Erica Curless

Mr. Jones, a 6-year-old shiba inu from Stevens County, won best of breed this morning at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in New York City.

VALLEY, Wash. – Mr. Jones leaps through the snow like a jackrabbit, hopping through drifts in a race for the orange ball. He crashes into his playmate and rolls down the hill before popping up with a trademark smile, perfectly highlighted by his black lips. From a distance, onlookers might assume the antics in the hilly fields at the entrance to the Colville Valley are red foxes playing on a bitter winter day.

When the AARP membership application appeared in Keith Erickson’s Coeur d’Alene mailbox, he threw it in the trash. Another application arrived the next week, then another in the days before his 50th birthday.

Kim Varner just wanted to live to her 50th birthday.    In December, after another cancer surgery and another staph infection, the Spokane native wasn’t sure she would make it to join the other 4.8 million baby boomers who will reach the half-century mark this year. But her Jan. 28 birthday came and went and Varner is 50 and alive. Her next goal is to make it to April for a trip to New York to visit her godson and celebrate the 50th birthday of her childhood best friend.

At 8, Terry Yeager caught Beatles fever and 50 years later it’s still surging through his blood. Yeager was one of 73 million Americans who watched the Fab Four’s historic, Feb. 9, 1964, appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” lying on the living room floor of his Dishman-area home.

As many men age, they realize something is missing in life. Often this epiphany is sparked by a collapsing marriage, unfulfilling career or shortage of friends. Perhaps the children are gone and there is nothing to fill the time once consumed raising kids. So what’s a guy to do? Silently suffer. Divorce. Quit. Join a poker group. Buy a sports car.

Baby boomers are keeping the RV industry rolling, especially through the recent sluggish economy. Travelers in their 50s and early 60s are bolstering the local industry by heading out on the highway for adventure, whether it’s golfing in Deer Park, a rock concert at the Gorge Amphitheater or taking the grandkids skiing at Schweitzer Mountain Resort. The boomer generation is putting a new twist on the traditional motor home adventure to an RV park to play bridge. “It’s a really good market here,” said Steve Cody of Delcreek Productions, which produces this week’s 26th annual Inland Northwest RV Show and Sale that starts Thursday at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center. “The baby boomers are just huge.”

Where on the road is Julianne G. Crane? Outside Yuma in her RV of course, writing about her road trips exploring the United States and Canada. Last week the former Spokesman-Review columnist was enjoying the Arizona sun, before she snakes west to San Diego and then north to Spokane just leisurely enough to miss our cold, snowy season.

Russ Nobbs and his wife enjoyed some of their most memorable dinner dates thanks to a local senior discount.     Sometimes they dined on baked salmon or opted for a nice pork loin. There were always candles and a table cloth, transforming the unconventional and ambiance-lacking Deaconess Hospital room into a romantic setting.    “We’d have a little normal time because chemo is not normal,” said Nobbs, 70, who spent the summer having weeklong chemotherapy treatments every three weeks to fight his T-cell lymphoma. The dates brought joy to the nursing staff, who Nobbs joked would say “You old guys are cute.”

Every Monday in the winter, Suzie Ferguson and her girlfriends spend the day skiing at Lookout Pass. They grab lunch and a beer — or two — with their other ski-bum buddies then make a few more turns before heading home to Coeur d’Alene. These ladies are members of a special social club growing in popularity at most local ski resorts: Prime Timers. Ski groups specifically for skiers age 55 and older with no agenda other than having fun and enjoying the slopes during the “prime time” of the week when there are fewer tourists, children and skiers in general. It’s a great way for seniors to make friends and stay active in the winter. Most resorts offer discount tickets and passes for seniors and even better deals for Prime Timers in addition to specials on food and drink.

Here's a look at how a few area baby boomers defied the concept of "old age" and went big and bold in 2013 with adventures of a lifetime. Their advice to others in the older generation: don't let age define your dreams or desires.

Nancy Hughes was tired of yard work and calling the plumber for every drip and leak. She wanted fun: golfing, long cruises and the freedom of spontaneity. So following the trend of many older Americans and baby boomers, Hughes sold her 2,200-square-foot home and large yard on the South Hill and downsized into a retirement community in August.

More than 60 starving and neglected horses are in need of foster homes and ultimately adoption as Spokane County faces its largest-ever horse neglect case just as freezing temperatures set in and winter hay costs soar. It’s never easy for Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service to find suitable homes for rescue horses, which often have special needs on top of an already large financial commitment that can easily total $1,500 annually. Yet after already placing more than 20 horses since July, SCRAPS is struggling to find foster homes – let alone adoptive homes – for this latest batch of animals.

Democrats in the conservative stronghold of Kootenai County finally threw a party for a winner. Local supporters of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama who gathered Thursday night to watch the Iowa caucuses cheered as he won. "This is exactly how I wanted it to turn out," said Daniel Megow, of Post Falls, a local Obama campaign volunteer who helped organize a party at Cricket's Bar in downtown Coeur d'Alene to watch Obama's fight in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

WALLACE – Shoshone County wasn't too captivated by Gov. Butch Otter's visit Tuesday, with only a mother and her home-schooled son showing up for the "Capitol for a Day" session. But that didn't mean Kingston resident Dawn Hauff and her 10-year-old son Dan were alone with the governor in the Wallace Senior Drop-in Center. About 40 people crammed into the room, but they didn't exactly count as "average citizens." All were elected or held some type of government job.