Off Season Fun!

February 18, 2015 Off Season Fun!

I’m sure many of you have noticed that this winter I’ve taken some time away from blogging. This year is going to be so awesome, and I’m taking some time off this winter to relax, unwind, and get healthy to prepare for wedding season! It’ll continue to be a little quiet on the blog until March, with a few updates here and there. Thanks for your patience and understanding during this time! I’ll be back to blogging to share some more amazing sessions with you once the weather warms up a bit. :)

This past week, Steve and I went to Vermont for our annual winter trip to go snowboarding and visit with my family. Unfortunately due to both of us having minor injuries we ended up making the last minute decision to not bring our snowboards and change up our plans for our trip. This worked out majorly to our benefit considering most days we were there the wind chill was -15° to -30° even during the day. We wouldn’t have wanted to snowboard even if we could!

Thankfully we were able to get 3 full days of family time, which was truly awesome! Steve and my grandfather teamed up against my grandmother and me in a 3-day cribbage tournament. It was a lot of fun :)

On Valentine’s day, we hit up all of our favorite spots in Waterbury/Stowe – Cold Hollow Cider Mill, Ben and Jerry’s Factory, and added a few new favorites to the list – Ziemke Glass Blowing Studio, the Ski and Snowboard Museum, and Stowe Cinema. It was such an awesome day exploring our favorite Vermont town and staying indoors away from the sub-zero temperatures. I couldn’t have imagined a better day with my love!

We also visited my friend Lindsey in Burlington, VT and got to explore with her for a day! After spending a few hours at Echo, the science center and aquarium on Lake Champlain (LOVED it!!), we headed outside to see the lake. The lake was completely frozen over, so we decided to join the other crazies and walk out on it!! We also had delicious tacos and went to an awesome barcade (Tilt Arcade and Ale House!) – so many awesome adventures on this trip!

Before the frozen photos (which honestly I was so not properly equipped for lens-wise, and it was also around -22° F, so walking around to get ‘the shot’ just wasn’t quite the priority) here are a few from 2012 of the lake for comparison purposes:

Gorgeous, right? I LOVE this place. I couldn’t wait to take Steve to Burlington so he could see my lake for the first time. But not only were we able to see it, but we were able to WALK OUT on it. The breakwater with the lighthouse is a little over a quarter mile from the shore. We walked out to it, Steve stood on it (I sat on it, it was very icy and I didn’t want to fall, especially not with my camera gear) and then walked back! It was cold, but man it was amazing!! These photos so don’t do the view or the experience justice. Such an incredible experience.

This building below is the same one pictured above!

Check out all the footprints in the snow!

It was a little creepy finding spots where the snow cover was thin enough to see the ice. It made what we were doing seem way more dangerous.

I just love the view of the mountains from the lake. So pretty. This was the first day all week that it was clear enough to see them and it still wasn’t nearly as clear as it was in Summer 2012 when I last photographed the lake.

Not only was it creepy seeing the ice exposed, but also seeing cracks in the ice. Though you could see how thick it was, and that was pretty cool too.

This photo is taken from the breakwater out towards the New York side of the lake.

Sitting on it!

About halfway back, you can see the breakwater behind me.

And a shot towards the Vermont side of the land – about halfway between the land and the breakwater… and it still looks so far away!

After a delicious meal, we drove back down to the lake because I noticed there was still some light in the sky and, well, I’m obsessed with the lake. Steve and Lindsey stayed in the car while I ventured out to get this photo. It was significantly colder without the sun out. I also wasn’t about to walk out on the ice after dark.

Even with all of those beautiful photos, this is the one from the trip that means the most to me. I love my family.

It wasn’t the trip we had in mind when we booked a few months ago, but it couldn’t have been more perfect. It was just what we needed.

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