Visiting Swan-Like Possible Pelican On Lake Wichita

That which you see here I saw yesterday floating on Lake Wichita. I was on top of Lake Wichita Dam, on the Circle Trail, and as soon as the lake came into view I saw what looked like a big swan, with no other birds of the same feather anywhere to be seen.

The photo does not quite make this bird look as swan-like as it looked upon initial visual perusal. When I got the photo off the camera and in computer screen view, and saw that big beak, the big beak had me figuring this must be a pelican, but I'm sort of bird ignorant, so I really don't know. Maybe it is a swan.

Yesterday I thought this morning I would be navigating my motorized travel means to the Dallas/Fort Worth metro mess, specifically to Haltom City. But by the time last night's evening arrived that trek to D/FW was postponed a week.

Three days after next Wednesday's drive to D/FW I will be flying back to D/FW on a little plane to switch to a bigger one to fly to Phoenix for about a month long stay. I am looking forward to being warm in the outer world, and swimming in a heated pool.

And going to the Maricopa McDonald's to have a fish sandwich with Penny...

Imaginary Upcoming Fort Worth Hot Area

That which you see here was brought to my attention Saturday morning via a Facebook tagging from Elsie Hotpepper pointing me to a question asked by Le Mastadon...

Just asking---is the Star-Telegram running out of photographers? Front page of today's S-T has a picture of Kay n J.D.'s PLAYHOUSE. Looks about the same condition that the bridges were in a year or maybe TWO YEARS AGO. Is this a REPRINT?  

I had no idea what these people were talking about til Elsie Hotpepper sent me the link to this latest bizarre Star-Telegram propaganda puff piece, with the odd title you see via the screen cap.

This up-and-coming area is so hot that developers can expect new fees.

The up-and-coming area which is so hot is the industrial wasteland known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District, or more commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle. That being an inept pseudo public works project the public has never been allowed to vote on, which has been boondoggling along for almost 20 years, according to the article.

Way back in 2005, Kay's son, J.D., to whom Le Mastadon refers, was made the executive director of what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle. Those privy to know such things believe J.D. was given this job, for which he had zero qualifications, to motivate his mother to secure federal funds for the imaginary economic/flood control scheme which was originally touted as being vitally needed, but which was not so vitally needed that the public has ever been asked to vote to help fund the project, and which was so vitally not needed that the project has not come to any sort of useful fruition, even after almost two decades of being an ongoing boondoggle embarrassment for the already boondoggle embarrassment rich Fort Worth.

Okay, now let's take a look at the propaganda in this latest bizarre Star-Telegram propaganda puff piece.

First paragraph...

Construction on three landmark bridges that are a part of the $910 million Panther Island flood control and economic development project downtown will be joined by a fourth bridge, but instead of federal dollars this one will be paid for by Fort Worth taxpayers and by using impact fees paid by developers.

What? Another bridge being built in slow motion? But this one paid for by the locals? And once again the Star-Telegram refers to these three simple little bridges under slow motion construction as "landmark bridges". 

Landmark?

The Star-Telegram is actually suggesting these pitiful low rise bridges are going to make a mark on the land, becoming some sort of landmark iconic image recognizable as being a Fort Worth landmark by all who see these little bridges, if they ever become anything anyone can see?

And then, regarding this fourth bridge and the new fees paying for it, we read this...

The most recent proposal includes the 800-acre Panther Island and identifies two projects that would be built using money collected from impact fees: the $7.5 million road and bridge connector and $2.5 million in intersection improvements at White Settlement Road and Main Street. There is no timetable for when those projects will be done, only that they could happen in the next 10 years.

Does anyone else make note of the fact these Star-Telegram propaganda pieces make so much use of conditional language? Such as "would be", "could happen".

And for once a Star-Telegram article admits an aspect of this pseudo public works project has "no timetable". There has never been any legitimate timetable for any aspect of what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle. Such as those three simple little bridges began being built with a TNT celebration bang four years ago, with an imaginary four year construction timeline, which we learned recently has been stretched to 2020.

And then this paragraph, with more conditional language...

It is the first time since the city started assessing transportation impact fees a decade ago that an inner city area is being included. Construction on the first residential development, Encore Panther Island, a 300-unit $55 million project, is anticipated to begin soon.

More conditional language telling us construction on the Boondoggle's first residential development "is anticipated to begin soon". We have been hearing about this relatively puny private residential development for years now. Why is it not known when ground will be broken for this development? Have building permits not been applied for and issued? Has the infrastructure work begun? You know, water and sewer and power lines in the area of the industrial wasteland where some developer is supposedly ready to develop a place for people to live in this up and coming "hot" area.

Of course, no article in the Star-Telegram about America's Biggest Boondoggle would be complete without idiotic input from Kay Granger's favorite son, J.D.,

Three J.D Granger related paragraphs, including a choice insipidly idiotic J.D. quote...

JD Granger, executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority, the entity overseeing the Panther Island project once known as Trinity Uptown, said the fourth bridge will be “simple” and provide pedestrian access to complete the circular boardwalk around the planned town lake where restaurants and entertainment amenities are expected to be built. It will also connect the two sections of the island separated by a canal and lake.

“It’s a smart piece,” Granger said, adding, “It won’t be an iconic feature. It won’t be high in the air.”

Granger said he believes it’s reasonable to add Panther Island as an impact fee area and that he doubts developers will balk at the fee because of the benefit it provides.

So, J.D. thinks this fourth bridge will be "simple" unlike those three other complex little bridges being built over dry land.

And regarding that fourth bridge,“It’s a smart piece. It won’t be an iconic feature. It won’t be high in the air.”

A "smart piece"? Unlike all the stupid pieces of what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle? Stupid pieces like the now defunct bankrupt Cowtown Wakepark? Or a stupid piece like sponsoring Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in the e.coli, benzene, arsenic polluted Trinity River?

This fourth bridge won't be an "iconic feature"? Because "it won't be high in the air?"

Does J.D. Granger actually delude himself to think those three simple little bridges, which have been under construction for years, are going to be iconic, unlike this fourth un-iconic bridge, which may get built in ten years? And that the three simple little bridges will be iconic because he thinks those low lying bridges will be high in the air? High in the air is a bridge like that one in San Francisco called Golden Gate. or any of the other thousands of bridges in the world which actually span an actual chasm, usually over actual water, not dry land, often to connect to an actual island.

Granger thinks developers won't balk at development fees? Because the imaginary island provides so much benefit to imaginary developers that the imaginary developers won't balk at paying a fee to develop something on the imaginary island? At this point in time, why would any legit developer risk any capital making any investment in this yet to be "developed" industrial wasteland?

And then we have this paragraph in this embarrassing Star-Telegram propaganda...

Panther Island is part of a public works project that spans about 1,800 acres north and east of downtown. When completed, it will create an island about the size of the central business district that will include an urban lake, room for 10,000 residential units and more than 4.4 million square feet of space for offices, shops and restaurants.

The above has been the Boondoggle's spiel almost from the start. With the only changes being the name of the project and the size of the "lake", which is actually more of a widened spot in the river, than what any sane part of the planet would call a lake. And why do these people persist in calling this little pond an "urban lake"? Any lake in a city is an urban lake.

But then a sane part of the planet would not think it clever to refer to a chunk of industrial wasteland, surrounded by a ditch, as being an island, let alone name the imaginary island after a century's old imagined slight from a Dallas reporter who visited downtown Fort Worth, then returned to Dallas to report that Fort Worth was so sleepy he saw a panther sleeping on the courthouse steps, or some similar location.

Of course Fort Worth, in an earlier generation of the town's bizarre Dallas fixation, thought they'd really show Dallas what's what by nicknaming their town Panther City. And slapping that Panther label on this that or the other thing remains part of Fort Worth's pitiful civic pathology to the current day.

Ironically, well over a hundred years after that Dallas reporter saw that sleeping panther, downtown Fort Worth remains the sleepiest big city downtown in America, a virtual ghost town on the busiest shopping day of the year, due to there being so few stores in downtown Fort Worth attracting day after Thanksgiving shoppers.

And then this interesting paragraph which blithely references how long this boondoggle had been boondoggling along with absolutely no sense of the absurdity of such...

Paying for Panther Island has been an issue since the project was conceived of nearly 20 years ago.

And regarding paying for the Boondoggle, we have the final couple paragraphs from this latest embarrassingly inept Star-Telegram Trinity River Vision Central City Uptown Panther Island District propaganda puff piece...

In 2016, Congress authorized up to $526 million in funding for Panther Island as part of a package of $5 billion in water projects proposed by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. By 2017, the project had already received at least $53 million from the Army Corps of Engineers and $50 million in federal highway dollars.

Fort Worth has put $27.6 million in the pot through the 2004 and 2008 bond programs, the Water Enterprise Fund and the Tax Increment Financing District. Tarrant County has put in $11 million.

Yes, you in sane parts of America have been paying for this ongoing Fort Worth boondoggle, while Fort Worth and Tarrant County donate a pittance to the pitiful effort.

Has this up and coming hot area article been a paid advertisement placed in the Star-Telegram paid for by the Trinity River Vision Authority? Such was recently speculated after another propaganda piece seemed in total violation of minimal legitimate journalist standards.

How many more years is this boondoggle going to be America's Biggest Boondoggle? Apparently at least ten more years, or longer, while that fourth bridge gets slowly built....

2018 Wichita Falls Women's March & Impeachment Rally

I wimped out on this year's annual Wichita Falls Women's March & Impeachment Rally.

Well, more accurately, the marching part I wimped out on, the Impeachment Pre-March Rally, I made it through.

I successfully delivered my fellow marchers to the march initiation site.

I listened to the pre-march speeches, full of inspiring MLK and JFK quotes.

I did some crowd mingling.

But.

I was not adequately attired to keep warm enough. While the air was heated to somewhere near the 50 degree zone, a strong wind blew, activating that dreaded WIND CHILL FACTOR.

I shivered through the speeches and then when the march began I slithered back to my vehicle's warm interior. Mid-slither I stopped on the Sikes Lake Bridge and took the photo you see below of the march underway.

Upon exiting the parking lot I turned onto Midwestern Boulevard to drive by the marchers whilst honking my horn and waving. The marchers appreciate this sort of feedback.

Salutes involving a single finger, not so much....

Pacific Coast Rogue Washington Waves With Mom, Dad & Sister Michele

I saw that which you see here this morning in the Seattle Times, via an article titled Watch cars flee a rogue wave at Ocean Park on Washington state coast.

No, this is not yet one more instance of sharing something I see in a west coast online news source which is not something I'd expect to see in a Texas, or Fort Worth news source, about something one would not expect to see in Texas or Fort Worth.

Well, now that you're making me think about it, I guess while it is obvious a rogue wave can happen on the Texas Gulf Coast, such a thing could not occur in Fort Worth. The town does not even have a water park generating fake waves which could malfunction and get out of control.

Then again, now that you're still making me think about it, what you see in the screen cap above is actually something one rarely finds in Fort Worth. That being a modern restroom facility in a park. In this case, Ocean Park, in the Long Beach zone of Washington's Pacific Coast.

In the Seattle Times article, in the caption under the video we are told this...

The National Weather Service recorded waves more than 30 feet tall near Aberdeen and near the mouth of the Columbia River. More stormy weather is forecast for the weekend.

The west coast has been getting battered by some big waves of late. A couple days ago I saw video from Cannon Beach, that's on the Oregon coast, of a wave making its way far from shore, foaming water down a Cannon Beach street. I don't know if this wave got near my cousin's Cannon Beach house. But I have not seen him on Facebook ever since this infamous wave came to town.

Years ago, when my little sister, David, Theo and Ruby's Mama Michele, was younger than Theo and Ruby are now, at 5 or 6, we were at Ocean Shores. That is on the Pacific Coast at the north side of Grays Harbor. There is a massive jetty made from massive boulders at the entry to Grays Harbor. The Ocean Shores beach begins at the north side of that jetty. Let me see if I can find a photo of this location.

All I could find was what you see above. Dad and mom at the aforementioned location. The jetty is to their left. This photo would have been taken in August of 2001. I was in Washington for mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary party. A few days after that dad drove us out to Ocean Shores where sister Jackie, nephew Jeremy, brother-in-law Jack and others were staying at an Ocean Shores beachfront hotel.

At some point we all drove to the above location. I remember I had my new Olympus camera and being surprised at how well that camera captured big waves splashing into the jetty. I do not know where those photos are, or why they are not on this computer along with this one of mom and dad.

Anyway, back when David, Theo & Ruby's Mama Michele was 5 or 6 I had driven over to Ocean Shores during a spring break from CWU in Ellensburg. That's in Eastern Washington. On a Sunday morning we took off to play on a now removed shipwreck which sank during a storm in the early 1960s.

Now where are my photos of that?

Missing photos are beginning to bug me.

So, we got to the beach where you see mom and dad above. The tide was out. There were dozens of people on the beach, at the water's edge. Some having come from church, all dressed up. I remember one lady wearing a fur coat which seemed sort of odd.

As we were playing wave dodge, suddenly we, and everyone else on the beach, realized the incoming wave was way bigger than the ones we had been dodging.

We began to run away from the shore. I picked up Michele. The wave caught up with us. I got us up on a driftwood. We were washed off the driftwood. This was the most dramatic panic scene I had ever been part of.

And then it was over, the wave receded. And we were left soaking wet.

I wonder if Michele remembers this incident? Or was it so traumatic it became a buried memory? If I remember right Michele did not panic or get scared. She probably thought we were having fun. I may have been able to keep Michele dry. I don't remember for sure.

I must try and find all these missing photos. In the meantime watch this cool drone video from the Seattle Times of the "Storm Surge - High Tide - Ocean Park, Wa Beach Approach "Cars Scrambling" Today 1-18-2018"...

Sikes Lake Bird Visit Before Tomorrow's Wichita Falls March & Meeting Beto O'Roarke

Today, around noon, even though the temperature was way closer to 60 than 32, there was still ice on Sikes Lake.

And for some reason most of the Sikes Lake bird population was floating at the edge of the transition between thawed water and water still capped by ice.

The bird population of Sikes Lake seems to have soared since I last surveyed this particular aviary-like sanctuary location.

Many of the Sikes Lake birds were out of the water, hunkered down and not their usual skittish selves. The birds in the water, as well as those on land, were segregated, per their norm, by feather type. In the foreground in the lake we see the goose group, in the middle of the lake the flock of seagulls congregated, and then at the far end of the lake ducks gathered.

At that other side of the lake location, where the ducks gathered, there was a group of about 20 small ducks. I thought maybe they were duck chicks, or whatever one calls baby ducks. Ducklings? Anyway, there was no large adult size duck near the flock of little ducks. Is there a pygmy breed of ducks, like there are pygmy goats and miniature horses?

I only came across four other humans, amongst the birds, braving the still cold, breezy air, following the path around Sikes Lake.

I will be returning to Sikes Lake tomorrow. Sikes Lake is the launch location for the Wichita Falls Women's (and Men's) Impeachment March. I'm assuming tomorrow's will be a larger marching crowd than last year's, what with nice clear blue sky expected, along with semi-warm air. And it is likely more people will feel like participating this year, for obvious reasons.

I do not know how long tomorrow's march is going to take. I know that at the march's destination there will be some speechifying. Saturday night I am expecting to be at MSU to see the Texan who it is hoped will send Ted Cruz to the ashbin of history, Beto O'Rourke.

Hike To Summit Of Mount Wichita With Stomping Godzilla

I do not understand why my current Wichita Falls location does not follow the Texas norm of bragging and exaggerating.

For reasons unfathomable to me the only geographic feature within dozens upon dozens of miles, even remotely resembling a mountain, is referred to as a hill.

A HILL.

Well, to me this HILL shall always be known as Mount Wichita, and it was to that location I took myself today, what with the outer world no longer freezing, with the temperature almost halfway to 100.

With nary a breeze blowing, and the conditions perfect, I hiked to the summit of Mount Wichita multiple times today, using a different trail for each ascent and descent. It felt good to aerobicize with endorphins coursing through my internal energy supply system.

The view from the summit was blue today. Some ice remains frozen on Lake Wichita, which you can see via the bands of white. I was advised by lifelong North Texan, Miss Dana Wood Knot not to try and walk on any frozen body of Texas water. That the ice never gets thick enough to make doing such a thing a safe endeavor.

Whilst on the summit of Mount Wichita, soon after taking the above photo, I was startled by a stomping noise and loud breathing. I turned around to see that which you see below reach the summit.

The camera made some sort of optical illusion which makes the noisy stomper look like a Godzilla monster in a hoodie.

Anyway, nice to have a nice day, once again. And to see some scenic scenery. And breathe some fresh air that is not freezing...

Freeze In Texas While Washington Swelters In A Heat Wave

The past couple days the temperature has been in the 60s in my old Washington home zone in the semi-tropical Pacific Northwest.

Semi-tropical on the west side of the Cascades. While on the east side, where Tootsie Tonasket resides, Tootsie is being chilled to an Arctic Texas type temperature, though not as cold as my current North Texas, well below freezing, wind chill below zero, location.

My North Texas location is currently scheduled to return to being warm, in the 60s, by Saturday, just in time for the Impeachment March.

The screen cap you see here is from this morning's Seattle Times. For those unfamiliar with such things, that is a mountain you see in the distance. It appears to be one of the Olympic Mountains, which indicates in the photo we are looking west across Puget Sound, from, I think, a park on Elliott Bay, slightly north of the downtown Seattle waterfront zone.

You know how climate change deniers make mock of the concept of Global Warming, well, the man being the cause of it concept, along with denying the climate is changing, point to formerly warm, now freezing Texas as some sort of proof the climate is not warming. I do not know how such deniers explain to themselves what is causing the current balmy weather in the Pacific Northwest.

What I do know is I think I'm going to enjoy the coming HOT summer. And in the meantime I am hoping to be enjoying a nice warm Arizona in a couple weeks....

What Makes You Think Fort Worth Is A Backwards Backwater?

I would never have used a illustrative graphic using the barnyard profanity you see here, had it not been made socially acceptable by the mentally stable genius currently pretending to be America's president.

A couple days ago I got an email from someone who asked not to be referenced, identity-wise, in blog mode, who asked the following interesting question...

What makes you think Fort Worth is such a Backwards Backwater????

Now, that question can be taken two ways.

One way would be, "How dare you think Fort Worth is such a Backwards Backwater?"

Or, the way in which I chose to interpret the question, "What the hell do you think is wrong with Fort Worth which keeps causing it to be such a Backwards Backwater?"

Well, let us all look at what Wikipedia has to say about a Backwater...

If a river has developed one or more alternative courses in its evolution, one channel is usually designated the main course, and secondary channels may be termed backwaters. The main river course will usually have the fastest stream and will likely be the main navigation route; backwaters may be shallower and flow more slowly, if at all. This results in a more diverse environment of scientific interest and worthy of preservation. Backwaters also provide opportunities for leisure activities such as canoeing and fishing.

The term has been applied as a metaphor to physical and social areas that have been bypassed. It may apply to places that have been neglected in economic development, or in the expression a "cultural backwater"

_________________

Okay, now do you get why and how Fort Worth is a Backwards Backwater? Both meanings of that Backwater word are applicable.

The Trinity River as it flows through Fort Worth is pretty much in Backwater mode, with the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision ineptly trying to turn the river into even more of a brackish Backwater.

Cultural Backwater? This is a town which thinks it is doing some marvelous thing instigating Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats in that aforementioned Backwater river polluted with e.coli, benzene, arsenic and alligators. And pretends it does so at an imaginary island listening to music from an imaginary pavilion whilst being located at an imaginary urban world class music venue, with performance stages made from abandoned subway shacks.

With that world class music venue at that imaginary island sporting world class concrete enclosed outhouses and outdoor showers to wash off the river water, if one is inclined to attempt to wash off the e.coli, benzene and arsenic.

Speaking of outhouses. Most Fort Worth city parks do not have modern restroom facilities or running water. Most do have outhouses. Outhouses worthy of a city park in a third world city, or an American city which does not mind being a Backwards Backwater.

So, really, is it all that difficult to understand the fact Fort Worth is a Backwards Backwater?

Need a further example. Ride Molly the Trolley to the location of the Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats. Only a  Backwards Backwater would have a public transit system consisting of a bus converted to look like a trolley, whilst charging its victims five bucks to take a tour of Fort Worth's low highlights.

And then there are Fort Worth's miles upon mile of city streets without sidewalks. Again worthy of a third world country, or an American city which does not mind being a Backwards Backwater.

Recently the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, in a rare instance of actually focusing on the multiple reasons why Fort Worth is such a Backwards Backwater, published an opinion piece focusing on what Fort Worth might want to try and do to fix what ails the town. This was blogged about in Bud Kennedy Fort Worth Fix Gets Over Dallas.

On the day that opinion piece appeared there were multiple comments commenting which ironically were reinforcing what is dire need of a fix in Fort Worth. Yesterday morning those comments had been deleted. But then last night the comments magically reappeared, along with many more comments, many also embarrassingly, ironically and cluelessly exhibiting the very type attitudes which Bud Kennedy indicated were in need of a fix.

If you click on the link to the Star-Telegram Here’s how to fix Fort Worth. (It’s not about Dallas, or pilots, or the cow.) the comments may still be there, maybe with even more.

I copied the comments I saw last night, but don't know if I want to copy them all here. Suffice to say there were one or two comments which were rational, among the dozens which where not rational.

I will just copy four of the comments. The first two appeared at the top of the comment list and are two of the comments I refer to as rational. The two which follow the rational comments are examples of the not so rational comments....

John Laird · Works at Retired Journalist
Excellent column as usual. Thoroughly researched. Creatively written. Compellingly presented. Thanks, Bud.

Randall Arnold · Author at Unsettled Space
Many comments here are shamefully reactionary. I wish people would read and process more thoughtfully. Bud raises valid, fact-based points here. Emotional responses are unhelpful.

Preston West
We’re supposed to be ok with being called dumb rednecks huh?!

Mary Beth Nicholson · Sul Ross State University
Spoken like a true liberal Dallas wantabe!
Screw you, Bud Kennedy, do us all a favor and move to Dallas!

_____________________

UPDATE: Reading through the comments there are two more I feel compelled to share. The first reactionary one demonstrates that bad education problem, while the second comment also comments on the bad education problem, but not in a reactionary way...


Janice Hallmark · Carter- Riverside High School
I want the world to know that Fort Worth is the greatest big city in the U. S. All those things said about Fort Worth by this so- call writer is so untrue.

Bo Bolinger · The University of Texas at Austin
Thanks for a great article Bud. Your opinions really seem to get people fired up. This is an uphill battle as it seems the consensus is to keep Tarrant Co dumb and useful!

Two Shivering Degrees Below Zero In Wichita Falls

Apparently a breeze is blowing with enough cooling power to make my location's currently semi-balmy 20 degrees feel like 2 degrees below zero.

And my location is currently scheduled not to get above freezing today, with the low tonight 8 degrees colder than the current semi-balmy 20 degrees.

In a little over two weeks I should be finding myself in Arizona where I anticipate the outer world will not be freezing.

Last summer I was twice in Arizona while the temperature rarely got under 100 degrees. During the June bout in Arizona the temperature was breaking records, at some degree above 120. So HOT for a couple days planes could not fly out of Sky Harbor Airport during the HOTTEST hours of those days HEAT.

During the week in August whilst I was in Arizona, even though August is usually the hottest month of the year, the temperature was no where near as blistering as it was in June.

Even though Arizona in February will be a bit cooler than it was last summer, I anticipate doing some daily swimming in a large heated pool...

MLK Day With Theo & Ruby Snow Fort Worth Building At Hyak Sno-Park

On this 2018 edition of Martin Luther King Day, Theo & Ruby decided today was a day worth fort building.

So, Theo & Ruby, along with big brother David, took their parental units a few miles east of their Tacoma abode to Snoqualmie Pass, from whence, a few minutes ago, their mama Michele sent the above photo of Theo & Ruby building a snow fort.

David did not think building a fort worth his time, so he opted instead to have fun throwing snow when he was not consuming snow cones.

It seems like only yesterday I was in a much warmer location with Theo, Ruby & David, at Birch Bay, building a sand fort, well, castle. David opted out of that building project, for the most part, too. And he also threw some sand, but at that point in time he consumed no sand cones.

For those with no familiarity with locations on the planet with extreme elevation variables, who are used to an extremely flat planet, let me explain where Theo & Ruby are.

In Tacoma, where Theo & Ruby live, their house is not very many feet above sea level. To the west of their abode there is a mountain range called the Olympics. To the east of their abode is a mountain range called the Cascades.

In the Cascades is where one finds Washington's five volcanoes.

The state of Washington is divided by the Cascades into Western and Eastern Washington. Eastern Washington is like Texas, but more scenic, with a BIG river running through it. Eastern Washington is also like Texas politically. It is the red part of Washington, with a higher percentage of rednecks than the blue western side of the Cascades.

In summer there are several ways to drive over the Cascade mountain between the west and east side. The North Cascades Highway, Stevens Pass, Snoqualmie Pass and White Pass connect the two sides of the state, weather permitting, with Stevens and Snoqualmie the two passes kept open year round, for the most part, with an occasional closure due to heavy snow and avalanche danger. Or an actual avalanche.

In total in Washington there are more than a couple dozen  of what are known as mountain passes. You can check all of them out via Wikipedia's Mountain Passes of Washington State page.

A highway over a mountain range, the North Cascades for instance, has two passes, Rainy Pass and Washington Pass. For those unfamiliar with the pass concept, a pass is the point were a road "passes" over a summit, as in reaches a high point and then heads back down. Such can occur more than once on any given mountain crossing road, but only happens once on the two main passes across Washington's Cascades, that being Stevens Pass and Snoqualmie Pass.

Stevens Pass is crossed by Highway 2. Snoqualmie Pass, where David, Theo & Ruby are today, is crossed by Interstate 90.

All the major Washington mountain passes have ski resorts at their summit, except for the North Cascades Highway.

The ski resort at Snoqulamie Pass, where Theo & Ruby felt a fort worthwhile to build, is known as Hyak Sno-Park. There are a couple other ski resorts at Snoqualmie along with Hyak. My last time on a chairlift at Snoqualmie was in the 1990s. And it was not to ski. In summer you can put your mountain bike on a ski lift in order to be taken to the high country for some rugged mountain biking and an eventual fun, fast trek back to the chair lift base.

I do not know how far from my current location I would need to travel to find a chairlift and snowy mountain to play on, other than, of course, nearby Mount Wichita, sans snow and chairlift. Would it be in New Mexico at Ruidoso or Taos? Os somewhere in Colorado?

Snow is currently in the forecast at my location. I doubt sufficient will fall of a depth permitting some adventurous Mount Wichita skiing. Or sledding...