Friday I had my 24th birthday, and while I was anticipating the possibility of moving to a new city, those plans have been put on hold, leaving me clueless on what I should do to celebrate. When your birthday lands on the coldest week of the year, options are slim. Sure I can drink myself silly, but honestly, the Green Bay scene isn't all that exciting unless you're either a Packer fan or love country music, both of which I exaggeratedly roll my eyes at.
Sadie, that pup in the photo with me, doesn't really have a birthday, or at least I don't know it. All I know is that she was about a month old when I received her for my 14th birthday, meaning this year would also be a momentum of having this fine mutt for ten years.
When Friday came around, I ignored my alarm to wake me up early, instead lazily slinking out of bed while I piled on some layers and packed the car for the hour and a half drive up to Door County. Sadie and I were both getting a bad case of cabin fever as January has been a never-ending cold spell of subzero temps. I barely glanced at any forecast or thermometer, I was satisfied enough not seeing a negative symbol before the number.
Our first trail was the longest in the park, where we were alone with the freshly fallen snow... in the 2 degree Fahrenheit temp (-20c). Like I said, I had no idea of the actual temperature as we hit the trail, and about halfway through, we were both starting to feel how much we underestimated it. We were outside for roughly two hours, the first half we were both took our time, Sadie was taking in all the new smells while I constantly took photos. The second half, we were practically jogging back to the car.
The second I saw the car, I clumsily dug out my keys with my numb hands, jumped in and started the car as quickly as I could. I sat for a while, only feeling about half of my body while I debated climbing the Eagle Tower. I've climbed up it several times before, most recently during my autumn road trip, but have never seen the scene during winter! Oh the dilemma!
As you can see, my curiosity overcame me as I justified letting the car warm up for another ten minutes during my climb. I didn't last long as I made it to the windy top, but I at least got the newly blanketed view of the lake and outlying islands! Worked for me!
After the hike, I decided to stop at a couple of my favorite Door County shops before having dinner and ice cream cake with the family. The next day I also was able to see my kindergarten niece wrestle for the first time! Unfortunately they had placed her in the wrong category, meaning she was wrestling kids two years older than her. Her usual second place title was compromised to last because of the fluke, though the disappointment was quickly overshadowed by a trip to Happy Joe's with the rest of the family.
In the meantime I'm still exploring some my options both home, out of state and abroad! Fingers crossed something good comes my way!
Cheers!
Cheers!