It’s Snowtime!

Got back to Apex last night, kids and Harri in tow. Man I love it up here. I’d painted the green version of this view just a week or so ago, and look at it now! Had to sit down and capture it again.

This place is the best kept secret for winter sports enthusiasts. It has amazing fall line for skiers and boarders, and yet the lift lines are never unruly.Ticket prices aren’t crazy yet either, and real estate is still reasonable here. There’s a gorgeous skating loop through the trees that’s lit up on winter evenings. Pure magic. And the toboggan track is this family’s favourite winter adventure. The village itself is super quaint. There’s a store, a couple of cafes and one big party pub, none of it open this time of year. There is a community living here, maybe a few hundred people, but most of the time we feel pretty Vanilla Sky up here in the off season. We’re right in the heart of the village and we’re still excited when we see a car or a person. Cows? That’s a different story. They' graze freely on the hill all through the off season. We’re more likely to hear a moo than a dog bark from outside our house.

There is other wild life too. We had to do a bit of a brake slam the other night to miss a bear on the road. I thought it was a black cow on the shoulder ahead and slowed, then it suddenly darted in front of the car! Scared the poop out of me. But old Ford skidded to a halt just in time and off wandered our furry friend, hopefully to hibernate for the season. I had visions of what could have been; the truck smooshed and not functional on a dark seldom used mountain road, and a pissed off but not mortally wounded bear outside. Thanks Ford for coming to a stop in time. Whew!

Here’s a quick timelapse of me creating this sketch in Procreate.

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