ILoVermont

Vermont has always felt like my second home. Growing up my dad would rent winter house shares and haul Kristen and I up from the Cape almost every weekend to ski at Killington. Sometimes we hated the long drive and leaving our friends on weekends, but reflecting back those ski weekends are some of my best memories and has made me love the outside and skiing as much as I do today. Anytime I get to spend time in Vermont is welcomed & I feel like I am going to my second home. Needless to say I was so happy to ring in the new year at our friends home in Plymouth, VT , the Big Red Barn. 

We spent NYE having a late dinner of home made spaghetti and meatballs, drinking too much red wine (if there is even such a thing) playing pie face and ringing in 2016 with a champagne toast. 

For the first day of 2016 we headed to Killington and skied on less than favorable conditions. The lack of snow that the [east coast] mountains have had this year is so sad! Killington does their best to make snow and open up terrain, but normally at this time all lifts are operable & they still have yet to open Bear Peak. Usually I know a few spots to go to avoid the crowds, that was just not possible. Despite the conditions, we still had a great day skiing where we could, having lunch at the Peak Lodge and après @ KBL and at the Pickle Barrel. 

There were some flurries in the air through out the day/night. We agreed that if the mountain got 3 inches we would go ski, any less not worth it. The morning snow report said 2 inches. After enjoying a lazy morning  we went for a three mile walk around some good old Vermont country roads.

Later that night Bob, Kristen, Alex and I ventured off into the hill behind the house for an adventure. We wandered up the hill, occasionally crossing other paths sometimes making our own. I used my micro spikes though not needed. Everyone else was just fine in hiking boots. We each had a headlamp and I also held a LuminAID on the walk which I purchased for Alex for Christmas. This light was really cool and fun to have as you'll see in pictures below. I bought the PackLite 16 vs. the PackLite Spectra. Despite liking the look of the spectra better, it had very poor reviews on Amazon. 

Here we are with our appropriate koozies and lighting for the photo only with the LuminAID

After hearing a rustle in the woods our relaxed moment in the snow turned into finish your beers and lets go! I'm sure it was a deer or something even smaller, but for some reason we all got a bit spooked. After missing our turn on the trail, getting "lost" for a few minutes [we always knew we were close to home] back tracking to find the right trail and making it home, we had a good laugh about whatever it was we heard in the woods and how we reacted.

This was a great start to 2016 with a great group! Happy 2016 all!