Raven Snow

Raven is my friend and neighbor. She is obviously young and beautiful. And SO accomplished. She's married with three small children. She has a master's degree. She plays the violin. She speaks Spanish fluently. She is our neighborhood book club organizer. I could go on. There's just one little thing that Raven needed to add to her resume and that thing was SNOWSHOEING!

Raven and I have had this little "deal" going since December, but we haven't had much snow. Finally, we had a day, and it was a Bluebird Day. Raven asked what she should wear (because being raised in El Salvador didn't really prepare her for snowshoeing) and I counseled her, "LAYERS!" Yeah, I personally started peeling my layers off the second we stepped out of the car. It was SO SUNNY! Combine that with thermogenesis (hiking uphill) and I couldn't rip clothing off fast enough.

So we went over the river and through the woods. We stopped and breathed and chatted. It was good to learn more about her and find out about even more of her accomplishments! Such a lovely person. And then we ran into some friends.

Meet Ranger Logan and Ranger Andrea. This is not the first time I've run into my fellow rangers in the great out of doors! It's happened so frequently it's no longer very surprising. TICA Rangers play outside on their days off.

We got to the big meadow and I asked if she wanted to break trail or investigate the river or make a snow angel or anything else. She headed for the river and decided that this was far enough.

There's no way I'm going to insert sweaty pictures of myself today, so I'll let Raven represent the happiness we both felt at spending a little time together in a beautiful location with sparkling snow and sunshine. Thanks for a great time, Raven!