The Season of Snow is Upon Us

We've got about 2 -3 feet of snow-pack now and spent the weekend taking full advantage of it. This year's snow slides are being established on the property, and after cutting down so much brush this summer due to bears, we have a lot more area to use.

On Friday we joined Nature Lady and family for a ski out to the cabin they were renting for a couple of days. Nature Lady is the Head Naturalist at the Eagle River Nature Center and they have an extensive trail system including part of the original Iditerod Trail.

There are a few yurts and cabins sprinkled about and are available to the public throughout the year. It was a stormy looking day but beautiful none the less.

Since Lo has only skied a handful of times we brought the chariot for her to ride in in case she got tired on the way out. She was nervous about being on skis again but after awhile she got her ski legs back and did great! She skied most of the way to the cabin.

Dea, Leisel and Wolfman took off right away and were pretty much out of sight for the trip.

Once at the cabin the wood stove was fired up, lunch was eaten, whiskey was sipped, some knitting commenced, and there was much tawk. It was dark when we bid the O family farewell and we donned our headlamps, bundled a sleepy Lo into the chariot with her baby, and headed back down the trail toward home and Thanksgiving left overs.

On Sunday our friends from The Valley came up for a snow shoe and dinner. We had just received about 5 more inches from Sat nights storm and were still socked in but the trip was wonderful. Dea and Lo stayed back at the house for some sister time while the adults took off. We parked the truck about a half mile from the house and just headed up the valley to see how far we could get.

The JOY of snowshoes! They can get you anywhere! There is so much area in this valley that is inaccessible in the summer due to heavy brush but in the winter, it's a free for all! We spent about 3 hours playin in the back yard before heading back. Huz made some KILLER turkey soup which hit the spot-along with some homebrew-after our hearty snow-shoeing.

I promised myself our next show shoe outing will be UP. To the top of the ridge behind our house. Back there is a "bowl" where many a die hard skier/snowborder will climb and ski in the winter. You can follow a spine up to the top that will keep you out of the avalanche zone. Once you're at the top you've got a 360 of our valley and the next one over where the O family lives. Once, they were actually able to see Huz and I up there through their spotting scope! We gave them a call on our cell when we got to the top and they could see us jumping up and down waving our arms!

We just need a couple-3 hours and a clear sunny day and we're there...