Woodside World: Winter Break Woes and Wonders

The Journeys You'll Make, and the Odious Airports

Part of life is going on journeys. May they be just getting through high school or traveling new wonders of the world. But the one similar and, at times, annoying destination we all go through is the packed, insane, confusing airports.

By Tirragen Vixie

You probably don’t enjoy using airports. Whether you yourself fly or you’ve picked up or dropped off other people, you will likely agree: they’re crowded and confusing, they’re full of paranoid staff and incredibly stupid customers, the airplanes themselves are uncomfortable and expensive, and they force rules and regulations upon you at every turn.

Many comedians and cartoonists in recent years have poked fun at all this. Search Youtube if you’ve ever rolled your eyes while you took off your shoes for the security line, or if you’ve demanded to know how, exactly, a snow-globe can be threatening. You’ll very quickly find that you aren’t alone.

But no matter how much you might grumble -and perhaps reasonably-, you’ll also find that you have no alternative. If you want to travel long distances, then airplanes are the quickest, easiest, most comfortable method. And although you know you're not a terrorist, you probably don’t want to die at the hands of someone who is.

To read more go the Woodside World.

2011: A Depressing Year for Snow

The snowfall has been less than disappointing, it has been sad. But that doesn’t stop annual skiers from crowding onto any available mountain. In this case, all the way in Colorado.

By: Makayla Karr-Warner

Every winter break, my parents and I go on a skiing trip to Squaw Valley. However, the fall and winter of 2011 brought absolutely no snow to the Tahoe area. Currently, the ski resorts around Lake Tahoe only have less than half of their slopes open to the public. But who really wants to ski on man-made snow? I know that I don’t. So instead of heading out to the land of zero snow, my dad booked flights for us to fly out to Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Located in the Rocky Mountain Range, Steamboat is a fun little town home to many Olympic skiers such as Billy Kidd who won silver for the U.S.A in the 1964 Winter Olympics in Austria for the slalom. Kidd is also the Director for Skiing at the Steamboat Ski Resort and at 1:00 p.m. everyday you are able to meet him and ski or snowboard a run with him.

To read more go to the Woodside World.

The Santa Cruz Mystery Spot

Santa Cruz is famous for its beaches and boardwalk, but winter really isn’t the time to don the itsy-bitsy bikini. Instead go on an adventure to explore the gravitational anomaly that can only be found in the coastal range outside Santa Cruz.

By Maria Fernanda McCavitt

The Santa Cruz Mystery Spot: a place where objects and people seem to defy both logic and gravity. The Mystery Spot, an area one hundred and fifty feet in diameter, is located within the beautiful redwood forests. Described as a gravitational anomaly, it is home to many strange sights and happenings.

Mr. Prather was the original owner of the Mystery Spot and the surrounding area. He purchased the land in hopes of building himself a summer cabin. He was told that any structure built on the hill would slide down the side; however, Mr. Prather ignored the cautions and proceeded to build a cabin, which later slid down the side of the hill as he was warned. The cabin now rests at the edge of the site known to its many visitors as the Mystery Spot.

To read more go to the Woodside World.

Snowless Northstar Still a Good Time

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow... dirt. The lackluster winter weather, there hasn’t provided any snow for the yearly family ski trip. But man-made snow can be found in Tahoe, which is as good as you’re going to get.

By Ryan Blocker

This winter break, on the weekend after New Year’s, my family and I took a short trip up to my grandparents’ cabin at Northstar in Tahoe. The familiar drive up took us through Truckee, a small town located just north of the Northstar Resort off Highway 80. Founded in the mid-1800’s as a stopping point for travelers crossing the Sierra Nevada, the town has maintained its rugged Western image with weathered frontier-style buildings.

About fifteen minutes later, we reached the Northstar Resort. Our cabin is located in the suburbs that surround the resort. The endless rows of wooden cabins gives the neighborhood a very cozy feeling. Unfortunately, the ground, usually white at that time of year, was still brown due to the lack of snow in the Sierra Nevada.

To read more go to the Woodside World.