San Diego offers a broad array of adventures: beach excursions, nature hikes, historic buildings, assorted museums, entertainment parks, etc. The temperate climate draws year-round visitors to “America’s Finest City,” the nickname San Diego boldly claims. However, even though I enjoy exploring my hometown, sometimes it’s fun to change things up and visit another locale.
Recently, my husband and I decided to head out-of-state for a long weekend. We went from biking by the beach to snowmobiling on the slopes. The air was clear, cold and crisp. Tall trees towered above and dotted the landscape. We admired the beautiful forests of fir, spruce and pine — way different from the plethora of palm trees populating my neighborhood. A blanket of white covered the ground, ice crystals sparkling in the spring sunshine like a field of diamonds.
Fortunately for us, the weather was relatively warm for Utah. The area had been hit by a snowstorm the preceding week, dusting the ground with an additional layer of snow and extending the ski season. My husband grew up skiing. I did not. He tried to teach me when we were newlyweds, which probably wasn’t the wisest idea. His impatience and my ineptitude were not a good combination. My hubby was anxious to fly down the black diamond ski runs. But my novice skills and nerves restricted me to snowplowing down the bunny slopes. He had much better luck teaching our kids to ski, luring them onto the slopes with a pocketful of skittles. This time, he embarked on a male-bonding ski trip with his brother while I explored the tulip fields with my sister-in-law. Way less strain on our marriage.
I was amenable to snowmobiling, though, knowing that I couldn’t get left behind if we were riding tandem. I bundled up before we ventured out into the chilly air, looking like the little brother in A Christmas Story. I climbed on back and held on tight. After a while, my husband convinced me to drive and took photos to prove it to our kids. Go granny go! The views at the top of Daniels Summit were breathtakingly beautiful. From white-sand beaches to snow-covered mountains, as Louis Armstrong said, “What a wonderful world.”
