By the time we reached February, lighter-than-usual snow due to El Niño had thinned snow coverage below what it has been in December.
The last few days in January were downright warm once we had donned ski clothing layers, although we had a cold snap in the middle of the month when nighttime temperatures dropped to 38 below zero.
Big Sky Resort continued valiant efforts with their snow-making and trail maintenance, but by February 2, thin coverage forced closing some runs to focus on a few favored slopes.
A larger-than-usual crowd on that Friday made it seem more like the public ski mountain that it truly is than the private ski playground that it sometimes feels to be.
I love spring skiing's warmer temperatures, even if snow isn't as good as on frigid winter days, so Julie and I make the best of it.
When Julie joins me two or three days a week, we pick and choose the runs we take. We ski down Mr. K the most because of its consistently good snow coverage. Our second top choice is Tippy's Tumble.
By the end of the day, we've had a lot of great skiing, even if avoiding other skiers is the biggest difference in each time down.
We now both take the shuttle bus from Town Center rather than driving, and we have a pretty good routine down. When I go alone, Julie drops me at the bus stop and later picks me up, saving me the plodding walk in ski boots.
On solo days, I try to add variety, searching for hidden gems.
Yesterday, with the big crowd forced onto fewer runs --- compounded by the popular Hangman run being used for a ski race which limited choices further --- there were actually five to fifteen minute waits for lifts, even in the Single line, but I got in some fun runs.
Most of the time we ski down and either get on immediately or wait a couple of minutes.
When we aren't skiing, we take hikes, and the views just walking by the snow-covered golf course in town are pretty awesome.
On Wednesday evenings, Julie and I have been heading to the nearby Wilson Hotel lobby to enjoy live music with a spectacular view of Lone Peak as a scenic backdrop.
Julie took a really great short video of a local pianist one evening, which is linked here. He called his style sci-fi movie soundtrack, and we quite enjoyed it, just as we have other acts like jazz duo and country-folk singer/songwriter.
Happy Hour makes drink prices very reasonable --- $5 for a craft beer or rum and Diet Coke --- then we head home for dinner.
There's also usually a spirits tasting of some sort, often local Willie's Distillery (highly recommend their Canadian Whiskey, which tastes sort of like Captain Morgan) and Aperol Spritz, a drink I enjoyed for happy hours on our Princess Mediterranean cruise last year.
For our Wedding Anniversary, we headed to Tips Up to split a huge double cheese burger.
Yes, we're quite the big spenders when it comes to dining out on our anniversary, though in our defense, I will say that double burger now costs $28 and does easily feed both of us.
We've also gone to our favorite restaurant, River House Grill, a couple of times for our favorite, fried chicken dinner. The recipe seems very similar to the one used by my mom and grandmother, so of course we love it.
With three pieces of chicken each, plus side dishes and a supplemental order of onion rings, we have not only dinner but leftovers for lunch the next day.
Mostly we have our meals at home, cycling through dishes we cook no matter where we may call home.
People we encounter in Big Sky tend to be on vacation, so it is somewhat like living on a cruise ship constantly.
We meet lots of interesting people from around the country who offer a wide spectrum of viewpoints.
Now that Darlene, Brooks and BG3 spend less time in Big Sky in the winter, Julie and Igo through a bit of withdrawal from being away from family after just a week or so.
We've skied two to four times each week, and just being out of the house keeps us from over-consuming food and media.
In the afternoon, I stand in our bedroom looking out the window to play my guitar and sing a combination of songs memorized fifty years ago along with a few new ones over the course of an hour or so. It helps with my left hand flexibility, which before I started playing again was slowly succumbing to numbness.
I can't find the exact quote, but I read that Dick Van Dyke said essentially that in his thirties, he exercised to look good. In his fifties, he exercised to stay fit. In his seventies, he exercised to stay ambulatory. In his nineties, he exercises as an act of defiance. I seem to be on that same track, albeit with a heavier build than that nimble star of a TV show my sister and I watched regularly when we were kids.
I will mention a movie I watched this week free on Amazon Prime. Air is the Ben Affleck-Matt Damon collaboration about the birth of Nike's Air Jordan phenomenon. It's a fun look back to the mid-1980's, a wonderful time to be alive, and see the "high tech" of that day.
I've never worn Nike's, having gone from New Balance to Adidas Rod Lavers to my now favorite Skechers, so perhaps that made me reluctant to watch the movie, but like other movies by these guys that I've watched beginning with Good Will Hunting, I found it well done.
Brooks worked many years in product licensing at Ocean Pacific, so I'm sure he would find a lot in Air's milieu relatable.
I've seen Damon in Big Sky skiing --- or actually having lunch at a yurt where we also stop while skiing --- quite a few times in recent years. If I happen to see him this year, I can mention I enjoyed this new flick, though usually we just exchange glances which I project acknowledges recognition from past years.
I don't bother celebrities I see, including Ben Affleck's ex-wife Jennifer Garner, who also skis in Big Sky. They're entitled to live wonderful American lives too.
