Moose Creek Valentines Day Adventure

For weeks beforehand Ryan had been telling me that he would have to go pick up my gifts the night before Valentines Day. But I know him better than to believe him when he says things like that. I knew he would have something planned well in advance. In the days leading up Valentines I recieved several surprises at random times.

A moose, elk, and mountain goat!
They magically appeared on my dresser, desk, and on the
nightstand Valentines morning to wake me up.

Beautiful red and pink & white Begonias Ryan surprised me
with on Valentines Day Eve and morning.

Mid-morning we headed east to Moose Creek Reservoir. First we stopped by Spring Valley to see the ice fishermen and walk out to the middle of the frozen reservoir.

Standing on Spring Valley ice!

We love spending time at Moose Creek reservoir in the summer so Ryan decided it would be fun to hike around in the snow and eat a hot lunch next to the frozen water. We brought along our snowshoes but ended up not using them because the snow was so hardpacked from the repeated freezing and thawing over the last month. There was a good trail made by cross country skis through the snow along the reservoir and as we got closer to the mouth of Moose creek, so we wandered in the snow occasionally looking at footprints of of all sizes. I was happy to use my new christmas snowpants. They kept me warm and dry!

My Valentine hiking along Moose Creek.

The mountain goat joined us for lunch.

Frozen Moose Creek reservoir. It was so pretty and freezing cold.
Only one ice fisherman sat out on the ice while we were there.

For comparison--here is a picture of the reservoir last June.

I cannot wait for this time of year to return.

Valentines Part 2 coming soon.........