Chillin' In Big Sky

As Autumn faded and days got shorter, Julie and I came to grips with the reality of no longer being in Southern California, where most days remained relatively warm even in winter.

Since Jay, Sasha, JoJo, Emma, Gina and Laszlo, who spent Christmas with us, returned home, Julie and I found ourselves chillin' in Big Sky.  

Darlene, Brooks and BG3 were at their place in the YC community a few weeks longer, and we enjoyed great skiing, thought-provoking conversations and delicious meals at their place.

In the evenings, Julie and I enjoyed watching the first two seasons of "The Mandalorian," a spin-off from "Star Wars" and the Beatles documentary "Get Back," among other TV programming.

Once a week, we walk over to Tips Up for variations of friend chicken and French fries.  Other evenings we cook at home.

Every afternoon before dinner prep, I play my guitar while Julie reads.  In fact, we have a lot of routines that seem to keep us occupied if not exactly busy.

Most days we get outside to take a hike for about an hour or so, regardless of the weather, though Julie carefully selects the warmest part of the day.  Frozen over, Ousel Falls has a special beauty in winter.  We saw a mama moose and her baby there a few days ago while hiking. 

In lieu of our daily walk, we sometimes go skiing.  Last spring, we purchased senior season passes for weekdays this season, which given the current lift prices proved to be an incredible deal.  The passes more than pay for themselves by using them three times over the course of the season, assuming we would have paid for daily lift tickets at those prices.

The skiing has been fantastic in Big Sky, with lots of skiable terrain so that it doesn't get crowded on any given slope, though of course at any moment there may be a clump of a dozen or so swooshing down.

Progressively shorter days reversed course as it always does, and as we approach February, the weather feels generally warmer and sunnier.  It makes winter in the mountains feel much friendlier to our systems.  Still, we're in need of a warm weather break soon, because we did live most of our lives near sunny beaches.

As Julie and I walked along the Crail Ranch Trail on Sunday morning, a soundcheck from the adjacent golf course piqued our interest.  We were surprised to see that a grand piano had been placed amid snow-covered fairways, which in winter have cross-country ski trails where golf carts drive in summer.

Cross-country skiers bought tickets that included headphones so they could listen to an afternoon concert while skiing.  Julie went over to check it out, while I was at home watching the Rams play the Buccaneers in the playoffs.