"Hmmm. No, that won't do. Nope, not high enough. How about this one? Well, that one's a maybe. Darn it, Vacaville's just not high enough. 174 feet elevation just isn't enough to get any good speed going."

Vinky sat at the Dude's computer pecking away at the keys. "Well, the Montezuma Hills MIGHT work. Or Boreal Ridge. But I need something REALLY high."

Just then, Zorro sauntered in, cheeks bulging with cheese and other unidentified snacks. After a bit of vigourous chewing and a really big smile, he said, "Heya Vinks. Wotchyoo up to?"

"I'm researching, Zorro. I've got plans and need to find just the right place."

"What plans you got? Is it fun? Is there food? Can I come too?"

"You can come if you want and there'll be food if bring it—or invite CC to come along. I think it'll be great fun. I just gotta find the place."

"So tell me what you're looking for. Maybe I can help. I know all kinds of places."

"Well, I've got a surprise coming soon. I found the neatest toboggan for sale. It's not real big, but then again, neither are we. But, it won't be any fun sledding around here. Vacaville doesn't get enough snow and with an elevation of 174 feet, there's no place to go. I'm trying to find someplace close that would be good for sledding."

Zorro squinted at the screen. "How about that place? It looks pretty good and the picture of it is all white. That means snow, right?"

Vinky looked at the spot where Zorrow was pointing. "Hmmmm. That looks promising. Yes, they get snow there. It's not too far away. Elevation? Hmmmm. Yeah, with an elevation of 2,818 feet, we oughta be able to build up some good speed. Zorro, you're a genius. Mt. Vaca is our sledding destination!"

Just then the Dude came in, ready to work. "Vinky, times up. I need the computer now. Did you find what you were looking for?"

Vinky looked up and said, . . .

"Oh, us gutz was just fooling around, you know how that is. In fact I was just thinking we should maybe work up to the really really tall and white stuff and just start off here."

"What?!" screamed Zorro. "Whatever do you mean, my dear girl? Oh well, I mean i have a mean cape and we could just step onto the dude's roof and jump. We may be super creatures. Super girlllll!!! Super moussssseeeee!!!! Or, moiving right along—Vinky for heavens sake let's go to the next idea. We can climb that palm tree over there, and hoist up this teeny hang glider, then just let loose and fly!!!"

Vinky looked Zorro straight in the eye and sneered, "Look at me Zorro, I am a bird remember. I can already fly. So getting to the destination is not the problem, you can ride with me".

Zorro looked a little embarrassed at the faux pas.

Vinky put her wing around Zorro and continued, "The problem is how to get a toboggan to those owlsome snow covered peaks for some real winter vun!"

Zorro went right to the Dudes "box-o-stuff" and began to dig into it, "stuff" flying everywhere.

"Here it is! That elusive brain cell! Now I can do some real thinking."

So Zorro thought and thought and thought some more but all he could come up with was…

thought of mountains of whipped cream and piles of ice cream and frozen slushies.

He decided to call CC and tell her they needed lots of sledding food. CC said she had just the thing.

Now that they had their sled all packed down with lots of snow food and other supplies like hats and mittens, it was time for Vinky and Zorro to go on their adventure.

"Shouldn't we invite Vobble and the others?" Zorro asked. "No way," Vinky said. "I told him I wanted to go sledding and he just laughed at me! Let's leave him, it'll serve him right."

"Oh, okay." Zorro shrugged his mousy shoulders. Then he shouted at the top of his lungs "Hey Dude! Vinky and I are going sledding, can we use the steampunk rocketship?"

The dude popped his head out of the computer room. "If you promise not to break it, and to send me regular updates on where you are with the GPS. I don't want you getting lost like last time."

Vinky and Zorro cheered and hopped up and down! They lifted the sled and began carrying it to the rocketship garage. As they were opening the door, Vobble flew down and landed on a nearby branch. "Hey guys! Going somewhere?"

Then Vinky said, "We need Vobble. He knows the steampunk rocket better than us."

Zorro muttered something, but agreed.

So they get the sled loaded, Zorro had some munchies, Vinky started putting in the coordinates for Mt. Vaca. The machine started whirling and wiggling and poof…before us know it…

they're in Salt Lake City.

"Uh…um…oops…can someone come drive this thing?"

Zorro put his snack aside and…

Then Vobble came and takes over the controls. He re-entered the coordinates for Mt. Vaca, and quick as a wink they arrived.

"Oh boy!" they yell, "here we are!" They piled out of the steampunk rocket all ready to go, but to their suprise -- no snow!

"Uh oh," said Vobble, "I guess 2818 ft isn't high enough for snow after all."

"Yeah," said Vinky. "I guess because of the drought and not being very cold lately."

"So we need colder and higher then, huh?"

"I know," said Vinky excitedly. "How about Lake Tahoe?"

"Lake Tahoe??? That is a lake! L A K E , get it??? We are looking for height, not depth…sigh."

Vinky sais, "Well, ok, but let's just fly over it, for the heck of it."

So Vobble set the GPS and steered there. They arrived at Lake Tahoe and voila!!! No snow no white stuff! Not even dandruff.

"Well, Vobble said, "look…let's just get right to the top. Take a nap and i will awaken you all on arrival."

"Okay," they say sleepily.

Vobble suddenly realized that his coordinates had been a little off, but flew to the top of this mountian. And sure enough, a snowflake fell in front of him, right in front of the steampunk ship. Vobs woke up his crew with a whoop and a screech, "It's snowing!"

Zorro and Vinks rubbed their eyes and were as eggcited as Vobs! And the closer they got to the top, the more snow they saw. All of a sudden everything was white! And Vobs couldn't see a thing.

"Rut roh, all I can see is trouble! Zorro, Vinks, help!"

Then there was a thunk, a thud, and a thwmp. "I think we've landed! Let's go tobogganning" cried Vinky.

With lots of whoops and hollers, they grabbed the sled and took off. CC stayed in the rocketship and cooked. She knew they'd be cold when they were they were through playing.

She made Hot Cocoa and Hot Toddies and Hot Buttered Rum and Beef Stew and Mac and Cheese Soup and Taco Soup and Buffalo Wings.

Vinky and Vobble and Zorro raced down the hill on their sled, but when they got to the bottom they realized that they would have to carry it back up again. Zorro pointed out that it would be easier if one of them flew back up with it, and so Vinky and Vobble immediately set to squabbling.

Vobble tried to hop forward to give Vinky a piece of his mind, but wound up tripping in the snow and tumbling beak over heels.

When he righted himself he saw Vinky and Zorro laughing at him! "I'll show them!" he grumbled, and packed together a snowball.

And then the snowball fight was off! Being owls and lacking hands, Vinky and Vobble were at a disadvantage, but they made up for it by being able to flap uphill and push snow down on Zorro.

It was nearly an hour before they decided to just carry the sled up all as a team.

back at the steam punk machine, CC is fixing all the warm things she can. Then a noise…coming from the on board luggage compartment. Freaking out a bit, she grabbed a frying pan and crept up on the noise. The door opened and just as CC started her swing Patrick Puffin poked his head out. CC screamed so loud it started a small avalanche that sent Vinky, Vobble and Zorro tumbling down the mountain.

Patrick got startled and ran back to the compartment. Then CC…

"Help, there's a penguin in here!" yelled CC. "Hey, I'm a puffin, not a penguin," yelled Patrick from the luggage compartment.

"Oh yeah," said CC. "I get you black and white sea birds mixed up sometimes. So what are you doing here in the luggage compartment?" she demanded, as the others charged in to see what was going on.

"Yes," said Vinky. and is there anyone else in there?"

"Well," said Patrick, looking somewhat embarrassed, "as a matter of fact…"

Patrick climbed out again, and right behind him four little puffin faces peaked out at everyone. Patrick said, "I was on my way to Vacaville to introduce my children, Pat, Pert, Pet, and Clancy to all my friends there when our vehicle broke down outside Lake Tahoe. I was debating the various modes of transportation available to us, when I saw this contraption go by overhead. It was Providence, I tell you! I loaded the children and I in and we waited for our ride."

Everyone laughed and welcomed the four little ones. They all agreed it was time to go home anyway. As they prepared to leave, Vinky had an idea. She pulled everyone into a huddle and explained what she wanted to do. They all agreed it was a wonderful idea.

CC pulled out every tablecloth she had (and borrowed quite a few from the resort). They tied them all together into one GIANT tablecloth. They spread it out at the base of the mountain. The owlets flew up a few hundred feet and flapped and flapped until they started a mini-avalanche. The snow roared down the mountain, until it was piled high on the huge cloth.

The owlets gathered up the corners and tied them together. They tied this huge package of snow to the bottom of the rocket ship. They all piled in and Vobble set the coordinates for home. They laughed and chattered the whole trip, each of them giggling at time at the thought of what they had planned.

As they neared Vacaville, Zorro pulled out the phone and called the Dude to check in. He said, "Hey, Dude, would you do me a favor? The owlets are afraid they left the iron on in the owl box. Would you check for us? We'd hate to have a fire."

The Dude started outside to check the owlbox. He was about halfway across the yard when it dawned on him…"Owlets?? Iron?? What the heck???" He turned to go back inside, when a noise made him look up. Directly above his head was a massive wall of white, headed right for him! He found himself, his house and his yard buried in snow!

High above, in the rocket ship, the friends were rolling with laughter. "We got him!" they hollered. "We buried him!"

The Dude gathered up snow in his hands. He formed a huge snowball. Then he added more snow. Soon he had a GINORMOUS snowball. He rared back, ready to lauch this missile at the giggling passengers on the ship, but he didn't figure on how heavy that ball would be. He let loose and, instead of flying UP, that snowball flew straight toward his front door, just as Mary stepped out to see what all the commotion was about. That snowball nailed her dead in the face.

The Dude ducked down into the snow, trying to hide. He knew he was in trouble now. Mary sputtered and snorted and stomped a few times. She stormed into the house. The Dude knew he was in BIG trouble now. He tried to decide if he was safer hiding in the snow and freezing to death or going inside and facing Mary's wrath.

While he was thinking, Mary put on her winter gear, snuck out the back door, grabbed the biggest snow shovel and soon dumped a whole shovelful of snow down the Dude's back. The fight was on! Soon the whole neighborhood was in on it. CC was busy cooking more and more hot foods for everyone. It was the best winter party ever!

When everything had wound down, they all collapsed and said, "This was FUN!! We should start the new year off this way EVERY Year!"



The End