Tea Cup Wednesday

This morning we headed up Hwy 35 to Tea Cup, the nordic ski area just past Pocket Creek where we skied Valentine's Day. The Tea Cup Nordic Club and US Forest Service folks were having a clinic for all of us volunteers for next month's ski outing for the kids at the Blind Schools in Salem OR and Vancouver WA. It was a beautiful day, so Lloyd, Elliot and I stayed after our instruction session for a little recreation. Who knows how long the good snow will last?

We left the warming hut and headed up the road to The Screamer trail. It was my first time down The Screamer, a long, winding downhill road. I did not scream. I did take my time, snow plowed down most of it, whistling parts of Vivaldi's Four Seasons for some strange reason. Why does music pop into your head?

After we got down The Screamer we headed off to the back trails outside of the Tea Cup area that are part of the Pocket Creek system. We stopped at a great viewpoint for lunch, pooling our snacks for a picnic. Between the three of us we had trail mix, wheat thins, triscuts, three kinds of cheese, dried apples, a dried strawberry tape, summer sausage, and best of all, ELK SAUSAGE (thanks Elliot).

We were ambushed by at least half a dozen gray jays (aka camp robbers) who followed us for a while, waiting for the inevitable crumbs. They were very bold. They sat on our ski poles. One ate some crumbs out of my hand, then bit me, the little ingrate. Another landed on my head. I put my hat back on. It was so sunny and nice, we sat and talked and munched for quite a while.

The ski back (downhill through the trees) wasn't so nice. It was getting icy, the trail was beat up, so we made new cuts through the deeper snow to slow us down. I took a graceful tumble and recrunched my neck, but fortunately everything held together and I don't hear any grinding this time. I guess all that physical therapy paid off. The shadows got long, we decided not to go back up The Screamer and took an alternate route and were treated to a Mt. Hood exposure. It had been hidden most of the day. The last long uphill, I had Abba songs stuck in my head. Damn you Mama Mia! They got me back to the parking lot in one piece.

Now it's dinner time. I've had my Aleve, my soak in the hot tub, and now, I'll go pour that glass of muscle relaxant. You know, the red liquid one you put in stemmed glasses. What a wonderful Wednesday. I sure hope the snow holds for the kids. That ski trip is a month away!