dinner recipe from Bend’s Pine Tavern Restaurant, a winter road trip idea and the low-down on February’s BIG events, from the Portland Jazz Festival to the Oregon Chocolate Festival.

See you in Oregon ~ The Editors

As always, there’s no sales tax in Oregon and we have many great ideas on finding that perfect gift. And if you’re in the market for a Christmas tree, bundle up and take the kids out to one of Oregon’s many ”U-cut” Christmas tree farms.

Finally, we have a sweet holiday recipe and a ski vacation giveaway to Hood River and Mt. Hood Meadows!

See you in Oregon! ~ The Editors (Mo & Emily)

Now that we made it through stuffing ourselves full of turkey on Thursday, what better to do with the rest of our long weekend then to go deep into the forest to cut down the perfect Christmas tree? We invited our friends, Dan and Jill, to join us because they had only gotten their tree from the grocery store parking lot and never actually cut down their own tree before, so this was going to be fun showing the ‘newbies’ the ropes!

We woke up early on a Saturday morning and got dressed in our warm, winter clothes since we knew it would be cold where we were headed, even though frankly in Salem it wasn’t really that cold. But hey, we were going to be seeing our first snow of the season so we wanted to be dressed for it! After making sure we had the car packed with extra dry clothes, saws, camp stove, hot cocoa and assorted flavors (some adult flavors too!) to go in the hot cocoa, whipped cream, snacks, blankets to keep warm in the car, tarps for transporting the trees back home, bungee cords music cd’s for the drive (no radio reception where we were going), game boys (for the kids) and the obligatory dog, we filled up our gas tanks and headed to the Detroit forest.

The drive took about an hour and was one of those great fall drives where the leaves were all changing so it was beautiful along Highway 22. Just the drive itself was worth getting up early! But knowing we were about to have a forest adventure made it all that much more fun!

We bought two licenses to cut down trees for just $5 each and we went over the rules of what we could and couldn’t cut down. No trees over 12 feet tall, no trees close to the road and other rules like that (see editor’s note below). Then we headed on into the forest. We passed beautiful rivers and waterfalls and about 10 minutes in we hit snow! We were on forest service roads that were pretty rocky and some of them were pretty steep, so we decided to have everyone in the other car (a Jetta) pile in my SUV since some of the terrain we were passing over was a little tough for a regular car. We didn’t want that Jetta getting stuck out there in the middle of the forest where there was no cell phone service.

The guys found our first tree at the top of a steep hill. Between us yelling and pointing out trees we liked from down below (why didn’t we bring our walkie talkies? Next year for sure we’ll remember!) and the guys working on a steep hill it took them a while to get this tree down the hill to us. We hung out below eating snow, making a snow ‘dog’ and having snowball fights.

By the time the tree was cut down and dragged down the hill, we were all pretty cold so Greg fired up the campstove and made us all hot cocoa. Mine had tuaca in it (yum!) and others had schnapps in it…but all had the peppermint whipped cream on top that I found on a trip to Bend a few weeks ago. Of course the kids were stuck with plain ol’ hot cocoa despite the whining that they wanted ‘flavors’ like we had!

Our second tree took a bit longer to find. I think the first one was so easy and was so perfect that it was hard to top that. We drove around quite a bit looking for another perfect tree and finally found it up a much shorter hill than the first one, thank goodness. We drove past a beautiful scenic viewpoint there in the forest where we stopped and looked out upon a beautiful valley and other mountain ranges. How lucky we are to live in such a beautiful state where we get amazing views like this and have to drive just an hour to find snow and the perfect Christmas Tree!

~Happy Holidays from Oregon!
Carole G.

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Editor’s Note: If you’d rather venture out to one of Oregon’s many Christmas tree farms, here are some resources -

1) http://www.nwtrees.com/oregon.htm for a listing of Oregon’s Christmas tree farms.

2) www.VisitMyTree.com to meet Ev’rett the Friendly Evergreen and play holiday games, visit where Christmas trees are grown, plus tips for your tree’s care and earth friendly recycling. What’s more, enter a decorated tree photo contest to win a vacation package to Oregon’s Mt. Hood Territory.

We strongly urge you to check weather conditions and adequately prepare for inclement weather before you head out into the forest. In addition, please follow all Forest Service regulations before cutting down trees (Download this U.S. Forest Service guidelines PDF document).

Also, if you’re venturing far from home, AAA recommends the following list of ‘must-haves’ in case of emergencies. They include: a fully charged mobile phone; blankets or sleeping bags; a flashlight with extra batteries; first-aid kit; knife; drinking water; high-calorie non-perishable food; extra clothing; waterproof matches; sack of sand, cat litter, or traction mats; shovel; windshield scraper and brush; tool kit; tow rope; booster cables; compass and road maps; and emergency flares or reflectors.

We’re ringing in the ski season with a whole lot of new, exciting additions and improvements at Oregon’s mountain resorts. Here, a sampling…

Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort in Central Oregon has a brand new, high-speed quad to replace the Pine Martin Express, Mt. Bachelor’s most used lift. The resort is celebrating the return of glade skiing and riding to the Sunrise Area, and Hands Free ticketing.

Mt. Hood Meadows spent beaucoup bucks on improvements, including a new Children’s Learning Center, new rental center, and more restaurant seating than ever before.

UPDATE: You may have heard about the record rainfall the Pacific Northwest received earlier this fall. Well, it resulted in a washout on Highway 35, which is the main road to Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort. The word on the street is that Oregon Department of Transportation is working day and night to clear the road and make repairs, and that the resort will be accessible by mid-December (click here for up-to-date conditions: http://skihood.com/cs/blogs/). In the meantime, all other Mt. Hood resorts remain open and accessible.

Mt. Hood’s SkiBowl and Timberline ski areas teamed up to offer the Fusion Pass, which allows skiers and riders unlimited access to both resorts, which sit just a few miles from one another.

~ See you on the slopes!
Jerry

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Editor’s Note: Jerry Krieg is the Director of Marketing for our partner SkiOregon ; his column “Jerry’s Powder Dispatch” will appear all ski season and chronicles Jerry’s inexplicable need for fresh powder.

BRRRRRRR! In case you haven’t looked outside lately, the temperature is rapidly dropping and the falling snow has cloaked Oregon’s evergreen forests, prairies, high desert and…ahem…yes, even the beach…with an abundant dusting of powder!

This winter wonderland is the perfect destination for an action packed “snow day”. So bundle up those kids from head to toe, pack up the picnic basket, and head outside…here are a few ideas that will surely cure your “cabin fever”

What you will need: A pile of well packed snow (courtesy of Mother Nature), warm dry clothes, warm dry boots, regular snow shovel (to cut large shapes), smaller beach shovel (for detail work), spoon (for fine details), spray bottle of water (optional).

What to do: You’re never too old to relive your childhood and play in the snow! Use the next snowfall as an excuse to get creative with your kids. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1 – Snow sculpture and ice castles are the winter equivalent of sand castles. Sand and snow can be used to produce stunning works of art. To create a snow sculpture, all you need is a pile of well packed snow, an idea, and a regular snow shovel or a small beach shovel.

To get started: Use your snow shovel to roughly block out the basic shape of your creation. Next, use the beach shovel to further refine the shapes and, finally, use the spoon or some other shaping tool to scrape out the fine details. At this point you might want to try using the spray bottle to lightly mist the surface. The mist will melt a thin layer of snow and should quickly refreeze to sheen of ice. This will make it easier for you to sculpt the finer details. The trick is not to use too much water. You want to be working with snow, not slush.

Ideas for shapes:

a- The basic snow turtle: A mound of snow with legs, head, and shell pattern — very easy to make and ideal for younger kids.

b- Snow castle: Pretend that you are at the beach and the snow is sand. More complex but still easy to make.

c- Simple geometric shapes like blocks, cubes, pyramids, and spheres

2 – Tracks: Kids love to run across a field of freshly fallen snow just to see their tracks. Put a twist on this activity by having your kids create animal tracks. Check a field guide out of the library and let them study what different animal tracks look like. Then they can use different tools (wooden spoons, spades, empty spools, or whatever you have around the house) to recreate the tracks on your lawn. They might be able to trick neighbors into thinking a deer has run across their lawn.

3 – Snowflake Catching: Snowflake catching is perfect for those gentle snowfalls with great big flakes. Don’t try it when a blizzard is blowing snow almost horizontally or your kids will run headlong into a tree with their mouths wide open. Not fun. Here’s how it works: Look up into the sky. As soon as you can decipher individual snowflakes, focus on one and follow it with your eyes as it floats down to the ground. Then catch it on your tongue. It’s fun to watch kids play this game because they look so funny staring at the sky, wandering back and forth with their tongues sticking out.

These snow activities are a springboard to the world of fun snow play. Just remember, playing in the snow is only limited by your endurance to cold. Let your imagination run free and enjoy yourself!

Safety Note: If you’re venturing far from home, AAA recommends the following list of ‘must-haves’ in case of emergencies. They include: a fully charged mobile phone; blankets or sleeping bags; a flashlight with extra batteries; first-aid kit; knife; drinking water; high-calorie non-perishable food; extra clothing; waterproof matches; sack of sand, cat litter, or traction mats; shovel; windshield scraper and brush; tool kit; tow rope; booster cables; compass and road maps; and emergency flares or reflectors.

~ Cheers and happy “snow day” – Mo

The morning’s drive to Forest Grove, West of Portland, is awash in white. Raised a Midwestern urbanite, I like to think I know snow. I’ve driven through blizzards and shoveled once, twice, three times in a day. As a kid, I remember holing up in blanket caves during chilly power outages, making snow angels and castles out of four-foot drifts, and praying for snow days with plotting abandon. The temporality of snow was my prairie child’s wish, and my city girl’s chore.

But this is no Midwestern scene. With the next curve of the road, blue sky breaks the hills’ foggy flurry. Up top, Douglas firs sparkle, freshly powdered. Ahead in the sunshine, the frost melts back to green grass and evergreen…a reminder of the temporality of snow, and winter itself.

This fluffy stuff must make skiers itch to carve their legacies into it. I imagine the exhilaration, but never really enjoyed activities that involved strapping things to my feet. Still, admiring elegant rows of snow-swathed pine, my own paws itch for a magical snowshoe hike under the cathedral timbers.

I remember one wintry hike in Iowa when my folks and I walked for “miles” (to a kid) to find the perfect Christmas tree. Rounding field after field, it seemed it would never reveal itself. Finally, we located one good enough, cut it, and dragged it back to my granddad’s pickup. At home, it was just two feet too tall of perfection, so Dad had to cut it again. That was the first and last time we cut our own tree.

Decades later, my family has followed me to Oregon. I warned Dad about the rain in the Willamette Valley, but he says—like we all say now—“at least it isn’t snow.” At Thanksgiving, though, he had to ask: “really, Michelle, does it always rain like this?” No…not really. But it sure makes today’s snowfall a refreshing twist on a theme.

On the road to Forest Grove, the foothills are populated with the symmetry of Noble firs made flawlessly “holiday” by the accent of snow. Some are in Christmas tree farm rows waiting to be shipped to modern Midwestern children; some are dotted here and there among the Dougs. But none is as stalwartly as that sesquicentenarian on my dog’s walking path. I think the Noble Fir is to trees what Oregon truffles are to food… a pearl of a species shaped by the patience of time and the gentlest of conditions only Oregon can provide. Those conditions work on people too, promoting a rare human condition that inspires kindly folk to redirect sidewalks around exalted trees.

I will get a Noble Fir for our home Christmas tree this year. I’m an Oregonian now, so I won’t have to walk for miles, scrape a windshield or shovel a driveway to get it. In Oregon, the ancient nobility of trees is plentiful and protected, and the temporal trauma of snow, sparse. Today we have snow in perfect measure, alighting the fir branches. But, like that, the flakes will melt as if landing in the warm fur of a Collie’s back.

This gift of snow that kids pray for, skiers dream of, and Midwestern girls wax poetic on, with a hush and a twinkle, launches my holiday spirit.

At least it isn’t rain.

~ Michelle G.

Emergency Kit: Also, if you’re venturing far from home, AAA recommends the following list of ‘must-haves’ in case of emergencies. They include: a fully charged mobile phone; blankets or sleeping bags; a flashlight with extra batteries; first-aid kit; knife; drinking water; high-calorie non-perishable food; extra clothing; waterproof matches; sack of sand, cat litter, or traction mats; shovel; windshield scraper and brush; tool kit; tow rope; booster cables; compass and road maps; and emergency flares or reflectors.

Also, please check with Red Cross for tips on preparing a car emergency kit.

Sno-Park Permits: You must have a valid Sno-Park permit displayed in the windshield of your vehicle if you park in designated winter recreation parking areas (Sno-Parks) between November 15 and April 30. Sno-Parks are located in all mountain passes of the state and in most recognized ski, snowmobile, and snow play areas.

Permits are sold at all DMV offices and by permit agents in resorts, sporting goods stores, and other retail outlets. Agents are allowed to charge a service fee for each permit they sell.

All set? Find the snow…and ski or ride Oregon!