There's a first time for everything

I love the chance to try something new.

Was I ready for a first time out on snow shoes at age 55 years and 10 months?

Absolutely!

And it only took me a few minutes to figure out how to put the shoes on.

(Bernie was right there to tell me the buckles go on the outside of the foot. Duh.)

My DIL loaned me her snow shoes; Bernie rented his.

A 45 minute drive over to Soldier's Hollow, and we were ready to hit the trails.

Or would have been, except B.s snowshoe had a broken strap holder!

I was simply flabbergasted that he was able to just reached into this pocket and pull out a plastic tie down (the green little bit that you can see in the picture above).

He was able to cinch the strap down in a jiffy. Now I'm thinking I should start carrying a few of those handy items in my purse along with all my other "might need" emergency paraphernalia.

Posing beside the Olympic sign, I asked Bernie if snowshoeing was an Olympic event.

(Answer: No)

The snow was a tad slushly, and the air was quite warm except when a breeze kicked up.

I kept thinking of my semi-slutty girlfriend who used to ski in springtime wearing just her bikini.

Wonder how snowshoeing in a bikini would be?

Especially at my age.

Hmmm...maybe that "first time" should remain a "never going to happen" opportunity.

I couldn't have asked for a pretty place to take a shake down walk.

And it didn't take long to discover what interested me most: all the animal tracks in the snow!

Now what kind of animals makes this cute little barefoot print?

I'll be scouting out a book on animal tracks before we head out again.

I totally do not understand why white snow photographs up close looks blue, but that fact does help one see the tracks better.

I'm thinking these are deer track?

(I'm also thinking that I need to get my camera lenses cleaned...those spots are from lens dust, not an animal.)

My favorite trail picture of the day.

No, wait...I think this is my favorite!

Bernie liked this one with the paths intersecting.

I'm guessing rabbit tracks. Really, I have never studies animal tracks before.

It amuses to me to see how the snow both hides and reveals the activities of those that live in the wild.

Other tracks are much easier to figure out....

Of course we had to snowshoe up to the tiny cabin at one end of the valley.

This scene gave me flashbacks to the famous novel "Mrs. Mike" by Freedman.

If you haven't already read it, RUN to the library and check it out.

If you haven't read it since you have become an adult, read it again.

It is simply an amazing true love story between a young girl and her Mountie.

The tiny cabin had a small wood burning stove inside. If I was making this cabin my home, my Mister would be hearing some serious nagging about caulking up those gaping walls before I would even try to heat up the place with some firewood.

The shed and a small corral were just a bit up the hill. Dang, I hate it when there is no information about a place like this.

The red barked trees branches added a nice pop of color to the landscape.

B. is looking good! He starting to look more like a skier than a surfer now after all his time on the slopes.

I'm digging this activity!

It was so good to get out and hike around, use our walking sticks again, and just enjoy being together on a Saturday afternoon.

As we trudged along we both recalled our walk about high up in the mountains of Switzerland.

That was a few years back; but we remembered the time we rested on the trail's bench overlooking the snow covered mountains and talk about our dreams for the future.

It was during that conversation that we decided we wanted to live someplace where we could enjoy the changing seasons, and take hikes and explore the outdoors. We made a pact that that would be our future, God willing.

It was just awesome to see that day's dream for our lives has come so beautifully true.

How far did we hike? If you enlarge this picture you will see the words "cabin" in white. Just below it is a small thing that is the cabin that we went to, and we made a big circle getting and returning from there.

A pretty good walk/hike for a first time out!

Oh come on...it wasn't that far!

Bernie had packed us a picnic; we returned to the parking area and noshed on an Oriental salad, shredded beef burritos, and a nice glass of white wine.

I've discovered drinking a glass of wine after exercise sure help to keep the muscles from being sore later.

Or at least that's what I think happens!

We finished our meal, packed up and hopped into our car, GREATLY enjoying the heated seats on our tired legs and back.

Bernie headed a slightly different way home, driving through the small Swiss settled town of Midvale. I was enjoying seeing the cute little houses with typical Swiss cutwork and murals decoration, when suddenly I saw something so astonishing that I turned to Bernie and shouted

"STOP THE CAR!!!!"

To be continued....