This winter is getting to me. The cold. The storms. The clouds. The trapped inside a messy house with children that have had too many snow days. Funks are inevitable. So, when there was actual SUN on a free Saturday, I told Reagan that we needed to soak up as much vitamin D as we could. Little girls and sun were the only cures for a deep mid-winter funk. If we walked the trails, the sun would be obscured by trees and shadows. We needed WIDE OPEN spaces. And we just happen to live near a frozen lake. Perfect!
The plan was to walk from the local park to my in-laws place on the lake, a distance of about a 1/4 mile. There were plenty of snowmobilers and ice fishermen on the lake - we were hardly the only people with the same idea. Reagan and I parked at Chassell park, and started following a snowmobile trail towards Al and LaVerne's house. The little girl weighs the same as my left arm - she floated on top of the snow like it was nothing. At first, I did, too. Enough to get about half the way there. But then, once we got off the snowmobile trail, I began sinking. ALOT. The snow on top of the lake was at least 3 feet deep, and with every step I was sinking up to my waist. And there was SLUSH under all that snow! I was wearing snow boots, but only jeans with holes in them. Each step got my boots stuck in water, and it would take several minutes to extricate myself. I would take one more step, just to sink down again. Good grief. This was getting ugly quick.
Reagan ran ahead, barely leaving a foot print in the snow with her big feet and 48 pound stick-body. I got on my knees to spread my weight, and crawled that way for a full 1/8th of a mile, soppy wet. It took my 45 minutes.
I wanted sun and exercise and time with my daughter, and I definitely got all three things! May have taken me another hour to warm up and dry out by the fire, but it was worth it. I learned a valuable lesson about the value of snow shoes!
