Winter in New England

Just thought I'd post some pictures to show everyone what it is like to experience winter in New England. The experience is definitely a bit different than winter in the South. We've really enjoyed milking these bitter cold days for all they are worth :)

Snow on the beach after a snow storm. (Coming from the snow white beaches of Florida, I find that I can almost convince myself that this white stuff on the ground is actually sand.)

Its just crazy for me to see the snow going all the way up to the water line...beautiful!

This was our little cottage after a snow/ice storm. It took G a couple of minutes to crack his way out the door through the ice force field encapsulating the front of our house...thought we might be stuck until the thaw ;)

One weekend we had the opportunity to go up to New Hampshire for a skiing/snowboarding weekend. Active duty military got to ski free for the weekend and I (a dependant) got a reduced fare. It was a pretty bitter cold weekend...somewhere in the single digits...so I didn't get a chance to take the camera out on the slopes to get any pictures. But we did take some pictures in the hotel parking lot...of course there is nice scenery there ;)

Self portrait (as usual)

HUGE mound of snow in the parking lot (they had just gotten about 1' of snow that week). Us southern folk don't know what to think about this much white stuff!

Garin just got some gators and he wanted me to take a picture of them (the green things on his legs - they attach to your shoes and allow you to walk in deeper snow without getting wet).

And now for our favorite new adventure in New England: Pond Hockey! These pictures were taken after a pretty big snow, so most of the pond has snow over the ice. The last time we went out there the snow had melted down and we could pretty much skate over the whole pond. We stuck our stick in one of the holes an ice fisherman had made and it looked to be over 6" thick...so I think we are safe!

Some neighborhood kids had shovelled the snow off of a section as it was coming down so that there would still be a patch of ice exposed for skating...the natives know what they are doing!

Garin showing off his Hockey skills.

New Years Day- Hiking and Polar Bear Plunge

On New Year's Day, Garin and I were invited by our friends, Bryce and Franky, to join them on a New Year's Day hike. The hike was to the top of this mounthill (in between a mountain and a hill) that had an awesome view of downtown Boston. Ordinarily the hike would have been rather rudimentary, but add about a foot of snow and some icy rocks to the mix and things get a little more fun!

Us with Bryce and Franky at the top of the mountain.
The view of downtown Boston in the distance.

The hike up...thankfully it was actually a rather mild day, I think it was about 40 degrees, hence Garin's short sleeves and rolled up pants.

If we thought going up the hill was tricky on slippery stones with snow and ice packed on them...coming down was a whole new adventure. I think we all took a spill to the ground at some point on the way down.

Garin and I had been reading up on some places around Boston and the Cape that were having New Year's Day Polar Bear Plunges...and well, we thought it was a wonderful idea! Most of the organized ones required an "entrance fee" that was some sort of donation to a charitable cause (don't ask me why anyone would PAY to freeze themselves, but I guess its for a good cause), but due to the hike we missed most of those (and I might add that I'm cheap). So, I decided that, hey the beach is right out our front door, why can we not take advantage of the free freezing cold water right in front of us?! So, my bright idea lead to the following pictures:

The tide was as low as I have ever seen it...so after I ran about 50 ft into the water I was still only about knee/thigh deep. I eventually just dunked myself in to say I got completely wet.

The dash back in...my pants were so heavy and were falling off!!

Out of the four of us (Bryce and Franky were still there to witness my bravado), I was the only one witnessed to take the plunge. Garin said he would do it later but wanted to go for a run first...about an hour later he came home and was soaking wet, but I (nor any other confirmed person) did not actually witness his plunge. I'm not sure how else he would have gotten wet from head to toe (I mean, he does sweat a lot, but I guess not that much), so I guess I have to take his word for it ;)