Winter Wonderland

If you had told me ten years ago that I would enjoy cold, snow, and the gray days of winter I would have died laughing. Even though I grew up in Utah and Colorado I was not a winter person or a downhill skier. Sure, my parents used to drag me up to the mountains on a far too consistent basis. Of course I took lessons. But I never advanced beyond the snowplow back and forth across the mountain counting the minutes until we could just go home! The rest of my family loved it. They wondered why I had to make it so hard? Dh gets his ski fix by going with his sisters, taking the guys at the shop, or visiting a friend of ours here in town who has created his own mini downhill ski resort in his hilltop yard. Me? I just say NO to downhill! But that doesn't mean I don't like to ski...
Since living in NH I have learned to enjoy cross country skiing. I like seeing the beauty of fresh fallen snow, being able to bring my dog along for a winter stroll, and having a conversation with my husband. Sure, it's more work, but that has never held me up before. We have a few different trails that have been carved out in our little town. There are also a few ski mobile trails we may try, but I am a little cautious of those as there are a lot of trees and I really don't want to get run down by a rogue snowmobiler. My favorite trail would have to be the T Gardens Trail. Carved out by yours truly, with help from my DH, and NO help from Polar. The great (should be) trail breaker malamute rode on the back of my skiis for a good part of the time I was creating a path. Because there just wasn't enough challenge in the two plus feet deep snow. He thought I needed a little extra weight on the back. Or more accurately the snow was up to his armpits so he thought he'd catch a ride on top of my skiis. It starts by going over the bridge along the greenhouse then around the field, up the back driveway, around the pond up through the yard, along the stream, around the raspberry patch- with a side branch up Mount Poop (septic hill) for a little downhill action, then down the road side of the raspberries through the back yard back to the bridge. What a great way to spend the afternoon. The dog takes a couple of laps with us, but usually ends up sitting on his deck accumulating ;) LOL!