A good sign: It's nice to see that the great outdoors is "open" today!
A's New Year's resolution was to try snowshoeing, therefore mine was to make it happen for her. On the 8th day of the New Year, we made our trek to the mountains to try snowshoes during "Winter Trails Day," an event where vendors of outdoor equipment come with their demo fleet of gear for you to try out. Of course the hope is that you'll discover a new sport and want to buy all the gear, and they're more than happy to provide coupons and point you toward the stores that stock their goods.
We got to try several different models, from racing snowshoes to ones designed for really deep snow. We had fun tromping through the forest following the fresh tracks of elk, rabbits, and deer. It had snowed abundantly the night before, and while we were there we had patches of blue sky between light snow fall.
The girls are hooked and really enjoyed it. I had to be carefull as my knee had been hurting all week, and the uneven terrain associated with snowshoeing was really risky for injuring myself further. I went more slowly than I would have liked, making sure my footing was secure before placing my full weight on my right leg and taking the next step.
K explored a little snowcave that some boys made, and we thought they had left, but after a time they returned and were not happy to see that in K's attempt to make it bigger, she collapsed it.
Little K had fun snapping these photos with her new camera, that she used Christmas and birthday money combined to buy on the day after Christmas. It's a nice little pocket digital, and all these photos were taken on the "snow" setting. Overall it handled the severely bright conditions pretty well, though a few frames were too blue or over/under exposed.
Both girls (and my husband) are back on the slopes downhill skiing, but snowshoeing opens a new world of adventure for our entire family to do together. I don't downhill ski, so this chance to be out in the snow with my girls means a lot to me. Now if I could just get my bum knee to cooperate!
The girls are getting so big! I wish we lived closer to a place that has snow. I know that Catherine would just love it!
Posted by: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1060463581 | Monday, January 10, 2011 at 08:25 AM