By all accounts, I should be comfortable in the snow.  Although I have lived in Florida for the past 24 years, my roots are definitely deep in the snow zone.  My father was born and raised in Norway, and my parents met at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood in Oregon.  I learned to ski on Mt. Hood, and enjoy visiting the mountain and Timberline Lodge when I travel home to Oregon. 

My dad in his hometown in Norway in 1948. My dad used this 1941 Oldsmobile as a taxi and put 300,000 miles on it.

Timberline Lodge postcard

My parents were both working on the mountain in the 1950s when they met.  My father drove a sno-cat, taking skiers to the summit and running rescue missions.  My mother worked selling lift tickets and as a waitress in the dining room.  My father was awarded a special “Over-The-Snow” plaque for his record-breaking 69,000 miles driven in a sno-cat.  All his life my father has nurtured a passion for motor vehicles, and has racked up the miles in either taxis, sno-cats or trucks.  My sister and I have followed in those transportation footsteps and continue the family tradition and love of moving vehicles; she in trucks and me in airplanes, and both of us on motorcycles.

My dad accepts his "Over-The-Snow" plaque.

My dad told us stories of the skiers and climbers he had rescued over the years.  Timberline Lodge is a classic ski lodge, whose exterior was featured in the movie “The Shining.”  The original old lodge has a huge fireplace and wood carvings throughout, and boasts the only year round glacier skiing in the US. 

A photo from the book "Timberline and a Century of Skiing on Mount Hood" by Jean Arthur

A snocat on Mount Hood.

My dad and skiers at 10,000 feet, taken Christmas 1956.

My mom and her dog Kushki on a chair-lift at Timberline.

This sno-cat is parked in front of my parent's log cabin in Government Camp, Oregon, Jan. 1961. My sister, three years old in this photo, is standing in front of the sno-cat.

I love to ski and vacation in the snow, and am enjoying the snow this winter.  However, after many months of having to drive to work in the snow, the fun factor may change, and I am still looking forward to heading southbound and back to Florida.  (Special thanks to my mom, who not only saved all the old black and white photos and newspaper articles, but who also dug through many boxes to find the ones I wanted and then sent them to me.)

Snowcat postcard.