Happiness is . . .

I had gotten an email from a friend Friday morning wanting to know what I was doing on Saturday - the weather would be fabulous & she knew I was one of only a few friends who wouldn't complain if she wanted to take the 5:35 ferry out of Edmonds to go on a snowshoe adventure. However, I had committed myself to a snowshoe event with my sister. It would be a great day for the views at Hurricane Ridge & not the tromping through the trees at Stevens Pass for the event. Luck would have it though, the event was funding Susan G Komen Foundation and after the flap earlier in the week regarding funding of Planned Parenthood, my sister & her friends were done with their support of Komen. She cancelled. And I was waking up at 3:30 to go to Hurricane Ridge.

The trip really only hit one snag, a car sized boulder in the road that closed the road for and extra hour. But we weren't bothered by this - a quick trip back to town for second breakfast and a cup of coffee later and we were on our way again. The parking lot at the visitor center was already filling up, but there was still plenty of room as we parked our car and started of on our day.

We weren't in a hurry to get anywhere. In fact we didn't relly care if we got to the top of Hurricane Hill at all. We meandered along the snowy road, heading off into the woods anytime we thought we might see a view or just for a small change of pace. Some of the snow was just too much to resist and I threw myself into a snow bank, on Mary's recommendation, to make snow angels.

Once we hit the end of the road, the "work" began - a steady and often steep climb up the first knoll to the ridge. The rest of the climb to Hurricane Hill would follow the ridge. The views we had been admiring all morning became even more incredible as we climbed. We stopped for a while taking pictures until we couldn't stand the biting wind anymore and continued on our way. It was too far past the first hill that we came to a section of trail that cut into the snow along a cliff. I didn't like the looks of it, even less so when as I watched a group go by one of their number slipped. Nope I was done.

Mary & I started back to the visitor center for some hot cocoa before calling it a day, smiles on our faces.