well, i kind of take that back. rewind a few years to i believe it was christmas of 2009. we were heading back from my grandmothers christmas eve get-together & the sky fell, leaving us battling our way from arlington to keller to damon's mom's house for festivities. we eventually got there, but it was quite an adventure & left us sleeping over & waking up to snow christmas morning. i have never seen snow on christmas in texas. ever. until then.
but texas snow, well dfw snow, is a joke. its crunchy, resembling that of a badly made snocone. it usually results in the metroplex closing down for days & there being a run on bread, milk & any other perishable at the grocery store. we're talking apocalyptic conditions. however, my inner lorelai gilmore gets giddy with excitement anytime there's talk of "snow" in our forecast.
arizona is another one of those places you think snow, yeah right, but then i heard of this magical place, mount lemmon. damon's dad & step mom are always talking about going up the mountain. it was when they mentioned snow that my little child like heart of excitement go going. snow?! could there be?
a week before we left for arizona there was still snow on the mountain, so there was a chance i could see some right? before there was any mention of snow, the mountain was still on my itinerary for our trip. another thing about texas, well dfw, we don't have mountains. a few hills, but no mountains, so anytime i get the opportunity to see mountains, yes please, i'm game.
its 26 miles (i believe) to mount lemmon, ski valley from the base. what they don't tell you, it takes 1 1/2 hours to get there.
we stopped a handful of times to marvel at the scenery & get the wiggles out
^^^^ halfway point to the top
ski valley - the ski lift was under repairs that day, so no rides, but there was some snow still at the very peak, however we didn't see any except along the roadsides.
there are a few restaurants & a ski rental shop available at the top - here the temperature was 40 degrees cooler than the base.
summer haven is just before ski valley on your way up & the sky line is dotted with ski cabin rentals and homes. i was tempted to venture into the realty office, but i resisted.
funny story: we walked into their convenient store for a couple drinks & as we were checking up, struck up a conversation with the cashier. damon was wearing his texas rangers world series hat (his favorite) & the cashier used to have season tickets to the rangers, because she lived in bedford; thats like 15 miles from our house. small freaking world y'all.
maybe next time we visit arizona, i'll get lucky. Or maybe a ski vacation to colorado will have to be added to our list.
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