Moore Family Vacation at Silver Mountain (After)

It was a Friday morning in Graham, Washington in 1994. My parents woke my brother and myself up while it was still dark so we could get an early start to our trip. My mom’s 1987 white Toyota 4-Runner was packed full of skis, poles, boots and other gear. My brother and I slept the first few hours of the car ride. After we woke we played several games of travel bingo to pass the time. I specifically remember the surroundings being just as boring as the drive to Pullman. We had to make many stops along the way since my brother and I were antsy kids who couldn’t sit still for long amounts of time.

We finally arrived in Kellogg in the early evening on Friday. We found the house we had rented for the weekend and unloaded the car. The house we were staying in was a cute little rambler decorated like a ski cottage. There was a large breezeway when you first entered the house with shelves and hanging units to store ski gear and let it dry out after a day on the mountain. This was very useful. My brother and I each got our own bedroom. The house also came equipped with an outdoor hot tub and a kitty. We couldn’t have found a better place to stay.

I originally learned to ski on cross country skis which aren’t optimal for use at ski resorts. These were the only skis I had at the time so on Saturday morning we had to rent skis for me before heading up to the mountain. We went to a small rental shop in Kellogg and rented a small pair of skis they called “vomit”. This gear was so much nicer than any of the gear I had ever used before and I was in love with it. Once we rented my gear we boarded the gondola. This is an experience I will never forget because I had never been on a gondola or anything like it before.

We spent all day Saturday and Sunday skiing and enjoying the mountain. The weather was perfect with clear blue skies both days. When Monday morning came around we were sad to leave but had an amazing weekend.