Winter and All The Outdoor Things! Camping-Hiking-Skiing-Kayaking.

I am someone who has always loved and preferred winter to all other seasons. Now, growing up in south Texas that presented a bit of a problem. Some years you could be drenched in sweat trick-or-treating on Halloween and spend Christmas Day in shorts and a t-shirt. As good as the holiday season could be, it always seemed to be missing a little something without those Hallmark Channel fall colors for Thanksgiving and roaring Christmas fires with everyone cozy in their oversized sweaters. I genuinely love being outside when it's cold. Going for a walk or full on hike, camping, kayaking in October with a view of the Tetons in Jackson, backcountry skiing...I just want to be outside in a warm coat breathing in the cold air.

As I got older and moved away from Texas I was finally able to experience a different kind of holiday/winter season. Ones that included crisp fall air with changing colors and snow for Christmas and most importantly, other people who enjoyed it just as much as I did! As long as I live I will never forget going into the backcountry in Wyoming with friends to cut down my first Christmas tree from the forest or having my first snow day at 30 years old and skiing on New Years Eve with just the moonlight to guide the way. No fancy parties or expensive cocktails required. Wyoming, especially the Big Horn Mountains, is my favorite place to experience all the outdoor things I love most. There's just no other place like it for me.

Some years later I had the opportunity to live in Washington State for a few years. My absolute favorite thing about living there in the winter was seeing my Great Pyrenees Ranger experience the snow for the first time. If you want to feel pure joy go play in the snow with a 120 lbs polar bear of a dog. Your face will hurt from smiling so much. Having Ranger there with me in the snow and mountains, just made every life long dream of living on a ranch with a mountain view (and handsome cowboy), run even deeper and grow even stronger. Every Christmas we had there was a beautiful white Christmas with hand made evergreen wreaths and small town holiday festivities. It was a dream. And the fall color in Washington was just incredible. You could have both snow and fall color in the same day. We'd go hang out at one of the many vineyards in the Hood River Valley and then just a short drive up the mountain to one of the ski areas and you'd be building a snow man.

As I've gotten older I've learned to appreciate the other seasons of the year. Especially spring, as my love for gardening has grown, but the nostalgia of winter will never leave me. I don't know if it's getting to have the experience of a childhood dream come true or just my genuine affection for it but it's in my bones. I look at these photos and I physically feel the joy I had in all of the moments captured. I remember the people I experienced them with and the things that were happening in life outside of the photographs frame. And even though there are still life long dreams that have yet to come true, I am able to look back on these with the knowledge that If I am patient and willing to be open to the unexpected roads of life, all the things I am still dreaming of can come to life in any season.