Winter Wonderland

Spending the holidays at my parents’ log home has been magical in some regards. There is something completely serene and peaceful about nestling yourself into the side of a mountain and watching the snow fall. Luckily, we experienced the rare occurrence of snow actually falling on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and this seemed to make everything more special. In fact, we didn’t just get a dusting of snow: we received a foot on Monday, another six inches on Tuesday, and then another 4-6 inches last night!

It seriously is a winter wonderland out there!

Tiger wanted to explore too, but it was a lot for his little legs!

Everyone else left the cabin this morning, so I took Tals out for a walk in the snow after waking up. I am headed to Park City tomorrow (more on that later!) so my parents took Tals with them back to the city. I wanted to make sure she was behaved on the car ride — which we all know is near impossible! — so we tromped through the snow for a good 40 minutes to let her exercise her demons.

See Tals romping through the center of the photo?

Nothing like a couple feet of snow to wear a crazy mutt out!

She lays down in the snow every time she gets overheated— cools her lil’ body right down!

I was out there around 8am and everything was completely silent. There was no traffic, no voices, no hustle and bustle sounds that come with rush hour in the suburbs……just silence. Tals kept running off to chase deer and squirrels, but I just needed to stop walking and listen for the jingle of her dog collar if I couldn’t see her. As far as I’m concerned, there is no better way to enjoy a beautiful morning after it snows!

Unless I’m using these suckers, of course….

That’s right! My parents got me new alpine (downhill) ski boots for Christmas! For those of you that are curious, they are the Nordica Hell and Back boots. I chose them because they are great for in-bounds, but also for sidecountry. I don’t plan on using them for too much backcountry (especially since Will got me the new AT setup!), but I like having the option. I do some hike-to skiing in the back bowls of both Copper and Winter Park, so hopefully these work well on-piste as well as off. I’ll be sure to do a review at some point for those skiers out there!