Taking advantage of winter.

We had a pleasant surprise when we moved up here. There is a small ski resort in Cokeville, a town of 500. I had heard of it's existence, but from what I was told was nothing special. And honestly it's not I guess for the seasoned skier. But for the kids, the place is perfect. In a town of 500 with no real metropolitan areas within 45 minutes I figured it was probably pretty small. It is, which is what I like about it. I'd planned to take the kids up to Jackson, or down to the Beav to ski, but Chloe's school had a ski day in Cokeville and she signed me up to go with them without checking first - she knew I'd want to. And I did. It's true it's a very small mountain, and just a single 4 chair lift. But it is a fairly long lift and the runs are lengthy and gradual which is perfect for kids. Chloe loved it because the mountain was empty and she wanted to go really fast. "I like the sound and feel of the wind on my jacket when I go fast!" she says. Mileage wise it's probably further from us than Beaver was from our old house, but it seems like we get there much quicker. And it'cheap. Only drawback is it's only open on Fri-Sun each week so if I nice storm comes through on a Monday, it's not your go to resort for fresh pow. 

I know it's cold and all that, but to me winter is such a pretty time of year. I love being in and around the mountains in the winter time, especially after a fresh snow when the sun comes out and the bright blue skies contrast against the white blanket of snow on the mountains. We bought a cheap older snowmobile when we moved up here and Rhen has really enjoyed riding it around. A very popular area for snowmobiling is just a half mile from our house so sometimes we'll hop on at lunch and cruise up the side of the road to the access point. Rhen really likes to go fast and hit the bumps and keeps begging me to get him his own snowmobile. Maybe in a few years.

The John Deere

I never envisioned myself as a John Deere type of guy. I don't think Stacie did when she married me either. I grew up in the country and always wanted to move back. But it wasn't for the typical reasons a lot of people do. I'm not a farmer and I'm not a horse guy. I just like being surrounded by nature instead of vinyl fences and pavement. This is one of the reasons we ended up moving to the place we did. We wanted a few acres, but not  a few acres of weeds. So I was very pleased when we found our little chunk of forest here in WY. We've enjoyed living here, but it does come with some caveats. One is you have to have some equipment to keep your road clean in the winter. Enter the John Deere. a couple of years ago I found a really good deal on this barely used JD. It was more tractor than I thought I wanted - and about a year premature - but compared to other machines I was looking at, it was just too good of deal to pass up. My dad and I ended up driving a few hours south to pick this up and haul it home. I've already used this tractor for many different things around our property. It's actually really fun to drive this thing, move dirt gravel rocks and snow around where you want it. There is something manly about it. It's pretty much a man's toy. One that I never thought I'd want. But I do. And when you have a drive 3 times as long as you can see in this photo, it's kind of a necessity.

Doing Stuff Around the House

This last Saturday I finally decided to not do anything around the house, but instead actually do stuff around the house for a change. I woke up early and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. We've had the place for over four years now and every time I drive up our lane in the winter, I look up at this mountain behind us and think about skiing down it. I finally decided enough was enough, put on the snow shoes and started climbing. It was -12 or so when I started, but when the sun is out it always feels warmer than it is. 

Here you can see the roof of our house down among the trees if you look real close. I started walking out our drive and up the mountain and at this point was really considering not climbing all the way to the top. It was very tiring as snowshoes don't always keep you right on top of the snow, especially when you are climbing up a steep mountain side and you can't place your snow shoes flat on the surface.

The scenery was worth the climb though.

Moose was right with me the whole way, sometimes literally on my heels which increased the difficulty I had climbing the mountainside. I think he was trying to step on the tails of my snowshoes so he didn't sink into the snow. He had a little more fun once we got to the top of the ridge and it flattened out a little so he could run around more easily. The snow was really cold and perfect. Some of the best skiing I've ever had and I've skied quite a bit. Of course climbing for an hour and a half might have something to do with how much I appreciated the skiing down. I'm thinking of going back up tomorrow for another round, Maybe add the second half to my helix. Anyone want to join me?