Snow? What is that again?

Albuquerque sits at about twice the elevation of Tucson.  Higher elevation means more snow.  I'd all but forgotten what snow looked like after my five years in the Sonoran desert... and I've got to say, though I truly do love the extreme desert or southeastern Arizona, I'm pretty excited to be back in place that has a true winter.  Once we've unpacked all of our boxes, I'm looking forward to taking my new snowshoes up into the hills for a test run.

Not a bad view, eh?

This past weekend, Josh and I drove up the Sandia mountains to check out the ski slopes.  From our house, it only takes 45 minutes to get to the parking lot.  I started skiing back when I first moved to NM for college, and have always loved it.  I've missed being able to ski regularly while living in AZ, and am thrilled to have the opportunity to ski more often now.  Josh, on the other hand, hates skiing.  He's tried it a couple of times, and just never got the hang of it.  So, this weekend he decided that he would try snowboarding for the first time.  I think we were both a little nervous that he would also hate snowboarding, but all turned out well.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, the snow was great, and the slopes weren't crowded at all.  Josh took a private lesson while I made a few runs down the mountain, and after an hour or so of test runs, he was ready to tackle the bigger slopes with me.  He's already planning to go back again next weekend, and I'm certainly not going to argue.  Maybe next time I'll make him carry the camera all day so that he's not the only subject of all the photos.

Success!