Cross Country Skiing

The weekend snowstorm brought fresh snow, and enough of it to make it decent for cross-county skiing.

We went out skiing the day before the snowfall and it was icy, cold and cloudy.

We went out a day after the snowstorm and it was sunny, warm (relatively), and good skiing conditions.

We’ve been going to Riverbend Nature Center to cross-country ski. It is a nice park, close to home. The trails are well groomed and there are a lot of trails – both flat and hilly.

We stop every once in awhile to look at the horizon and listen to the silence. These are peaceful stops.

Recently this quote caught my attention, from the book, Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple.

“When your eyes are softly focused on the horizon for sustained periods, your brain releases endorphins. It’s the same as a runner’s high. These days, we all spend our lives staring at screens twelve inches in front of us….”

Taking pictures while skiing requires a different kind of stop. It more complicated than a listening/peaceful stop. You have to stop, unstrap your ski poles, take off your gloves, get the camera ready, and shoot. Then put the camera away, put your gloves back on and poles back in place and continue skiing, all the while hoping you don’t drop the camera in the snow. It slows us down and that is another reason I don’t take many photos while skiing.

On cloudy days it’s easier to get better photos because I can see the screen. On sunny days I cannot see the screen on my camera so I just point and shoot and hope for the best.

Cross-country skiing helps us enjoy the great Minnesota outdoors for fresh air and exercise in the winter. Our stops along the trail to look out over the horizon seems to be an added benefit.