Back in the Groove

well,

people here in PA have been whining about our lack of wintry weather, sans our continuous sub-freezing temperatures. Tuesday and Wednesday we got hit... with 5-6 inches of snow, then overnight on Tuesday we had a constant mix of ice/snow. Then on Wednesday afternoon it finally tapered off to snow again and finally stopped after hours of evening flurries. End result: a dense wintry mix of 4-6 inches of snow compacted by the 12+ hours of ice/snow mix, and then topped by the final snows.

To say the least, this was a dense mess that was nearly impossible to move. And to add insult to injury, the city plows came down the streets overnight and packed all streetside cars in a frozen mound. ARRGGHH! And it doesn't take much to slows things down here, as our road crews do not get alot of practice with snow. Businesses started closing, schools delayed then canceled, and many people worked from home on Wednesday.

My wife was one of those "working from home" yesterday. She diligently and faithfully worked a full day. However, when the day was done, we needed to "play". So we anxiously FINALLY broke out our new snow shoe gear and took a walk in the woods, literally. We are fortunate here in Bethlehem, as we have a few nature trails within minutes of our front door. We often bike, run, or cross country ski along the Lehigh Canal Towpath, which follows the Lehigh River and the canal basin which once provided our area with commerce and trade. It's a great trail running more than 25 miles from Allentown to Easton, and you can connect in Easton with the Delaware Canal Towpath, which when conditions allow afford you an almost 100 mile round trip of biking or whatever.

Today, however, we decided on another local trail: the Monocacy Trail. This trail wanders from downtown and out to the suburbs. It was two hours of great snow shoeing while communing with nature. We were able to shoe from our back door, to the trail, and then finished the loop right back to our home. Sidewalks were burdened with mounds of snow, streets were still completely covered, and there was almost NO traffic on the roads. Perfect for the adventurous type, as we are.

It was to be another quiet Valentine's evening at home with the one I love. I cooked up some fun pasta with turkey sausage and then we finished off dinner with some freshly dipped chocolate covered strawberries. YUM!