The Courtney Chronicles: Snowshoeing, Chili, and the Cabin

December 30- January 1

For our New Year's getaway, Christian and I decided to convince my dad that it would be a great idea f we went up to the cabin... in spite of the weather AND the fact that no one plows the road to the cabin! But Christian and I were prepared for adventure.

Our first stop was The Sports Basement (where I now, work by the way) in Walnut Creek to pick up our snowboard and ski rentals. Because of my connections (but mostly because the fine folks at SB are awesome), our rentals were all free! This was going to be an awesome weekend.

We left early Thursday morning with homemade lattes in our hands and started the 5 hour drive to the cabin. We made an obligatory stop at Granzella's in Williams, CA, a personal favorite of ours. More coffee and hot breakfast fueled the rest of our voyage. We arrived in McCloud in the late afternoon and parked the truck about a quarter mile from the cabin: Time to test out those snowshoes!

At the road sign about 1/2 mile from the cabin

We loaded up with as much as we could carry and started out.... success! To all of our amazement, the snowshoes were awesome! We made it to the cabin in (relative) ease and actually enjoyed the walk. The snowshoes provided a great workout, but still made walking through the snow so much easier than regular boots.

It felt good to be back at the wedding; the first time since we drove away on our wedding day. The lights still hung over the driveway and lined the front porch. Standing in front of the cabin on a picturesque, snow covered day reaffirmed our decision to get married in McCloud: It was perfect.

The snow-covered cabin. If you look closely, you can just barely make out the
lights hanging in front of the garage.

We unloaded our things and checked out the rest of the cabin. We had accidently left the cheesecakes from our wedding in the cabin and expected the worst... But to our surprise, they were basically untouched (although moldy!). The rest of the cabin checked out... or did it? As we went to inspect the generator, my dad discovered a large pool of coolant on the generator house floor. At the risk of ruining the engine, we opted to forgo electricity for the weekend. Now it was becoming a real backcountry adventure!

For the next few hours we melted snow for water, boiled it for drinking, and literally cooked by candlelight. We all huddled by the wood burning stove as the sun went down, and talked about the weekend's plans.

Christian and my Dad enjoying Christian's amazing "Candlelight Chili!"

The next morning, we strapped the snowshoes back on, trudged (happily) through the snow to the truck, and made our way in to Mt. Shasta for some of the best lattes and scones on the planet! (Thank you Seven Suns Coffee!) We explored the town for a little bit with stops at Ace Hardware and The Fifth Season (all required with any trip to Mt. Shasta), until finally heading back to the cabin to drop my dad off: It was time to go snowboarding!

With our equipment all set, we pointed ourselves West to head back towards the mountain and the Mt. Shasta Ski Park for afternoon/ night snow boarding and a New Year's Eve party! We were amped!... until we saw the traffic heading up the two lane road to the ski park. The back-up was awful and the parking lots were all full. A car coming back down from the park had told us that there was at least a two hour wait! No bueno! Saddened, but nit discouraged, Christian and I headed back down the mountain with our sights set on Snowman's Hill...

But before our adventure could continue, we decided to try out a new Thai food restaurant in downtown Mt. Shasta. We ordered two amazing dishes (Pad Thai and Red Curry Chicken), stuffed ourselves, and declared sledding season officially open. We picked up a sled from Ace and headed to Snowman's Hill.

Christian catching some air!

A view from Snowman's Hill looking up Mt. Shasta

I love this one!

Awww!

Needless to say, we had a blast! We spent a couple hours sledding with the rest of the kids on The Hill (sounds more daring that way!) and were laughing the whole time. With daylight fading, he packed up and headed back to the cabin.

New Year's Eve was spent sitting in front of the fire with Christian and my dad, with a glass of almond champagne, a bowl of hot chili, and a pan of gingerbread cake. all in all, I think that was one the best New Years I have had! As always, it was hard to leave the cabin, even after having to "rough" it for a few days in the winter.