Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is right around the corner. That’s right, it’s the first day of December already. How time flies, huh? It seems like yesterday when we were ringing in the new year that was 2014. Now, we’re getting ready to say goodbye to 2014 and hello to 2015.
I hope everyone had a safe, fun, and happy Thanksgiving. And, if you’re reading this, congratulations on surviving that whole Black Friday thing. I hope that if you ventured out to brave the insane crowds, you made it through unscathed. And, in the same vein, I hope you left everyone in your wake unscathed.
I don’t buy into the whole Black Friday thing, personally. I’m a savvy shopper year round, so I have no need to wake up before dawn, stand in long lines (I got enough of that in grade school, thank you very much), and fight crowds of mostly rude and greedy people all for some material goods that will most likely never be used, or, in the case of technology, be obsolete in less than a year.
No. Instead, I sleep in on Black Friday (and Cyber Monday too) and, if the weather is relatively nice, I go hiking. With a majority of people crowding the stores, hiking trails are nearly deserted this time of year. Just how I like them.
This past weekend, I ventured to one of my favorite places. You know the one. Yep, that’s right, Quoddy Head State Park. Now, before I left on my little adventure, I loaded my snowshoes into the car because I always like to be prepared. I figured, with the amount of snow around my house, I’d probably need my snowshoes for the hike.
I was wrong.
The closer I got to Quoddy, the less snow there was. The trees were bare, unlike those at home. The roads were clear and totally dry, unlike those at home. And I could still see the bare ground, unlike at home. So, my snowshoes stayed warm in my car as I ventured out for my hike at Quoddy.
(And yes, if you couldn’t tell, I did some editing on this photo to give it a more “dreamy” quality. [-_^])
I challenge you, yes you reading this, to try something different next year. Instead of following the masses to the stores on Black Friday, get outside (weather permitting of course) and spend some time connecting with nature. It’s a good stress reliever.
Until next time…
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~A.M.
Audrey May Photography 