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| Snowfall at Blue Licks |
I'm just going to be honest....I enjoy winter. Now that's not saying I don't prefer a nice warm sunny day on the lake, but I guess what I'm saying is I've never been bothered by winter weather. Some of my fondest memories are of heavy snows, sleigh riding and getting out and enjoying a good snowfall. I get it honest though. If anyone's seen my first post,
Christmas in the Parks, then you may know what I'm talking about. The first chance my mother would get to venture outside after a good snow, she would take it. I can remember her getting just as excited about a nighttime snowfall as me. For me it meant no school the next day, for her it meant bundling up and going out for an adventure. We'd journey outside and walk up the street out to the main road of the park we lived on. I can remember how the street lamps would cause the snow to glow so brightly on the ground, and let us see all the flakes as they came down. I can also remember how quiet it was. Neither one of us would say much of anything. We'd hear the crunch of the snow beneath our feet, but no traffic, no animals. Nothing. Just complete total silence as the flakes fell down on the landscape. There were several times when we'd venture up to the golf course. You could look out over the course and it would look like a winter wonderland. That golf course provided the perfect sleigh riding for me and my friends on that next snow day, but the night before was just about me and mom.
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| River Road at Blue Licks |
I had a lot of great memories over the weekend at the
Winter Adventure Weekend. As the snow came down Friday morning, several of the long standing volunteers and I remembered a huge snowfall for one of the events the park hosted. I couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 I guess, but I remember so much snow that the whole park nearly shut down for a few hours. During that time, the volunteers, not to be discouraged by the snow, turned it into a great memory that people still talk about to this day. I don't remember whose idea it was, but someone came across the idea to use one of the rescue stokes as a sled. A rescue stokes is a large basket used for cave rescue, but on that morning it was discovered it made for a perfect toboggan able to accommodate about 3 to 4 people. We must have made 15 or 20 passes down the road leading to the park lodge that morning before heading back into the lodge to get warmed back up by the fireplace.
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| Making memories |
Here at Blue Licks, the last good snow fall we had I was lucky enough to even see a Bald Eagle. I was so excited about the encounter that I only realized after the incident that I was holding a camera in my hand. No matter, it may sound like a fish tale to other people, but for me its something I won't soon forget. I may have never seen it if my mother hadn't instilled within me that sense of adventure the first sign of a snowflake. This is a time of year most people may not think about your local state parks, but I'm here to tell you that any time of year is a perfect time to get out into the parks. They are there to enjoy, to explore, and to make memories. Don't wait for pristine weather, you'll miss an awful lot of really neat things. I silent stroll in a winter wonderland with a loved one, a sledding adventure with friends, or a personal encounter with nature.
