Week Thirty: Photo A Day 2009

Here is WEEK 30 of our "Photo a Day" project. The river was HOT this weekend with temperatures up to 118°F in Needles. Skiing was awesome and the sunsets were again spectacular. Paul helped Gene and I out with the boat driving so I actually got lots of beach time. It was good to see Seena and Troy again. Check out the Photo Gallery of this river trip at Radar River Rats.When we got home from the river, we had four days of the Tour de France to watch. Wow! the Americans really did shine. Lance brilliantly maintained his third place on the podium.Yeah! American Team Garmin-Slipstream finished in 2nd. Yeah! American, Christian Vande Velde finished in 8th. Yeah! Another American, George Hincapie, finished a respectful 19th and led the final sprint in Paris. Yeah! Next year watch for the new American Team led by Lance— Radio Shack.

I've spent a lot of time this week learning the ins and outs of facebook. I've been uploading photos, videos, and events for my snow ski (Pacific Rim Alliance) and water ski (Radar River Rats) clubs. It's been lots of fun connecting with lost skiers, old friends, school chums and relatives.

Paper and element from Vicki Parker’s A Work in Progress “Uptown Girl”.

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Annual Wine Maker Dinner for MS

Pacific Rim Alliance Snow Sports Club and Radar River Rats Water Ski Club will once again host it's ninth annual Wine Maker Dinner for MS on Saturday, October 3, 2009, 5 PM in San Diego. Cost is a minimum $75 donation to "The Heuga Center for MS." 100% of the proceeds to benefit the center.Mary Trimmins, Executive Chef, returns as our guest chef. Dinner will consist of 6-7 courses with an exquisite wine specifically matched to each course. Dinner typically lasts 5 hours.

For those coming from out of town, plan to stay the night at a nearby hotel, and attend the Miramar Air Show on Sunday.

Paper & elements from Sara’s Sweet Blossom Designs “Boys World.”

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Big White Photo Gallery

Just finished up the Big White photo gallery — Week THREE & FOUR of our mega ski trip. We took lots of photos and had a really great time. The skiing ranged from slush to powder to packed powder to hard pack to powder on hard pack. We had snow and sunshine with temperatures around 32°F. We skied, snowmobiled and tubed. We had soak time, followed by Happy Hours, followed by dinners in our condo. We did dine at our favorite restaurant, Kettle Valley, and experienced the unique gun barrel coffee and chocolate at Snow Shoes. It was an amazing week. Catherine and Gene hung around for another week with Shirley. The season ended with the usual Dummies Downhill. We are another great Big White trip coming up for 2010. We plan to cruise for LA to Vancouver days before the start of the Olympics. We will then bus to Big White for 5 days of skiing while enjoying the Olympics on the Big Screen. Since we will be in Canada we will definitely catch the Olympic fever. Prices will be announced soon but you can get a sneak peak at Big White Olympic Fever.

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Kootenay Ski Safari Photo Gallery

I just finished up the photo gallery for our recent Kootenay Ski Safari along the "Powder Highway." Eight of us went for eight days. We all met up in Salt Lake City where we boarded Delta's Sky West to Cranbrook, Canada. We rented two vans and headed for our first stop in Golden.Kicking Horse—
The first day we had a bit of snowfall but it cleared up in the afternoon. The skiing was an adventure. The runs are so unbelievably long. Monday it snowed and visibility was pretty low on top. The best meal we had was contemporary Canadian Cuisine at the Kicking Horse Bar and Grill.

Panorama—
We left Golden early in the morning and drove through rain and snow to Panorama. But by the time we had our lift tickets, the skies were beginning to clear. Panorama had less than an inch of new snow but there was powder still to be had. We met for lunch at the Picnic Deli and had the best ever Ruben sandwich which we all ordered.

Kimberley—
We drove from skiing in Panorama to Kimberley through rain, sleet, snow and cows for a two night stay at the Trickle Creek Lodge in two bedroom condos. We ate both nights as Kelsey's which had some very good food. It was here that we discovered the "free" birthday treat. Since Elissa can not resist dessert, hers was the first "birthday" we celebrated. The skiing was a mixed bag. I took the day off to work. JoAnn and Arnie learned that the groomed runs were pretty icy in the morning. Everyone else discovered deep caches of fresh untracked powder in the trees at the top.

Fernie—
Looks like we saved he best for last. The skiing was unbelievable here. The ski gods granted up more than 18 cm of fresh dry powder giving us three incredible powder days. And one of those day we were treated to gorgeous blue skies. The food in Fernie was incredible. We loved Slopeside for lunch, but our best meal was at the Lizard Creek Lodge. We stayed at the Wolf's Den Lodge, just a few steps from the slopes.

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Week Ten: Photo a Day 2009

Here is WEEK 10 of my "Photo a Day" project. We concluded our ski adventure in Fernie, one of the resorts in the Kootenay range of the Canadian Rockies in B.C. with Pacific Rim Alliance Snow Sports Club. The snow gods smiled upon us. We had up to a foot of fresh snow and our awesome week was sandwiched between a week of rain/ice and a week of freezing cold. Lucky us.
Paper and elements from Manu Studio’s “Celebrate Spring Add-on” at scrapbookgraphics.com”.

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Week Nine: Photo a Day 2009

Here is WEEK 9 of my "Photo a day" project. We've been having a great time skiing the various resorts in the Kootenay range in B.C. Canada with Pacific Rim Alliance Snow Sports Club. We are now headed for our last three days in Fernie where we expect more new snow and lots of powder. The large photo on the layout is of Panorama. The views are breathtaking.
Paper and elements from Digi-Designs by Nicole’s “Fresh”. Template by Lauries Scraps.

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New Zealand Summer Ski Trip

Pacific Rim Alliance, our snow ski club, has announced a fantastic trip to New Zealand this summer. Here are the details. For more information check us out or download a pdf New Zealand flyer.

August 6 -19, 2009
11 nights for $2,269 (dbl occ) includes—

Round trip Air from LAX via Air New Zealand.

Ground Transfers.

Auckland

• 1 night Bay of Islands at Copthorne Hotel.
• 1 night accommodations in Auckland at 4-star Rendezvous Hotel
• Half day Fuller’s Cape Brett “Hole in the Rock” Cruise.

Christchurch

• 2 nights in Christchurch at the 4-star Rydges Christchurch Hotel.
• Optional day trip to Mt. Hutt for a ski day at $23. Per person.

Wanaka Lake

• 2 nights in Wanaka at the 4-star Edgewater Resort on the lake.
• Private coach for a ski day at Treble Cone Ski Field.
• Private coach for ski day at Cardrona then on to Queenstown.

Queenstown

• 5 nights in Queenstown at 4-star Novotel Gardens Hotel Queenstown.
• Welcome buffet dinner and Maori Haka show at the Skyline Gondola.

All local Taxes including New Zealand Goods & Service taxes of 12.5%.

Does not include—

• New Zealand departure tax of NZD$25 which must be paid upon departure.
• Airport taxes and fees and fuel surcharges are currently USD$301.
• Lift tickets are not included.

There will be an optional extension to Melbourne & Tasmania. Hope you can join us.

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Ski Canada with Pacific Rim Alliance

Pacific Rim Alliance Ski Club has two snow ski trips going to Canada in 2009. There are still openings on both trips and air has not been cheaper in a long time. And because flying into Canada is an international flight, you get to bring two bags, one of which can be ski equipment (boots, skis, poles), for no additional charge. In addition, the dollar has gotten a bit stronger than the Canadian dollar so if it holds, the cost of the ground portion will decrease.

* All air prices quoted are for round-trip and includes all taxes and fuel charges.

You can download a one-page information sheet here.

To sign up for these trips you need to get your own air and then send Pacific Rim (10818 Viacha Dr., San Diego, CA 92124) a $200 deposit. Final payments will be due soon. We are in the process of finalizing the costs and should have them in a week.

Big White—
April 5-12, 2009 or April 6-13, 2009
These dates are flexible. You can elect to stay April 6-13, 2009 to take advantage of the lower air price of flying on Monday. Ground price of $650 includes 7 nights in hotel room (dbl. occ.) with microwave, refrigerator & fireplace, 5 days lift tickets, round-trip transfer from Kelowna airport, nightly cocktail parties and one dinner. Air costs on January 10, 2009 for one stop flights were as follows.

• Alaska changes planes in Seattle.
• Air Canada changes in Vancouver.

Mon-Mon: April 6-13, 2009

• Alaska: LAX from $425*.
• Alaska: San Diego from $522*.
• Air Canada: LAX from $334*.
• Air Canada: San Diego from $334*.

Sun-Sun: April 5-12, 2009

• Alaska: LAX from $627*.
• San Diego from $612*.
• Air Canada: LAX from $334*.
• Air Canada: San Diego from $541*.

Kootenay Safari—
February 28 - March 8, 2009
Ground cost of $1,299 includes 3 nights in Fernie, 3 nights in Golden, 2 nights in Kimberley (dbl. occ.), 7 lift tickets (3 Fernie, 2 Kicking Horse, 1 Panorama, 1 Kimberley), transportation from Cranbrook and to each resort, and nightly cocktail parties.

Air is on Delta through Salt Lake City into Cranbrook. Prices from San Diego or LAX are currently $305*. Check the Delta web site for other cities.

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Prayers for Peggy

We are snuggled in our condo in Big White with the fireplace blazing as we watch the snow fall and wait for the lifts to open. It is so very beautiful and peaceful and gets us thinking about our recent ski trip to Bariloche and our friend Peggy who is struggling with cancer and chemo. She has a really hard-to-treat cancer but is fighting the fight. To date, she's had two chemo treatments with four to go.

There is a great organizations called Caring Bridge that facilitates a blog for those like Peggy with cancer. You can leave a message of hope and read her journal to catch up on her progress or check out her new do. If you know Peggy or just want to leave encouraging words, visit her here. Our prayers and positive thoughts are with her always.
I made this layout for Peggy. The pink is in honor of her valiant fight. The layout was made from bits and pieces of stuff I've designed over the years.

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Big White Snow Play

It snowed on and off all day at Big White yesterday. When the sun peaked out we were able to watch the "kids" walk up and hill and slide down on skis, snowboards, sleds and platters. This young lady was most entertaining as she did a header as she went off the run. It's suppose to snow again tomorrow with the mountain opening on Wednesday. We can only hope and pray. At least it's cold enough.
We have been putting our time here to good use. We are headed down to Kelowna later today to buy stuff to fix our vacuum and dish washer. Good thing we were here when they broke.

Our ski club, Pacific Rim Alliance, is running a ski trip to Big White April 5-12, 2009, when the skiing and weather is at it's finest. Click here for the details.

Pac Rim also has a ski trip to the Kootenays (Fernie, Kicking Horse, Panorama, Kimberley) Feb 28 - March 8, 2009. Click here for details.

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Big White Snow

We've been in Big White a week now and it just really started snowing today. It's frustrating that the mountain has not opened yet but we've enjoyed the peace and quite. The mountain is hoping to open on Wednesday but we need colder temperatures and more snow for that to happen.

Here's the view of falling snow from our unit looking towards the main Village Center. Although it's been snowing and blowing all morning, not much snow is expected. We continue to pray anyway.
Our ski club, Pacific Rim Alliance, is running a ski trip to Big White April 5-12, 2009, when the skiing and weather is at it's finest. Click here for the details.

Pac Rim also has a ski trip to the Kootenays (Fernie, Kicking Horse, Panorama, Kimberley) Feb 28 - March 8, 2009. Click here for details.

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Pac Rim Argentina Photo Gallery

It's been a long time coming but I finally have Pacific Rim Snow Sport Alliance's Argentina Photo Gallery up and available for viewing. I will be working on the DVD for participants and hope to have it done by the time I return to the states.

It's been a bigger job that I had anticipated. Collectively, our group took more than 9 GB of digital photographs—that's more than 6,000 shots! Don't worry, they are not all on this web site. To make viewing more manageable, slide shows consisting of about 50 - 100 photos have been created for each day. I tried to pick the best of the best and concentrated on the people. Hope you enjoy. It was a truly great trip.

Our ski club, Pacific Rim Alliance, is running a ski trip to Big White April 5-12, 2009, when the skiing and weather is at it's finest. Click here for the details.

Pac Rim also has a ski trip to the Kootenays (Fernie, Kicking Horse, Panorama, Kimberley) Feb 28 - March 8, 2009. Click here for details.

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Big White Announces Exciting News

We are still on the road. Spent the night in Yakima, WA and should arrive in Kelowna in time to hit the Costco. Just before we left San Diego, Heinz, a Pac Rim member, sent us an article on Big White that appeared in the December 2008 issue of SKI by Ken Castle. Interesting.

What we did know is that a 17-story hotel-condo-casino-convention center is being built at the bottom of the Ridge Rocket Chair and is expected to open in 2010. The construction at Big White looks to be outpacing many other destination resorts, and the real-estate boom could soon be matched by an equally ambitious skiing expansion, tentatively called East Peak. According to this article, the resort is about to unveil a master plan that proposes the addition of 2,000 acres of intermediate and advanced terrain on leased provincial land, with construction of the first lift on East Peak to begin in 2010. Plus, the plan makes room for a second-base, another residential community and even a golf course. Even more interesting.
You can download the complete article in pdf format here.

Our ski club, Pacific Rim Alliance, is running a ski trip to Big White April 5-12, 2009, when the skiing and weather is at it's finest. Click here for the details.

Pac Rim also has a ski trip to the Kootenays (Fernie, Kicking Horse, Panorama, Kimberley) Feb 28 - March 8, 2009. Click here for details.

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Price Drops on Pacific Rim's Trip to Kootenays in Canada

I have some news on Pacific Rim's trip to the Kootenays (Fernie, Kicking Horse, Panorama, Kimberely). Fernie, pictured below, and Kicking Horse are known for their powder skiing. Kimberely and Panorama are fun resorts also.


Just checked Delta's flights to Cranbrook and with all that's been happening with gas and the world's economy, air ticket prices are coming down.

The flight on 2/28/2009 from LAX to Cranbook, BC, Canada is now $420 roundtrip with a return on 3/8/2009. The flight from San Diego is now $480!! These prices include taxes.

In addition, the US dollar has been steadily gaining on the Canadian dollar. Yesterday it was 1.28. Which means if the exchange rate holds our trip cost could decrease by about 25%.

It's not too late to sign up. Just book your air and send Pacific Rim Alliance a $200 deposit.

Hope you can join us. For more trip information go to Pacific Rim Alliance.

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Scrapping

Took some time today to work on my family scrap book. It is so very difficult identifying relatives in old photos. Here's a two-page layout of my immediate family. Being the oldest of five, you will find me in the bottom row, far left.


It's best that I get back to work. I need to finish up a slide show movie from Pacific Rim's recent ski trip to Argentina. We were in Bariloche for a week where we had some fresh snow but the best skiing was in Ushuaia, otherwise known as the End of the World. We also spent a few days in Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls. It was really a great trip. The Falls were breathtaking.

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Welcome

I am a first time blogger and decided to set up this blog since I've renewed my interested in scrap booking while reading other people's blogs. While I love photography, creating art, and digital scraping, my real passion is skiing— either on the water or snow.

Later this week, a group of us will be going with the Radar River Rats to the Colorado River for the last water ski trip of the season. Afterwards, my significant other and I will be heading to Cabo San Lucas and then Hawaii for some fun in the sun before we start snow skiing.
Our first snow trip will be to Big White, BC, Canada, where we will be skiing the first three weeks of December. Big White is probably our most favorite place to ski. The snow is awesome, light and dry, including both the early and late seasons.

We normally travel with Pacific Rim Alliance Snow Sports Alliance and will be returning to Big White with them in April as well as skiing the Kootenay resorts of Canada with them in March.

Later.