Favorite Memory Of 2016 By: Olivia B. (Day 3 of New Years Blog Week)

Summertime at Schweitzer Mountain Resort

By: Olivia Bell

                

    Hi everyone! I am so honored to be a part of Beth’s special New Year’s celebration week! First, I’d like to start by thanking Beth for allowing me to do this post. Now, you probably can guess what this post is about by the title; I am sharing about me, my Dad, and my brother’s summer experience at our local ski resort this past summer, so sit back and enjoy!

Getting up early that morning, we gobbled down a quick breakfast, then hopped into our car and were off down the road. My mom isn’t really into the whole chairlift thing, so she decided to stay home for the day, but that’s okay!  Arriving at the resort, we knew it was going to be extremely busy because it was the only day of the year that the resort offered free chairlift rides. Finding a parking spot, we jumped out of the car and my brother Josh pulled his mountain bike out of the back and got ready for a day of riding. Schweitzer has some pretty good mountain bike trails during the summertime, so he was excited to get to do some riding. We all applied a good layer of sunscreen because we knew that the sun is much closer up on the mountain, plus we didn’t really want to look like a bunch of tomatoes by the end of the day, lol! As Josh left to hop on the chairlift, Dad and I took our time walking through the village. It’s amazing how different the resort looks in the summer than what it looks like in the winter. Heading towards the chairlift, we got on and enjoyed the ride up to the top of the mountain. The views from the lift are breathtaking, especially when you ride down! Below is a picture of the view from when we rode down:

Riding down is a real treat, because in the winter you always ride up but ski down, so riding down was probably my favorite part of the day!

Above is a picture of the lift at the top. Once we made it to the top, we were able to see the new lodge that was under construction. It was coming along well! Below is a picture:

The view from the top is so stunning; the Lord was so wonderful to give us mountains and such a beautiful creation to enjoy! Below are some pictures of the view:

So, we hiked down along the top ridge, enjoying the coolness of the mountain top air when we came upon a really big Huckleberry patch. I know most of you have never seen or tasted Huckleberries so to give you an idea of what they look like I’ve included a stock image of some below:

They resemble blueberries, as well as taste similar although some are tarter than blueberries. There are different varieties of Huckleberries, some are tarter and some are sweeter, the sweeter ones are much better! Anyway, back to the story, we came upon a large patch of Huckleberries, and we were so delighted! The berries were so big and sweet, it was a welcome snack after the hike. Ah, so yummy! But, I shall stop dwelling on the deliciousness and move on with the story, lol! 

   

After we hiked back to the top, I couldn’t resist taking pictures of practically everything! Here is a picture of the other chairlift that is at the top of the mountain:

We also were able to relax and hang out in some really neat chairs that were made out of bungee cords; they were fun to bounce up and down in! Here’s a picture of one of them:

     We were able to enjoy the view, and to have fun watching all the mountain bikers ride past. Time flew by, and then it was about time to go back down the mountain, but the line for the lift was so long! We must have had to stand in line for 30 minutes or more! But, that’s to be expected on free day. Once at the bottom, we bought some fire roasted pizza for lunch, which was pretty good! Dad and I hung out in the village for awhile, listening to the band that was performing while we waited for Josh to finish up biking.  There were so many people and cute dogs walking through, and vendors selling neat items. We bought some super delicious kettle corn, my favorite! There are many different activities you can do at the resort during the summer, there’s zip-lining, horseback rides, a tennis court, mountain biking, a rock climbing wall, and giant chess and checkers! Fun, fun, fun!

 Once Josh joined up with us, we headed to the car and packed up to leave. I was sorry to leave, but I looked forward to returning in the winter to the stunning white slopes to do some epic skiing!

I hope you all have enjoyed hearing about my summer Schweitzer Mountain Resort experience, which was my favorite memory of 2016! Beth, thanks again for this awesome opportunity!

  Olivia Bell is a teen young lady living in the Pacific North West with her loving family and cute dog. Her interests include: reading God’s Word, writing articles and such for Christian magazines, doing guest posts on her friends blogs, skiing, traveling, decorating and arranging her bedroom, making products for her craft business, using her talents to give aid to persecuted Christians around the world, drinking hot tea,  writing her book, and much more. Her desire is to bring glory to Jesus Christ with all her writings, because He is the True Author of her life. God bless you all!