Over a few pints at a pub in Ballard on Friday night with Garren, Julia and Sanna Garren and I had the bright idea to head up to Bellingham on Saturday night and then go skiing/snowboarding, and possibly do some fishing— since we had an ice fishing guide—on Mt. Baker all day Sunday for one last day on the slopes.

As it turns out the stars were perfectly aligned to not only make this trip happen, but to make it one of the best trips in recent memory. One of those trips where everything falls into place perfectly.

Garren and I headed out of Seattle around 7PM. About 15 miles outside of Bellingham is the Schmitts Casino which, after some discussion and a quick turnaround, we went to in search of the tri-state famous Schmitts Casino live blackjack. We found with $3 tables and 10x odds. Something you won’t find in even the cheapest Vegas casinos. It was here that Garren quite possibly had one of his luckiest runs at the table. The luck appeared to spread as multiple players who came to the table won over the next four hours. Always nice when you walk out with more money than you walked in with at a casino.

The next day the stars again aligned in our favor as we wound up in about 2 feet of fresh snow and very little competition for fresh tracks. I readily admit I was doing things I had absolutely no business doing on the mountain. Finding myself in the trees up to my waist in powder on multiple occasions giggling like a school girl.