Sunday, February 17th was our anniversary of our first date 13 years ago. We have never been ones to celebrate Valentine's Day due to the fact we were both home pining away wishing we were out together. It has become a tradition to celebrate on the 17th. Weird I know. Sunday topped the concert any day of the week for me. We packed a picnic lunch and ran to Starbucks for the morning cup of java even though it was around noon. We grabbed a bagel and sat at a little shopping center park (very quaint) and enjoyed our bagel in the warm sunshine. We then decided to drive to Mt. Baker Ski Resort and see how much snow was out there. There is between 180-195 inches or 15-16 feet depending on how high up you are. This doesn't even compare to "the 1998-1999 Ski Season it was said that Mt. Baker set the world record for annual snowfall. The peak of the mountain had an estimated total of 1,140 inches of snow which barely passed Mt. Rainier's record of the 1971-72 season. In total that is 95 feet of snow in one year. That is 126 inches of snow per month, over a 9 month period." Can you even imagine. Thankfully there wasn't that much snow up there or we wouldn't have been able to have such a lovely picnic in the snow.
In between the lower and upper runs there is a nice pull out and we saw that there was an area we could get up on the 15 foot snow berm. We got up on top to take in the view and found a wonderful place to have a picnic. So the trusty hubby went back to the car for our lunch. There was an area where someone had snow camped and so we laid out our water proof blanket and spent the next couple of hours playing with Sierra in the snow and napping in the sun. We explored a little bit, but with that much snow and no snowshoes or even snow boots it was a little tricky. At one point I went through the snow up to my hip and had to call for help.
Sierra LOVES snow and played herself to exhaustion. She sleep all day yesterday and is seeming like she might sleep all day today again. I do know if I were to say the word SNOW to her she would be full of life and spirit again.
The only frustration to the day was where the people snow camped they left all their garbage. We live by the rule or motto "Pack It In, Pack It Out" "Leave No Trace" so we cleaned up the area first. I wish everyone would practice those rules. Now we have beer cans and beer bottles in our recycling (how embarrassing), but I can't just throw them in the garbage. Even though it is very frustrating that some people are such slobs, I am happy we found all the garbage instead of it littering up such a beautiful place.
In the mountains I am so happy and free. Although I love Seattle for short periods of time...Sunday was the better of the two days by far. Once we were at our picnicking site we saw no one and it was absolute peace. I do not thrive on cities or lots of people. I much prefer the solitude of being alone with the ones I love in the mountains or someday on the water in my kayak. For now I will dream about the snow melting so I can put my pack on my back and hiking boots on and hit the trail for a couple of days at a time.
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