The drive out was uneventful and took 5 hours. I took the I-90-US 97 route since it was snowing on Steven's Pass and Snoqualmie Pass was wet with no snow. It was shocking on the drive over that once I was east of the pass, there was NO SNOW. For us that means a probable drought this summer.
I arrived in Winthrop early with plans on meeting up with a friend and seeing her new house. It's beautiful with a great view along with heated flooring and wood beam ceilings. Very nice!
Winthrop had some snow maybe 3-4 feet left and that is way below there average as well. This doesn't bode well for a weekend of skiing. About 3 pm, it started snowing pretty good, so we jumped up to go skiing. I went to check in at the Lodge with my friends meeting me there.
The Lodge is perched up on a small mountain sitting 1100 ft above the Methow Valley. I got checked in and see ensured my reservations were confirmed for my massage tomorrow. Odd thing here, when I inquired about dining room reservations, she kept trying to talk me out of it, directing me to eat at the more casual lounge. Now, I didn't come all this way to eat in the casual lounge and she finally made my dining room reservation for Saturday night. Not really sure what that was all about and I sure wouldn't expect that from a 4 diamond rated resort.
Upon arrival at the room, I really didn't want to leave to go skiing. It was more than I had hoped for and gave a sense of solitude and living it up! However, I had to changed into ski clothing and run out the door to meet my friends.
The entry way to the room
We went down the mountain to a trail head close by and skied the Little Wolf trail, rated easy and it was fun. It has been quite a few years since I've been on skis, but the trail was easy including the hills. Since we started after 4 pm, we didn't need a trail pass, which was nice.
We finished up about 530 pm and got dropped off with plans for dinner at my friend's house. I got things settled and headed back down into town. The roads were slick and it was a very slow drive. I had a nice dinner and visit, but since the snow was still coming down, it was eat and run.
Arriving back at the SML, I enjoyed my room with plans to really enjoy this weekend.
