Fun in the Snow!!

Winter has always been something I wish I could avoid-I don't like the cold or the ice or driving very far in wintery weather, I even lived in the southern hemisphere for a few years just to avoid it! But this year we decided we were going to embrace it. And we even decided this before we got our unusual snow storm last week!! We wanted to go up into the mountains more often, to escape the rain and bleakness down here, go cross country skiing and snowshoeing, and take advantage of the fact that we live within 30 minutes of 3 different ski fields. After talking about it for weeks, we finally made it on Saturday!! We hopped on the shuttle bus to Cypress Mountain. They have a Nordic centre and a downhill/snowboard centre. We got all kitted out in our cross country skis and headed out. We were surrounded by beautiful blue skies, bright sunshine, trees trembling under the weight of all the snow (250cms!!), and we could actually see back down to the city once the clouds finally lifted. It was magic. I had cross country skied when I was younger, but it was Rich's first go at it and he loved it! We laughed so much, he was crying at one point he was laughing so hard. It wasn't too hard, but was definitely a great workout and we cannot wait to go back up again! Snowshoeing will be the next adventure. I had no idea how much they had evolved - I had the old fashioned wooden ones in my head, but now they are quite fancy. I even have a few friends at work who already snowshoe, so this could even turn out to be a way to make more friends! Imagine that, winter in a positive light, I can't believe it!!