Saturday afternoon – middle season

Ahhh.. the end of the ‘middle season’. That’s the time up here between good running in the summer/fall  and good snowshoeing.  In october and November, its usually too dark for me to run in the moring or after work.. and there’s not yet enough snow to snowshoe.. That’s why I call it ‘middle season’.. but also because I can feel myself thickening in the middle a little because I’m not getting enough exercise..    Today couldn’t have come soon enough.. we got in our first snowshoe after dropping Gabe off at his snowboarding team practice in Stowe. He’s doing a program there every Sat and Sun to work on his jumps and rails riding.. so far he really loves it. 
    Diane and I took the dogs up VT 108  (the mountian road)  today. The moutnian road is closed during the snow season since it would be impossible to keep snow free. It climbs from Stowe up to about 2200 feet and then heads back down to Smugglers Notch ski area. In the summer they’re about 5 miles apart. In the winter…it’s 50 miles. Our house happens to be the exact mid-point by distance from the loop that goes over the notch.

The notch was a favorite smugglers route at many times in history.. most recently for folks bringing whiskey down from Canada during prohibition.

   Today there was a good 6-8 inches of snow at the base.. a little more at the top. Normally there would eb much more by this time of the year.

The hike up was beautiful .. In the high teens and pretty still.. As

soon as we hit the top, the wind started blowing and the temp started

dropping .

We found this cool rock outcropping near the top we thoguht looked like a resting panther or lion.. do you see it ?

We got back to the car about an hour before Gabe’s program was over.. so we hung out in the car with the dogs which was pretty peaceful.   Diane poured two mugs of steaming tea..

Which I used to melt the ice in my beard…

Then Diane did Yoga in the car using the power seats to help her tie herself up like a pretzel

While I played with the fake mustache Gabe had put on the mirror in the car..  


Nice morning…

Now I’m sitting in the empty house figuring out what to do next.. I know.. maybe ‘nothing’ !:-)

laer folks, nite Sam
-me

ps. Friends, Tomorrow is the annual Compassionate freinds worldwide candle lighting in memory of children who have die. Please light a candel for our beutiful Sam and all of those other kids at 7PM tomorrow.   It’s a nice way to spread soem love and light in this dark time of the year ! Thanks for keeping us all in your hearts.

-jc