Snow bound.

Okay, enough of the heavy stuff. I've been inspired by my friend Alicia's blog to post snow pictures, partly because it's been too long since I posted a picture montage of Boogaloo and partly because Boogaloo just enjoys snow so much. :) I have never seen her frown at snow. I have, however, seen her throw a fit about coming inside.

Unlike my snowbound friend, who lives in the "frozen tundra of the north" (her words) and can afford to hate snow with a passion, we live in the Drippy Taiga (that's a real word, it means fir trees) of the West. We get inches of snow, and that's only if we've been promised a particularly cold winter. This year was supposed to be a particularly cold winter, and we've gotten six inches total in three inch increments. Three inches of snow is a piddling amount when you want to play in it.

The west is the only part of the country that is not enjoying a major dump of snow right now. . The rest of the country is buried. We have nothing. When we want snow, and we frequently do, we have to go look for it.

Pretty awesome, isn't it. This is a view from Hurricane Ridge, our yearly snow destination. Last year the we couldn't get there because the road collapsed. This year, the roads were intact, and the mountain had eight feet of snow waiting for us. There were trees buried beneath our feet. Have you ever walked over a tree? It feels like you really are on top of the world, and there's a little less sky above you than there ought to be.

Boogaloo, of course, didn't notice. She also didn't notice the 30 to 45 mph winds that were buffeting us the whole time. She climbed right up onto that snow and got busy. I think she likes the power of having a snowball in her hand. But her favorite thing to do in the snow is make a snowman. She insists on it, emphatically. And Washington snow is ideal snowman snow. It packs like nowhere else. Tada! We tried to sled a little, but it's hard walking back up a slope with eight feet of snow prepared to give way beneath you. I guess that's why ski slopes have chair lifts.