It's been a funny winter here in Utah. We've had crazy warm weather and really low snowfall. Yet at least for the Morningstar family, we've had one of our best winters ever with lots of great family fun in the snow.
A few weeks ago we headed out to Soldier Hollow for the annual CenterPoint Church afternoon of tubing. And, as usual, we had a terrific day hanging out with our family and church family on the tubing hill!
Sam always cracks me up with his goggles and helmet - I think he looks like a very warm fighter pilot
Recipe for a perfect Morningstar family vacation? One yurt, three days, six Morningstars and plenty of snow!
In celebration of Sasha's Gotcha Day, Sam's 13th birthday, and just because it's so gosh darn cool we rented a yurt up in Wanship Utah (halfway between Park City and Wyoming) for a few days of quiet family fun. It was the perfect getaway. Seriously. Perfect.
It was a mile ski from the parking lot up to the yurt. It turns out that having two adults pack in six peoples' gear, clothes, and food makes for some seriously heavy pulks! I mean, we needed a lot of Pop Tarts to keep this crew going for three days of winter romping! Good thing Mom and Dad are super strong.
WanYing and Mommy on the way up to the yurt
Daddy hauls up the last of our vacation necessities (more Pop Tarts)
You're probably wondering to yourself, "Won't an active family six get bored spending three days in the snowy wilderness in a giant tent?"
Not this family!
We spent the first couple of hours getting settled. This involved a lot of competition over who would get which bed followed by the obvious next step of luring/tugging/carrying the dog into the hard fought victory bunk.
The dog was not thrilled about her place in the top bunk. WanYing and Ben, however, as normal bottom-bunk dwellers, were exceedingly pleased with their lofty positions. That is, until the wood stove got cranking and the temperature in the yurt soared to just short of ten billion degrees. Then we all competed for comparatively cool places to lay on the wooden floor.
We passed our evenings playing games, with Steve's childhood favorite of Water Works topping the list. The girls really like Water Works (or "the pipe game" as it's called in our house) because it's a strategy game that they can play independently. The boys adore the pipe game because early on we established a rule that they are allowed to swear while playing this game (and only this game!). We'll do what it takes to get the whole family to play a game together!
And we spent a lot of time reading. Sam finished up book 2 of the Mistborn series (no spoilers, please, Ben and I are still working through the series!). And we all enjoyed taking turns reading Superfudge aloud. With siblings in Kindergarten and 6th grade, Superfudge ended up being the perfect book for our family - full of zany sibling rivalry and just a little tenderness, just like our kids!
And, of course, we spent time celebrating our fantastic kids! I think that chocolate cupcakes plus plenty of reading time may be Sam's complete birthday wish package. Oh, right, an Xbox would probably be in that equation. Well, at least we hit 2 out of 3 essential elements.
We also spent lots of time snowshoeing through the mountains and enjoying great family time and Utah's astounding beauty.
Steve tries out his new sliding snowshoes (nice job, Jamie, best Valentine's gift ever!)
Admittedly, the sliding snowshoes would be more fun with more powder, but we had a good time nonetheless
We had an amazing couple of days of yurt adventure, capped off by the astounding wilderness stars. My Valentine's gift from Steve, only slightly less awesome than the sliding snowshoes, was an intervalometer for my camera.
Now we just need to figure out how to get the batteries to last longer than 20 shots in the frigid cold so we can make time lapse video that lasts longer than 3 seconds :)
Finally, enough snow to really try out the studded tires! I admit it, dry streets and no snowfall over the past month had left me feeling pretty dumb about investing $150 in snow tires for my bike to ride on cold but perfectly clear asphalt.
But wonder of wonders, the past two days have brought inches of snow in the valley and feet in the mountains (hooray!) and I finally got to give my Nokian Hakkapeliittas a fair shake in the snow, slush, and slick surfaces they were designed and purchased for.
After 75 clear miles and 40 snowy ones on my studded tires here are my thoughts and reflections on owning studded bike tires:
On dry pavement the tires definitely feel like they have a higher rolling resistance than my Michelin City tires (which are not particularly light tires either!). I just have to be ok with a slower-feeling commute.
In an inch or two of snow the tires feel great. I felt secure, stable solid even on unplowed snowcovered roads and trails
Apparently even with studs ice is still slippery. Who knew? I found this out this morning when I ended up sliding on my butt down a trail underpass. Still, I'm sure I looked good even when sliding down the dirty mucky ice. Fortunately no one was there to tell me :)
Because my Nokians are commuting tires, they only have studs on the road surface instead of also on the sides like some mountain bike studded tires have. That means that riding through thick slush or in any kind of ditch or trough feels skiddy. I definitely want to stay on the main surface of these tires.
I'm mindfully trying not to apply too much torque, which according to
reviews can rip out the studs (not unique to the Nokians, just a normal
part of riding with studs). So far so good, all the studs are still
there!
I freaking hate going downhill in the snow. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish I could find a commute route that is uphill both ways for my winter commute! I just don't feel confident in my ability to keep my speed down and my bike in control when gravity is assisting with my speed. Hopefully I'll get more confident with practice.
I kind of like the tickety tick sound of the studs on dry pavement.
And, let's face it, there's a certain bitchin' factor to having studded tires for one's bike.
Overall, I really like my Nokian Hakkapeliittas for winter commuting. In a couple of inches of snow or the skim left over from a snowplow they feel great and I feel confident on them.
And never you fear, I recognize that not everybody on the road has bitchin' winter tires and I'm especially careful to stay on less-traveled roads in slippery weather. No matter the weather, I remain grateful that most of my commute is on bike paths where the scariest things I have to dodge are kids on scooters and ladies jogging four abreast!
The first snowfall of the 2012-13 season is upon us!
We got several inches of fluffy (if a little dense for Utah) white stuff on Friday and the kids spent a very happy evening making snow angels and attacking each other (and me) with snowballs. It was a great start to a hopefully very, very snowy winter.
A very lovely snow angel
Do not trust this face when its owner is holding a snowball.
This face is equally mischievous... well, basically all the time... but especially when holding a snowball
Now that I think about it, just don't trust any of them, not when holding snow.
This weekend we got to introduce WanYing to one of our very favorite winter activities - tubing at Soldier Hollow! Every year our church rents out the tubing hill at Soldier Hollow for an afternoon of snowy, fun-filled fellowship and I have to say it's one of our best traditions.
Clearly WanYing agrees!
The best part about tubing at Soldier Hollow is, of course, that you get all of the fun with none of the walking uphill
Sam was so sweet to his littlest sis, toting her around (although she often insisted on walking and dragging her tube herself)
Down they go!
WanYing was all smiles with the wind in her face and her goggles firmly in place
And of course our daredevil Sasha had a blast
This was Sasha's normal pose the whole way down, laughing like a crazy child
Ok, maybe Sasha wasn't the only crazy laugher
And just when you thought you couldn't make Soldier Hollow any better, there's more - we got to hang out with our Portland-based friend Cindy all weekend!
Thanks for a fantastic afternoon CenterPoint Church and Soldier Hollow!
I know that our official frost-free date isn't until Mother's Day... so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised to wake up to a chilly morning at the end of April... but I have to admit that I wasn't expecting this!
On Saturday we strapped on the snowshoes for a family romp in the South Fork of Provo Canyon. The fresh air, exercise, and the beauty of God's creation were exactly what my soul needed.
Sasha pre-romp and all smiles
In our family, we engage in full-contact snowshoeing. It requires helmets and goggles.
Apparently Ben is the one who should be wearing the helmet and goggles!
Loving the sunshiny snow!
I just love this canyon!
Aha! Now we see why Sam wore the helmet!
It can be so hard to get a good photo of Ben (because he's usually making monster faces) - but this one really captures his sweet spirit... and adventurous nature.
Sash definitely enjoyed her sledding runs
Time to head home. And a good time was had by all!
Because my Nokians are commuting tires, they only have studs on the road surface instead of also on the sides like some mountain bike studded tires have. That means that riding through thick slush or in any kind of ditch or trough feels skiddy. I definitely want to stay on the main surface of these tires.
This weekend we got to introduce WanYing to one of our very favorite winter activities - tubing at Soldier Hollow! Every year our church rents out the tubing hill at Soldier Hollow for an afternoon of snowy, fun-filled fellowship and I have to say it's one of our best traditions.
