Episode 2: Snowmageddon and the Snowy Snowshoes

"Do you think this is a good idea?" I asked Phong as I looked out the sliding glass window, watching the snow swirl in the air before it found its home with the other snowflakes on the ground. "Why not?" He said, "It will be an adventure." We collected our cold weather clothing,  some snacks so we didn't resort to cannibalism if we were stranded in the snow, and our snowshoeing tickets before heading outside. Midge sat silently on the couch, judging our every move. If Midge was a talking pug, she would probably say, "Don't say I didn't warn you!" or something equally disapproving of our choice to venture out into the snow.

We stumbled our way through the snow and made it to the car. Once on the road, we began to question our decision. Cars were abandoned along the main road next to my apartment complex. One car was left in the middle of the street as though it had completely surrendered to the snowpocalypse. Our car crawled down the street, headed to pick up our friends, Tim and Erin who were just crazy enough to go on this adventure with us. We passed more abandoned cars, an abandoned motor cycle and witnessed the spectacle that was a cyclist attempting to maneuver the snow covered streets on our way to Tim and Erin's house. Once we secured Tim and Erin, along with Tim's skis, we were ready to make the trek up the mountain to more snow. The drive up was uneventful, with only one quick stop to put chains on the car.

It took a little over two hours but we made it up the mountain. We parted ways with Tim as he ventured off to the ski lift.
And then the real adventure began.
We went to the area of the ski lodge marked "rentals" to get our snow shoes. The young Shaun White wannabe blinked back at us as though we had just asked him to solve for x.  "Ugh, you wanna snow shoe? I don't think we rent those." We assured the young man that they most certainly do "rent those", as we paid 45 bucks to do so. He finally came to his senses and consulted with his manager. His manager assured us that they had shoe shows just for our group but we needed to go to the rental desk at the far end of the building. We followed his instructions, winter coats swishing at our sides as we went to the far desk with yet another Shaun White look alike. He too, like his clone before him, struggled with our request. "So, you guys want snow shoes?" He stared at his computer for awhile, as though he was waiting for it to magically produce the cosmic question of the snow shoe. I thought to myself that the elevation must just be reeking havoc on these young minds, when the lightbulb went off and he too scurried off to consult with his manager. With the mystery solved, Shaun White part two confidently came back to us, pressed what appeared to be random keys on the computer keyboard and led us back to our snow shoes. With shoes in hand we asked what we thought was a simple question: "Where is the snow shoeing trail?" Again, that familiar vapid expression appeared before us until the young man answered, "Uh, we don't have snow shoeing trails, you just kinda go...wherever. I guess you can go to the dog park..."
The above exchange had taken about forty-five minutes away from our snowshoeing adventure.
We decided to be like the pioneers before us and forge our own snow shoeing trail!
Walking with snow shoes on made me pity ducks everywhere. It was awkward at first and you couldn't help but waddle slightly as you moved through the snow.

We trudged through the snow covered parking lot, recieving stares from the snowboarders and skiers alike. They must have thought we were the misfits of the winter sport community.We continued on past the judging looks in search of this on "dog park" clone Shaun White told us about. We found a sign in front of a snow covered clearing that assured us that we were looking at a dog park. We found a road beyond the park and ventured onward. Phong attempted to run a few times in the snow and ended up almost burying himself. As we climbed further and higher into the great snowy unknown, we came upon some explosives.

Snowshoeing was a lot of fun. It's like walking but with more potential to fall on your face because you keep accidentally stepping on yourself (guilty).

In short, the trip was a blast, but not a literal blast, which I'm thankful for.