I wrote recently about why the snow makes me smile and I smiled a lot this weekend. So much snow. So much smiling.
Sarah and I missed winter last year while we spent my research leave in New Zealand. I loved our time there but I did miss the snow.
❄️ Who came along: Sarah, Mallory, and me
❄️ Where we stayed: Tally Ho Cottages outside Huntsville
❄️ Where we played: Arrowhead Provincial Park and Limberlost Forest and Wildlife Reservation
Walk
Mallory and I started the day off with a walk around the cottages while Sarah finished off some work stuff. That was our warm up for our weekend of outdoor activity.
Ski
After breakfast the three of us headed over to Arrowhead Provincial Park. We have a provincial park season pass so it was free but we still had to book for day use, since the park limits the number of people who can visit. I’d read about weekend crowds and it’s true the parking lot and lodge were busy but the trails weren’t crowded at all.
I was very nervous. Old me, before my knees went bad, loved cross country skiing. I was frightened I wouldn’t be able to do it. But do you know what? It was fine. Except we accidentally took the long trail, 5 km, instead of 3 km. They were my favorite kind of ski trails, mostly flat and winding through the trees. It was warm, -1, and snowing pretty heavily at times. It all felt kind of magical.
What we’ll do differently next time– bring snacks on the trail, bring water, and wear less clothes, or least different clothes, technical clothes you can sweat in. I remember all this from my old cross country skiing days. It’s been awhile.
The best news? I remembered how to cross country ski! My new knees did a great job. I’m looking forward to more cross country skiing in the future.
Skate
Arrowhead also hosts Fire and Ice nights where they light their 1.3 km skating trail for evening skating. I was excited to go– even got my skates sharpened for the occasion. And Sarah taped up the skate tongue that the shed mice had chewed off. I can’t believe they made a nest in my skates.
After dinner we headed back into the park for skating. Mallory and Sarah did great but I haven’t skated since before knee surgery. It turns out skating isn’t like bike riding, or even cross country skiing. Maybe you do forget how to do it. I didn’t manage much actual skating, though I did move around on the ice for a little bit. Advanced wobbling.
Now the ice was pretty rough and it was very crowded so maybe that was part of it. I’m not ready to give up and declare skating a thing I just don’t do anymore. Sarah and I have decided to keep at it and try skating again. Wish me luck.
Here’s me in my helmet just in case I took a tumble on the ice.
We ended the day with cards, Wizard as usual. Mallory and I tied.
Our fitness trackers, Mallory’s fitbit and my Garmin, started letting us know we’d done a bit too much. Mallory’s wasn’t happy even with the first bit of skiing since she’d already been skating that week and playing volleyball with her queer volleyball league.
Probably we should have stretched, but we did not. Instead we all crashed and slept really well. Zzzzz.
Snowshoe
Sunday morning Mallory had to head back to London to sing in the church choir so Sarah and I went to Limberlost for a snowshoe hike. Limberlost is free and there were only a half dozen cars there, very quiet.
We did a short snowshoe hike on the sculpture trail before heading home.
We’re back home now, tired and happy. It’s the sign of good weekend that we’re already planning to do it again next year.
But of course, on the way home we listened to the news. The world is still falling apart. I don’t know whether to be more worried about civil war in the United States or world war breaking out over Greenland. Trump’s presidency terrifies me.
Whenever I look at the blog’s stats I’m reminded that although we’re a mostly Canadian blog, most of our readers are in the United States. Last week the blog’s Catherine, who is an American based in the Boston area, wrote about taking part in civic action there. Me, I’m thinking of Minneapolis especially and our readers there and sending you love and support.
