Mt. Hood Skibowl Fireworks

For some, the title is a stupid question. The most likely place anyone will spend New Year's Eve is at a party somewhere. To get a little more specific, a lot of people will be spending the night drunk, in someone's bed, both, and then trying to recover on January first. It's a pretty standard way to ring in the New Year.

But, that isn't the part of the holiday that I am talking about. I am talking about the time leading up to that. I am talking about the time where the sun is still shining, the kids are still with you, and you are still able to walk a straight line.

I am suggesting spending the day skiing! I'm sure anyone reading this saw that coming, but not everyone is going to do it. I understand that. New Year's Eve and Day are both parts of the big Christmas vacation holiday, so most resorts will be packed. But, it might be worth it.

After the ski day is done, don't head home right away. This is a two-fold tip, actually. One, if you don't leave right away, you don't have to deal with the traffic of the end of day evacuation. Second, the typical arpès evening turns into something a little more festive.

Now, one could argue that the restaurants and bars will be open as they usually are, just much busier. That would be an accurate assessment. However, everything will be themed to the holiday and the sports that we all know and love. Plus, almost any mountain resort one could go to will have fireworks and/or torchlight parades on the main hill.

This is nothing new to any of us. But, I still think it is worth bringing up and reminding people that even though skiing through the holidays can be a chore, there is nothing wrong with blowing out the passing year at a hill.

Photo Credit: Mt. Hood Territory [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons