Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

The weather outside certainly has been frightful, but at least the snow is making it quite delightful. (You just have to take advantage of it!)

Once you're a grown up, sadly, everyone kind of hates snow. It means attacking the barricade of ice and snow the plow left behind, frowning at all the folding chairs and garbage cans in the streets, maneuvering around glaciers and traffic jams on your way to work, and tiptoeing down the street getting your socks and shoes wet as you curse the people that didn’t get their sidewalk shoveled. Oh look, and the city just declared another snow emergency. Terrific. About the most you can say is, “Well at least that was a good workout” as you add rum to your post-shoveling mug of hot cider.

But these last few weekends, we finally had the chance to get out and enjoy all this fluffy white stuff. One weekend, we put down our snow shovels for a while and decided to try some snowshoes on for size. It was our first time ever snowshoeing and I didn’t really know what to expect. We went to Brooksby Farm in Peabody, MA and rented snowshoes for $6 to test it out. It was surprisingly more of a workout than I thought it would be!! But we loved it. We probably trekked about 3-miles as we covered a majority of the 275-acre farm. It was a great day for snowshoeing too. The sun was out and there was lots of fresh snow for us to blaze our own trails. The temperatures were supposed to be in the single digits that day (so we had to find something to do away from the slopes), but we definitely worked up a sweat! We already want to buy our own pairs now so we can explore more places and take Kenzie along. If you’ve never snowshoed before, I recommend trying it. It’s a good winter activity to get you out of the house for an afternoon… avoid that cabin fever!

Another weekend, we went up to Gunstock for our first snowboarding session in the mountains this season. The conditions were great. There was plenty of fresh snow all around. I was not used to the long trails though… that first run down was a real leg burner. The riding was awesome all day and, as always at Gunstock, the views were gorgeous. We sat on the deck of Panorama Pub for a while and took in the view overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee. That will never get old. As far as snowboarding goes, I am definitely learning to ride with a little more speed and Adam is attempting to teach me how to carve. The day went fast and we were exhausted by the end of it, but I can’t wait until we can get out and do it again.

It is currently snowing here. AGAIN. We are supposed to get 8-inches today and another 12 to 15-inches tomorrow. The driving and parking are going to be an absolute nightmare around here, but I am trying to focus on all the good things. Like class being cancelled. Working from home. And more snow for boarding. =) Here is a picture someone posted about the snowfall report in New England this week… so funny and so true!

Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow.