I’ve been in Montana a few days now.  I’m really enjoying mountain life, plus all the education I’ve received in these few days.

#1: The people in the mountains have a language all their own.  If you are a big skier or snowboarder, you might be aware of most of these words, but I was not privy to this lingo. Thanks Kelsey for explaining things to me.

  • Bluebird Day – A beautiful sunny day with nothing but blue skies.
  • Bra Tree – When girls throw their bras onto a tree under a lift – I had no idea this was a real thing until Annika & Kelsey pointed one out on one of our rides up the mountain
  • Chute – A steep trail surrounded by rocks (hardcore)
  • Falling Leaf – Riding on one edge of your snowboard back and forth the whole way down a hill
  • Pow – Fresh snow on the hill that you cut through like butter – it scared me a little at first, but it’s absolutely fantastic to play in and ski in
  • Yard Sale – A fall that sends all your gear flying all over the place
Those were my new mountain terms.  I don’t want to exclude the Montana cowboy language I have seen, so I’m including this as an example.  I have no idea what it means, but I’ll save that for a different trip.
#2:  The sounds are quite different… like there are barely any.  Sitting outside, all you hear is the wind and the birds.  It’s a different kind of relaxing.

#3:  The scenery in the mountains is so beautiful.  We have a view of Lone Mountain and the changes to that view hour by hour is incredible.  Sometimes you can’t see it all because it’s covered by clouds and snow and other times it’s clear and you have an awesome view of the peak.  The sunrise turns it pink and the sunset highlights it in white.

Yep, that is our view.  Pretty amazing.

#4: They live the simpler life here… which means that life is simple here even when you’re on vacation. Yesterday, we had a great day in Bozeman and when we got back to the house, it was snowing pretty hard.  That called for a champagne celebration.  We got all geared up and had an afternoon filled with sledding, building jumps, snow diving (yes, literally diving off a pile of snow) and just being outside in it.  Here are my favorite photos from yesterday’s play time:

Champagne Celebration!!!!

And last but not least, here is a video of the snow diving.

Biggest lesson learned:  Winter vacations that celebrate winter are fantastic.  It’s not always about escaping the cold, but embracing all it has to offer.