Winter in October

Last week, it actually snowed in the mountains! I didn't grow up up around mountains, so as I drove toward them on the way to bring E to day care, I giddily pointed out the beautiful white-capped peaks on either side of our car. She happily shouted about "snow," which I'm not sure she remembers from last year.

When I headed back that way in the afternoon, to pick her up from day care, I wondered if I could reach the snowy part of the mountain. It was hard to tell from a distance how high the snow was. I got E in the car and asked her if she wanted to try to find some snow. "Yeah!" she said. We headed for the base of the peak.

I was really skeptical about actually reaching the snow, and I imagined telling Mark about our little adventure and him laughing at me, in that, "Oh, aren't you so cute and naive" tone.

I figured that, even getting closer to the snow would be fun for E, so we forged ahead. As we got closer to the mountain, I started noticing little clumps of snow on the ground. It was almost like a line on the ground -- no snow, then snow. As we drove a mile further, it was like someone had flipped a switch, and it was winter. There was snow everywhere -- about 2 inches on the ground, trees covered, snow-topped roofs.

It was eerie, how fast it changed. It was like stepping onto the set of a movie. E was in shock. "What is that, Mommy?!" she asked, concerned.

"That's a lot of snow!!" I cheered. She really didn't remember snow from last year. We parked at the now-closed ski area and got out to play. She was scared at first and didn't even want to walk in it, but when I set her down and marched around in it myself, she started to jump and run in it. We made foot prints, snowballs, and took in the scenery.

Then back home to autumn in our little valley. The next day, snow fell at our house. Here it comes!