Portillo, Chile has been a travel destination since steam trains brought tourists high into the Andes in the late 1800’s. The bright yellow hotel, sitting close to the Argentine border crossing, has seen ski history unfold as early ski legends like Stein Erickson then Warren Miller, all the great national ski teams, and big mountain royalty, as well as regular guests, come to ski and enjoy the unique camaraderie of the remote location.

Images from a winter trip into the far reaches of Yellowstone National Park to backcountry ski in the Lamar Valley.

Southwestern Montana is an area of extremes, winters so cold you stop noting the negative on temperatures and high desert summers that scald and desiccate. It is humbling to witness wildlife and plant life that can survive both -40 and high 90s. But if you are willing to embrace these extremes it is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

There is something quintessentially American about roadtripping, particularly when it is across the west. Throw in a good blizzard to clear the roads and flush out the wildlife and you have yourself an adventure.

Exactly 7 years ago, I adopted Mia at Christmas (actually I fostered, and then foster failure followed but that’s another story) and a few years later realizing I could not foster, I had the opportunity to help out Paws New England in a pinch. Just in time for Christmas we transported a dozen animals from Tenessee to New Hampshire, from a place which did not want them to homes in time for the holidays and it was the most wonderful experience of the true holiday spirit.

I believe in all cases that getting lost can be good for the soul, whether it is humility, spontaneity, wonder or peace, taking to the road and letting go of authorship is always a good thing in this world of stress, over connectivity and constant demands. And when things feel like they are at their worst, I think it all the more reason to get in the car and lost.

I am a major lover of all things winter-in truth my only non favorite New England season is spring (I know this is incorrect grammar, as well as an unpopular opinion) because around here it is mostly a long winter followed by mud season and a week of spring before summer.

Photographs from a family visit in southwest Montana.

New England snowstorm photographs.

My father and I arrived at Portillo Hotel on a Saturday in July amid full blown arrivals and departures chaos in the chalet style hotel lobby which felt more reminiscent of summer camp than anything we had ever seen at a ski resort.