Into The Woods

Today I took my oldest niece on a snowshoe hike to break in my new snowshoes.  This was N.'s first experience with snowshoes and she was fabulous, she fell down exactly 2 times less than did, which means that she didn't fall down at all.  In my defense the first fall I took was on purpose, the second time...well...that's just how I roll.

N. looking particularly stylin' in those bright yellow shoes.

It was just so hard...to soak up all that sunshine, fresh air, and gorgeous scenery.

Awkward portrait pose is awkward.

Bunchgrass Creek is under there somewhere.

Shortly after fall #2, don't worry folks, I bounce.  My thanks go to the random cross country skier that kindly stopped to help us take this photo, and give us a good laugh "EXTREME CLOSEUP!"

And yes Erika this is one of the many adventures I have in my The North Face jacket, I have so very, very many...it is also an adventure that I had in my awesome new OD green Burton snow pants too, I think I'm in love with those things.  After we got back to Phil the Cranberry Comet (my current loaner car, which by the way now only has two death tires instead of four, seriously folks, keep up) Nicole decided she was up for one more quick hike.

We drove down the canyon and stopped at the summer home site that my father's cabin is located at.  We wanted to check the murder bucket (not the same as a danger cupcake with murder frosting, long story, I'll explain it when things thaw out, there will be photos, don't say I didn't warn you, you should probably stop reading now, RUN AWAY!), but I had forgotten to bring my cabin keys, so we didn't.  Aren't you glad you read that whole sentence?

We oh so very, very gracefully vaulted the gate at the bridge.

 
We then oh so very, very gracefully hiked along the road that follows the river.  We then got oh so very, very cold.  I hadn't thought about it before but the reason why it is so nice and cool at the cabin in the summer is that there is a huge mountain right behind it that sort of blocks out the sun.  Here, look...

This is how much sun we were getting at noon = not much.

It is always fun to walk through the home site area when there are no people, cars, or pets around.  It was interesting to see all the things we don't notice when the trees and plants are in bloom and summer has given the forest a makeover.  Like this abandoned gate sign, which inspired a conversation about Ice Ice Baby (I know way more of the lyrics to that song than I care to admit)...

Alright stop, collaborate and listen, Ice is back with a brand new invention

And well, let's see if you can spot the weirdness in this photo...

Can you see it?  Do you need a hint?  Remember this news story?  Well it is sort of like that.  Look up the tree, about 15 to 20 feet off the ground where the trunk forks.  See it now?  How about now?

From the road you can see where the trunk and the branches have pinned the tired and grown around it.  I think it is safe to say that it has been there a while.  This was where we decided that it was too freaking cold to not be in the car with the heater cranked up, and we turned around and headed back.

In the car we decided that hot chocolate and something tasty was in order.  So of course we stopped at Herm's Inn on our way out of the canyon.  We got our hot chocolate with whipped cream.

That helped us thaw out our hands enough so that we could use utensils like civilized people when the main attraction showed up.  I give you: Apple Cinnamon Swirl Pancake.  (Yes, pancake, as in singular)

It was so pretty, and it smelled so good, and it was so tasty.  Did I mention it was covered in cream cheese frosting?

Go ahead, take a bite, I swear I won't tell anyone that you cheated on your diet.

See that teeny tiny little metal pitcher next to the pancake?  That was the syrup.  The pancake totally did not need the syrup, but hey, it's good to have options.  And here is Nicole trying to explain how she ate much less of the pancake than I did.

I say that there is roughly 2/3 of it missing and there were two of us, therefore if we all subscribe to Occam's Razor the simplest conclusion would be that we each ate a third.  Nicole rejected my theory, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

As if we hadn't had enough snow for one day, we stopped at N.'s family's house to see the snow fort that her little sister M. built in the back yard.

The double berm defense impressed me and I thought the icicle pickets and the garbage can lid merlons were nice touches.  I love my family!