Well I just got a hold of some good pictures from the downhill mountain bike race I won the past weekend at Huff Hills Ski Area.  It was a great event and tons of fun.  Sketchy as anything I have ever done but sketchy is fun right?  As long as you kept the speed up and didn't turn you were fine... but we know how that goes, just about everyone rag dolled at least once and I nearly tumbled into the spectators on at least two occasions.  The sections right before and right after the jumps were especially rutted so if you made it into the air straight you were half way there.  Anyway I got lucky and managed to link recoveries to get a clean first run.  The second one didn't go as well, unless I was being graded as a gymnast but the first run time held and I took hold the 1st place solid gold painted assortment of welded together bike parts.  It must have looked good because Beth (my personal an call ski patroller) asked if I was hurt when I made it to the finish.  This is what makes life so fun.  Great people and great event.  Can't wait to teach the little guy the ropes... just kidding Beth.

Well we decided we need to do a little more local exploring for my birthday.  As a result we headed a few miles north and discovered some more nice xc ski trails buried in snow like the rest of the state.  There is nothing like post holing to wear the dog out and nothing like cold fresh air and a ski to put the soul at peace.

Well today brought us confirmation of big news.  The 20 week ultrasound gave Beth and the Baby a clean bill of health and confirmed the earlier guess that we are going to be having a baby boy.  On a side note the tech independently confirmed that the little man was already excelling at his ski form and was seen during the ultrasound with his skis nicely crossed up.  See excellent foot positioning below. 

Believe it or not I am not talking about a long flat  run at SnowBowl, this is the real thing.  Having joined prior to becoming pregnant Beth returned from Christmas determined to get her required ski patrolling days in before she was too far along.  She has now made it and in the process we have found a fun little hill does in fact exist just south of Bismarck.  Huff Hills boasts a whopping 450ft of vertical and belive it or not was the site of a real avalanche this year.  See the crown in the center of the left most picture.  It was of coarse caused by the failure of a wind loaded cornice, lots of wind you know. 

On the plus side of all the driveway shoveling was the great snow conditions.  We are told that normal at Huff Hills is boiler-plate, but so far the conditions have been pretty good.  You do have to keep in mind where the wind does and doesn't deposit snow before you blindly hit jumps.  I rotated around on a couple blind 360's to find myself landing in lightly dusted grass.  Luckily rock is not plentiful here.  All in all much better than sitting on the couch, and some nice variety for our normal XC skiing.  Beth continues to make telemarking look easy.  

Here are a couple pictures of funny things we have notices in our brief ND ski careers.
- You bump your own chairs, the lifty stays warm inside the shack.
- Ski lessons are free and provided at the rope tow by the ski patrollers when available.
- In place of wimpy colored rope boundary fences are standard barbwire.  See the pictures of the fence and the tractor driving on the other side.
- I have been using my ticket bails upside down all these years?  Or have I?  See Picture.
- The last picture is of the patrol hut.  It is a retired FEMA trailer from the Grand Forks flood that is now located directly under the green lift.  Presumably so that patients can more easily drop in.   

Our return trip brought winter quickly back into perspective, all told at least 80% of our drive home was on some combination of slush, ice, and packed snow.  Luckily this year the wind didn't pick up until we were about an hour from home.  So we could at least see most of the time.  Just like last year we left the house with just a couple of inches of snow in the yard and returned to banks 6 feet high.  See picture one.  On the plus side the skiing around town is much improved although Roo is asking for stilts for her birthday.  So she can maneuver in the drifts like a deer instead of being continually high centered.

Back in Grafton the story wasn't much different with a dozen line workers shoveling 18 hours a day to bring some relief to the office roof trusses.  Every year we wait until they bend enough that ceiling tiles start falling down and get the shovels out.  Here are some pictures of the front of the building.  We had to employ a front loader to find the plant entrance doors that were completely buried.  Of coarse accross the street the snowmobile trail was almost bare.

Decorating is one thing that flat-landers do very well.  From 30 foot long fences covered in 3 foot spiders and webs to entire streets coordinating their Christmas decoration.  Its amazing!  Here are a couple pictures from Bismarck this season.  In our infinite lameness we didn't even have our own tree this year.  Just mooched off our friends :)

I know most of you do not find yourselves in the Dakotas looking for mountain biking trails very often, but if you do check you my new trail guide site.  I put together a guide of all the trails we have discovered around the area with some very idiot proof web tools I have discovered.  Thanks, Google!  Thanks, Weebly.  Check it out and see what you think.  Not to bad for a non-computer engineer.

Like the kids we are Beth found a kids site online that gave us the perfect costume idea.  Here it is... party tested and approved.

Well as usual I am always playing catch up, Beth and I spent two weekends during the past month getting a taste of what the near by Maah-Daah-Hey Trail in the Badlands has to offer.  The conclusion is MUCH!!!  W have certainly found the most technical and beautiful trail in North Dakota.  And even by Montana standards the trails length which now entails around 125 miles of continuous single track makes riding it end to end a noble feat.  Although I am not sure when we do plan on trying to fit this in so let us know when you are available and join us.  It is a can't miss event, great riding, beautiful views, and great camping.  Oh and believe it or not there are trees and hills that will make you sweat.  Don't believe me, check out our pictures or watch the slide show.  Cheers!!