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Tag Archives: sunshine

What a day! We’ve had many gray days and even rainy days, it seems like for the last two weeks or more. Around here, we are used to blue skies and bright sunshine reflecting off the cold, deep snow. Today was that day! The sunrise produced beautiful alpenglow on the mountains inviting us to explore on foot.

After agility practice (Willow watched), we headed for the hills above town and walked on a well-trodden path through the pines and out in the open. I looked at the road above us and saw movement. My brain went from what’s that, to is it a horse, no wait, that’s a moose! How cool! Moose occur nearly anywhere in the valley but are only occasionally seen. It’s always a treat. We crossed its trail and then followed its tracks back til we found the spot where it got on the path. There were also tracks of tiny creatures who had been out since yesterday’s fluffy snowfall.

Willow likes to lead the way but, so far, she doesn’t get out too far ahead. She is always turning back to see me and/or Sky. And today, she posed nicely with her big sister for portraits in front of the mountains. She is five months old and learning so much. Maybe she is a Good Girl, after all.

The Methow Valley has been socked in with fog for a few days now and it’s not very pleasant. Gray and feels colder than it is. The light is flat. This morning I had lots of choices for skate skiing on groomed trails and I could tell from a web cam that one of them had sunshine and it’s a dog trail. Sky has not been to Gunn Ranch but she’s doing well at Big Valley so I figured we could give it a try. This trail is a long gradual uphill climb of 5k, or more. I just went the 5k and that was enough for me today. And then it’s down, down, down back to the trailhead. With perfect grooming it was lots of fun but when I got going pretty fast, Sky would come too close and cut me off or step on my skis. Twice she caused me to fall. I did figure out how fast to go and keep her out of my way after that and also I kept my eyes on her pretty closely. And we stopped and took pictures too. It was beautiful in the sunshine just barely above the sea of clouds in the valley below.

This week the valley has been mostly enshrouded in thick cold ice fog. Thanks to abundant web cams I figured out that up on the Loup (Loup Loup Pass) there was sunshine and twice I went up there to escape the fog. Not only was it sunny but the trails are not icy like they are in valley and the low lying-hills. That is because we have been under the effect of a weather inversion. This means that high pressure and warmer air are trapping the fog and cold air down in the valley and it is warmer as you go higher in elevation.

This is one goofy winter.

Yesterday’s warmth melted snow and ice and created beauty everywhere I looked.

 

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