Ski Withdrawal

(Taken at William O'Brien State Park on New Year's Day. A wonderful day of sking - enjoyed the best conditions yet this season.)

I'm in ski withdrawal and having the ski-lerium tremens after failing to get my Tuesday night fix. Mother Nature played one of her favorite jokes: delivering a fresh batch of white stuff concurrently with plunging the temperatures into the negative digits BEFORE windchill. Some may go ski anyway, but me - nooo, thank you.

If the weatherman is right, things will warm up for some fine weekend sking. For now, at least I have some of my recent photos to gaze upon while dreaming of gliding over good track. Hope you like them.

Christmas Eve provided a lovely day for getting out on skis at Lake Elmo Park Reserve. Bonus - it's relatively close to home.







William O'Brien again.









Got out last Tuesday in the sunshine for another nice ski at Lake Elmo. I love that place, a classic skier's paradise with only one loop for skaters. Only problem is its being adjacent to a shootin' range. Somewhat destroys the ambience. These scary signs are everywhere at Lake Elmo. I eventually figured out that they're simply a type of "one way" sign. This one was the first I came across. It cracked me up because of all the ski tracks beyond it. Hardly needed a sign here, what with all the gunfire coming from that direction. Argh.



A lovely spot beckons at Lake Elmo.

Lake Elmo, once again. In time I might get weary of the blue effect my camera phone lends to a lot of pictures like this one. For now, I love the evocative effect. Is it the sun? Or is it the moon?

Lake Elmo - twin picnic tables with identical "frosting."

Heh - this was at William O'Brien. You can't tell here, but I'm at the top of a substantial and long downhill, with a lovely view of the surrounding area. I found myself on a very difficult loop, purely by accident. Everything was fine until I tried to get down from here. There's quite a drop after this gradual downhill! I was a superdork and ended up swallowing my pride, taking off my skis and walking down. I already had a slightly sprained ankle/foot from wiping out a few days earlier, so why be stupid(er)? The learning to be smart has taken awhile, but I'm finally getting passing grades.

Thassall for now! Hope you're staying warm, wherever you are. :-)