When Old Man Winter decides to stick around and become an annoying house guest that won't leave, your best bet is to just embrace him and make the best of it.
A couple of weekends ago we had a family fun day out at my parents. All the relatives from the Darling side of the family came out and enjoyed some wintry fun. With the abundance of snow this winter, mom and dad spent some time building a snow fort and a sliding hill which provided a bunch of fun for all the kids in the fam, both old and young. We also discovered that the remaining 16 inches of snow on the ground had crusted up hard enough that we could ride our fatbikes anywhere and everywhere on their 10 acres. Certainly a rare window of opportunity in the spring time.
Given the exceptional crust riding conditions, a ride was planned to get out and take advantage of the weather. Sunday morning, a group of us hit the Bald Eagle/Otter Lake park and did a 10 mile loop of exploration all around the swamps and forested hills. It was a real treat to be able to pedal anywhere on top of knee deep snow. Only one section, through some enormously tall pampas grass, was not passable. Conditions were too fun to limit it to one activity so I got out and skied as well.
I finished off the weekend with a camp out. Mom had never slept in a snow fort, and since they had built a nice one this winter, she figured this was her opportunity. I had not winter camped yet this year so I was itching to get out and was easily convinced to spend a night outside.
Despite it being a bitter cold winter, it has been a fun one. That being said, lets get to some spring weather already!
