By Mandi Donohue
As much as I love the warm weather, the gorgeous hikes and the gardening in summer, the holiday season is absolutely my favorite time of year in the Methow. It is such a gift to wake up every morning in Lost River to our “air-brushed,” snow-capped mountains. I also love that there are so many community events.
I am officially working Monday through Thursday nights at the Freestone Inn, leaving my weekends free to attend these events. (You can’t imagine how hard it is to write these columns if you don’t!) So this past weekend, full of ridiculous gratitude for my schedule, Lliam and I had the great pleasure of making it down to Winthrop twice for Christmas at the End of the Road. Yippee!
We made it to town a little early on Friday so as the hot air balloon was getting fired up, we took the time to walk around a bit and stopped in The Wine Shed. Usually I’m tearing through town on a million errands, so to have time to stop and smell the roses was such a treat. I was even able to order a bottle of Kirsch, a hard-to-find cherry liqueur used in black forest cakes. Thanks, Dave Swenson!
Walking around felt like being on a movie set. Katie Griffith was outside of Copper Glance, adorable in her woolen winter hat as always, selling brats and sandwiches from the grill. Families were wandering about drinking hot chocolate and the firemen were there with a stair climber, raising money for their annual Leukemia and Lymphoma Society stair climb. As we watched the excitement of the kids as they piled into the hot air balloon basket with their parents snapping pictures galore, it reminded me how lucky we are that we live here. And how often I take it for granted.
On Saturday, the fireworks were fantastic and a huge hit as always! It also marks my three-year anniversary with Lliam. Not a bad first date, albeit on accident, if I do say so myself. After the fun display, we went into the Winthrop Gallery, which I adore visiting. So many talented artists in this valley! We ran into Anna Rogers, whose work is actually being shown in Twisp right now. Next time you find yourself down-valley, take an extra minute to swing by and check out her work and the great talent in our galleries.
We had a blast at the Freestone this week cranking out dinner for over 100 guests. It occurred to me how much we take the Methow for granted. People pay money to have, for a weekend, the lifestyle we live on a daily basis. It seems gratitude is a recurring theme every time I write this article. I apologize if I sound like a broken record but I suppose there are worse themes to have? Ha!
And lastly, www.mandicrocker.com is up and running! If you are a creative type and recipes, photography, travel and daily inspiration is your “jam,” check it out. This week, I posted a sugar cookie recipe for the holidays. Super thankful to Jenn Tate’s team at Cevado for creating an amazing website for me. And that’s the last I’ll mention it, I swear. Now … let’s Christmas!
