Cross training

Finding the perfect Christmas tree starts with a notion to go into the forest to look for it. No parking lot Christmas trees for us, no-siree. So Lan and I loaded up our car:

Coats

Boots
Dry sox & pants
gloves
hats
Hand warmers
shovel
chains
flash lights
Doggy blankets & a dog
McDonalds

21 year old SEAL CD

Snow shoes

Toboggan

Did we forget anything?

Fill up the car with gas and head out, 20 miles to Enumclaw for the permit and a new saw because we forgot something. 20 miles out to Greenwater and Forest Road 70, head east for about 5 miles, into the beautiful 2 ft deep snow. So deep you can't see the trees very clearly and you wonder if you're going to get stuck, then you get stuck. Shovel yourself out and get turned around.

 

 Head out on foot/snow shoes with the toboggan, dog and saw.

 I like these snow shoes, they are shaped so I don't step on the back with my next step. I've used bad ones before, they were difficult to use. These are fun.

 Big trees on the road up

 Enough pre-flocked trees for everyone.

Hagen loved playing in the snow, she buried her head in it and had a huge doggy smile. But she did get pretty tired too and was glad to get back into the car when we were done.

If you have never snow shoed before then you should try it. It can be a really good workout and its fun to boot. Lan and I have had ours for about 6 years and I think this is the 3rd time we've used them but only because so many times that we ended up in the mountains we didn't start out heading into the mountains. But I digress... Walking on my snow shoes was easier than I ever remember it had been before but I think that has a lot to do with being in better shape. We hiked around in snow that was 2-3 feet deep; when you take a step some snow stays on the shoe but its easily knocked off or you can just walk with it on there. I didn't get hot & sweaty and I didn't get cold either. Hagen got tired and once refused to go any farther but I think she just knew we had found the right tree by then.

After we got back to the car Lan wanted to hike up the road and explore but I thought we'd best head home. I wanted to get home before it was too late and I didn't know if anyone would be feeding horses for me or not.

On our way we got into heavy traffic so took a side road and ended up at Tacoma REI, hoping to find Christine working. She wasn't. So I bought some new sox, Lan got some chain lube and we headed home in lighter traffic.

Christine is always telling me that we need to call her when we are heading out to do fun stuff; Lan and I talked about her while we were up in the snow and I said she wasn't going to be happy... She wasn't.

But she wouldn't have fit in the car, we had the car top carrier with all the wet sow shoes and the tree in it, Hagen was in the back of the car and the back seat was full of coats, boots and backpacks. She wouldn't have had fun. Plus I would have felt bad making her ride in back and its MY car.

After I got home I found that all the horses were back in their nice clean stalls. Cassie had come though for me!!  I had actually cleaned all the runs this morning except Handys because his mom cleaned it last night. I'm sure Cassie cleaned it for him this afternoon so no worries. His mom is going to be gone for a week and I'll get to clean it a lot more.
Today it was 50 degrees outside at home so I had my horses blankets off. I didn't even look to see if they were back on but I'll put them back on tomorrow so they don't get wet. Supposed to rain like mad.