Darin met me at the airport as he had flown in from Portland to spend his week-long spring break staying with me here in Gold Bridge. It's nice to have someone to share meals with every day. A good way to ease into the first week back at work after a tropical vacation full of sun and socializing :) It might be tough getting back into the isolation part of living up here once he leaves on Sunday, but I'm starting to get the hang of how to take care of myself while I live on my own. Lots of walking, exploring, thinking. And outside time is getting much easier with the extended daylight hours!
This afternoon we are going for a horseback ride with Barrie, who called to see if I was interested in riding this weekend. Darin is coming out for his first ride EVER! Very exciting stuff. Barrie used to run a trail riding outfit and he still has a ton of calm horses that know how to handle a nervous new rider on their backs. Perfect place to introduce my man to something that is important for me to have in my life. I'll be sure to post some pictures.
Tomorrow we are heading down to do some ski touring off the Duffey, as winter is on its last legs these days and I want to get as much skiing in as possible before the big melts hit the hills. It'll be Darin's first time out in the backcountry as well, and a friend was kind enough to lend him the safety gear he needs. We'll do some drills and practice using the beacon and shovel and probe before we head out, and I think we are going with friends from Lillooet who have logged lots of time in the hills. It's a good crew and place for a first time. Darin will be on snowshoes packing his board up the hill, so at least he won't have to worry about the whole skin up (called "transitioning" where we put skins on and off skis to hike up and before skiing downhill, respectively) and switchback (making the uphill turns on skis or a splitboard with a heel that lifts freely) experience, which can take some getting used to. I was using the board/snowshoe combo last year before I invested in some amazing skis as part of my personal "I need these so that I don't go crazy living in isolation" allowance to myself.
I did some writing over the break, so perhaps this weekend I'll post a piece or two for your perusal if I can motivate myself to do the editing and reworking after the riding and ski days :) The sun is shining. Time to get outside. Happy trails!
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