Snow day extravaganza

View of the Cloisters

Entrance to a snowy paradise

The text came later than I expected on Wednesday morning, but it finally popped into my inbox, bringing its joyful little message "NYL PRESCHOOLS ARE. CLOSED TODAY." I had a little 5:30am celebration and went back to sleep for a while. When I couldn't stand the excitement any longer, I flew to the front windows to see the snow. It was beautiful, the world was white and the sun was coming up. It was a perfect day: public school was OPEN, my work was closed (many of our kids are medically fragile) and 9 inches of powder lay like a blanket, waiting to be explored.

I pulled on my new Yaktrax, put a load of laundry in the wash only 187th st and took off towards the park. Fort Tryon park was breathtaking, all of the trees heavy with snow and the sun streaming in. I trotted up to the highest part of the park by the flagpole and frolicked around, buzzing around looking at the view from all sides. The snow was shin deep in many places, but the yaktrax did their job well. I looped around the Cloisters, by the river (windy!) and frolicked as much as possible. I was fluttering all over, arms circling to help me move through the deeper snow. I probably looked like a southerner seeing snow for the first time, just dressed like a ninja. I remembered my sunglasses and was glad as the yellow rays bounced off of the snow into my face. Running during daylight is such a treat at this time of year.
Sadly my run came to an end as I checked my watch and saw that the laundry would be done soon, so I ran back down the snowy street since the sidewalks were already cleared by this point.

I spent the rest of my snowday exactly the way I planned it: I took out my snowshoes and tackled the hills and untouched paths of Fort Tryon park on my way to and from the big sledding hill. I spent a few hours sledding which is a really good hill workout in the end. I flew down on my snowdisc sled and charged back up to the top about 100x before my feet started to get cold and my tummy began to rumble. I shared the hill with a few other families and their children, but since public schools were open, it was fairly quiet. What a perfect day.

I'm feeling the effects of all of my efforts today though.... Whew am I sore in all sorts of new places. I remember one missed landing off of the snow ramp we built where I landed on my right asscheek, how could I forget when it hurts each time I sit down?

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