Colorado in the Wintertime: Get Out There and Do Something!

usNOTE: This blog entry originally appeared on the Greeley Tribune’s website: http://www.greeleytribune.com/

Ice-fishing. Having grown up in Colorado, it’s one of those activities I’d watched from afar for years, usually on the occasions when I’d find myself riding down a mountain road in the winter time. Up until last weekend, however, I’d never actually tried it.

This has been a recurring theme with me. Since the age of one, I’ve lived in a state that’s overflowing with fun things to do during the snowy season. Yet until I became an adult, I participated in practically none of them.

It’s not that I didn’t make it up to the mountains much when I was a kid. I did. My parents were always taking my brother and I on camping and hiking trips during the summer. My grandfather was an avid fisherman, and whenever he came out to Colorado to visit, he’d always take us grandkids to a lake or stream somewhere to reel in a catch that my grandmother would later bread and fry up in a pan for dinner.

When it came to winter time, however, I suppose my family wasn’t all that adventuresome. We went skiing a handful of times (usually to Loveland ski resort to avoid the high costs and large crowds) but that was about it.

I was in my mid 20s when I tried snowboarding for the first time, and close to 30 when I slapped on my first pair of snowshoes.

I didn’t tube down my first hill until about 10 years ago in Frasier, CO. That was also the same weekend I snowmobiled for the first time – next door in Winter Park. I must say that speeding up and down slopes in the middle of the night was a pretty awesome experience.

I had never gone ice-skating until about two years ago. Seriously! I finally tried it out at that remote, rugged area of the state known as the Promenade Shops at Centerra. It was not a pretty sight by the way.

Because I didn’t participate in many winter activities as a kid, I’ve tried to introduce my own kids to what Colorado has to offer this time of year. And if that initiative lets me check a few items off my own bucket list, that’s all the better.

Ice-fishing is an annual event for my son’s Cub Scout pack, but scheduling conflicts had gotten in the way of us going in previous years. Not this time, however. And last Saturday, we all caravaned on up to Red Feather Lakes, drilled a few holes in the ice, set up some chairs, and dropped our lines in the water.

It didn’t matter so much that my son and I didn’t catch anything. We just enjoyed the experience of sitting out on a frozen lake, shooting the breeze with friends, eating lunch, and enjoying a cup of hot chocolate. It was something new for both of us, and best of all, we got to do it together.

My son also took in some sledding – down a hill beside the lake. Truth be told, that may have actually been the most exciting part of the day for him, and that was fine with me.

Oddly, my highlight was watching the fish that others caught flopping around on the ice after they were pulled from the water. Much like those scenes from the television show “Deadliest Catch,” where enormous piles of Alaskan king crabs are dropped across boat decks, there’s something inexplicably hypnotic about it.

And yes, I realize that’s not the most PETA-friendly admission to make. Oh well.

Regardless of what you take away from such an outing, it’s really the experience that counts. The goal was to get outside and have some wintertime fun. And if you live in Colorado and you’re not doing that right now, what in the heck are you waiting for?

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