happy friday, everybody!
today, i have a surprise day off [much needed!] ; so i will be baking bead, walking my pup & reading harry potter.
one of my goals for 101 things in 1001 days is to snowshoe ; i have wanted to do it for years. they are a little pricey [$100+ -ish] so i wanted to test them out before purchasing. also, the minnesota weather is silly. two winters ago, we got almost 100 inches of snow & last winter, im not sure we got 30 inches ; so its hard to commit to something you might not be able to use for two years...
last weekend, the minneapolis park service had a really cool volunteer opportunity : come down to the mississippi river for 2 1/2 hours. we will give you snowshoes & a beautiful tour of the riverfront & then you can help us clean some brush out of the woods.
exercise, exploring & volunteering?! right up our alley!
so, we met with 20+ other folks, strapped on some snowshoes & hiked around the riverfront. [last weekend, we had about 12-13 inches of snow ; a lot of it is packed down pretty hard][last night, we got a few hours of freezing rain, so a lot of it is now washed away]
the snowshoes were surprisingly easy to put on. there is no 'right' or 'left' shoe ; and you strap in your feet like you would with a pair of rollerblades.
we walked up & down hills & some icy areas. underneath the shoes, there are metal 'grippers' ; like an ice pic..
i really enjoyed it & didnt find it super difficult. my legs were a bit sore the next day & my heart rate got up a few times.
my main budget goal right now is to pay off my student loans [march 2013, baby! thats the goal!] & then to purchase a new bed, BUT if an extra $130 fell into my lap, i would definitely purchase a pair soon!
what do you think?
have you been snowshoeing before?
any questions? [i can try to answer..]
