Thus far, Colorado has received minimal snow in the mountains, but I’m remaining optimistic that “real” winter is still going to arrive. Regardless, my parents, Will, and I headed up to the Mesa on Saturday morning to enjoy the snow. We also brought along our massive old-school wooden sled in case we found a must-do sledding hill (Spoiler: We didn’t.)
 |
| Mom and Dad off in the distance….with Tally! |
We decided to head straight to the top of the Mesa with the logic that there would be the most snow. The elevation up there is around 10,500 feet, so we were delighted to find enough snow to make our snowshoes useful! If you’ve been a reader for awhile, you may remember that Angel and Cindy bought me new snowshoes for my 30th birthday last year after my old pair freaked out on our hut trip. I haven’t been able to use my new shoes, so I was totally excited to take them for a test spin.
We arrived at one of the many trailheads on the Mesa and geared up in our snowshoes. Did I mention that I got to wear my new neon pink snowpants?! That alone made my entire weekend!
 |
| Tals and me. As usual, she is looking elsewhere! |
The four of us headed out, Tally breaking trail the entire way. Y’all, I cannot even begin to explain how much my little ball o’ fur loves the snow! She seriously gets this doggy grin on her face and runs herself ragged! I like to say that Tals “runs the crazy out” and that she probably gets it from her mama; we both find our peace and sanity in the mountains.
The weather was a quintessential Colorado day: bluebird sky, sun shining, and glaring white snow with almost zero people. We saw a group of four at the trailhead, but that was it for the entire three-hour snowshoe. That is exactly why I love the Grand Mesa: it was a holiday weekend and the entire national forest was still empty!
 |
| Love my parents 🙂 |
We spent some time tromping around, breaking trail, and watching Will take photos of Tals. Will is wonderful photographer and he captured some epic photos of Tals while she was running through the snow. Maybe once he processes them (or whatever it is that legit photographers do to photos; I wouldn’t know since I can barely manage my iPhone!) I’ll see if I can share a few. There is one that is seriously going to get framed for my wall!
 |
| PSA: Coloradoans MUST wear sunglasses; Will has no retinas left thanks to my photo-taking skills! |
Even better check out this sunset we caught on the way back to the city last night:
I seriously love my home!