Stoked at Crystal Theater.
Ought to be enough gear in here to keep us happy for a day or two.
Christmas Day on Lolo Pass.
My grandpa’s 1906 train, out for one day only on Christmas.
Disco: $12 beginner area lift tickets and $4.50 Cold Smokes.
It’s that time of year again.
Lupine Inn in Red Lodge. The manager’s brother walked into the room on our checkout day, pointed to a spot on the dresser next to TV, and told me “You can put tip, four five dollar, right here.” When I left the room he was waiting outside. I had not left a tip. I was loading the truck outside, standing in a snowbank, and he was standing in our room, banging on the window, trying to get my attention.
Sunset run in Pattee.
Dumping in Red Lodge.
The family whose ski tips stay together skis together.
A couple hundred miles of this on either side of the Continental Divide.
Letting it all air out.
More fun on Lolo Pass.
Fun in the fog on Lockwood Point.
Best thing I ever put in the fridge.
Darling angels. Ahem.
The crash of Air Asia 8501 struck more than most airline crashes, in part because I spent a bit of time on Air Asia planes and in part because I spent a morning in the Surabaya airport probably the same way a lot of those same passengers did – killing time and looking for something to eat. With its 40,000 or so islands and crappy roads, air travel is a bit of a given in Southeast Asia. As it happens with most markets in Third World countries, air companies in Indonesia spring up overnight to fill a specific need, and may disappear just as fast. We flew on a number of dubious airlines as we hopped around Southeast Asia, one of which had the unlikely name of “Sriwijaya”. Air Asia, on the other hand, has helped to level the playing field by eliminating some of the idiosyncrasies of Asian flying and keeping fares low. The airline appeared to us as professional, with online booking and clean planes with new interiors. (Contrast that to airlines with difficult booking operations and planes fresh from Craigslist. One we flew in was still partly adorned with Aeromexico livery.) There’s no proper way to end this: I could bore you with my memories of Surabaya, but won’t.
Flashback to 2009: Laura boarding a Batavia flight from Mataram, Lombok, to Surabaya.
