Two of my very close pals came to town this winter. Zach and I took them into the mountains for fun and frolic in the snow. These are the pictures. Click on a picture to be taken to the full-sized image.
Ivo waiting to leave the house. Isn't his hat hilarious?
Ivo jumping off a ledge into some snow.
Ivo after he landed.
Zach, the Mountain Man.
Emily eats some tasty snow.
Zach, jumping off a ledge into some snow, doing a full twist.
Zach, after he landed.
Emily and Heather, the story of two best friends.
Emily, after she tumbled down the slide she built.
Three of my favourite kids climbing up the snowbank.
Zach, rolling down the hillside.
Zach, landing at my feet.
Emily and Ivo, sliding together down the (rad) slide Emily had made.
Zach and Heather jumping together into the snow.
We took a walk and one of the first things we saw was this freaky-deaky tree. The branches looked like root balls. Creeps.
We began to walk off the trail and became snow explorers. We found a beautiful area with tons of snowy trees and I took this shot. It's the view of the sky through the snow-covered branches. If you click this one, you'll get a 1024X768 pixel image (suitable for desktops, doncha know).
As we explored more and more, we started sinking into the snow more and more. There was a time when we were up to our waists in it. We were literally walking on top of trees that had been buried in snow (our feet would occasionally get caught in branches as we sunk down several feet). It's amazing that no one twisted an ankle. Zach led for a while and at this point resorted to clearing out a path with all fours. You can't really tell from the photo, but he was up to his chest in the stuff. Emily waited patiently, eating snow.
Eventually, we turned back because we couldn't find the main trail. We followed our old foot-holes back to safety and passed these cars. The tow-truck drivers were clearing them off, so we could ask questions. Apparently, the night before, some hooligans had stolen four automobiles and brought them up to the Pass, where they stripped the cars of all valuables and then burnt them. A really, really eerie sight.
One of the cars was burnt before the snow fell, so the insides were full of fluffy white stuff. Really weird to see.
Each car had a sticker on it, like this. Right -- because the people who left them there REALLY want to come back for them.
This is what the driver's side of a car looks like when A) most of the car is missing, B) it has been lit aflame, and C) the snow has fallen. Man, isn't it weird that your car really amounts to this?
Emily and Ivo on a bridge at the end of our walk. Emily, at this point, was soaked completely to the bone and is such a trouper for smiling in this photo.
Zach and Heather on the same bridge. Zach's wearing snowpants -- aren't they cute?
No photo-essay would be complete without a wacky picture of tongues, yes? Awesomely, Zach instigated this.
The view off the side of the bridge, at dusk. After I took this shot, we tumbled into the car and drove home, eating Animal Crackers and listening to Air Guitar Rock. Oh, and we got some hot Krispy Kremes. A good, good day.
