Advent of the Snowmobile

The years of dreaming and scheming are over. On Wednesday, Andy and I went into town to collect Andy's brand new snowmobile. Here it is, a Ski-Doo 2014Skandic WT 600., I think.

This snowmobile was oft discussed/commented on (by Andy) for the last 3-4 years and each winter, Andy's interest in this particular snowmobile model has bordered right on the obsessive. As someone who's spent her entire life in northern Minnesota yet have only rode a snowmobile a handful of times, I did my best to humor Andy when he got going on a (off repeated) monologue about the merits of a 4 stroke snowmobile engine, but the truth is, I didn't know what he was talking about most of the time. While I'm sure we'd managed to survive several more winters without this coveted toy, owning the machine does open up some winter recreation options and will expand our "stomping grounds" significantly. No excuses for not winter camping this year, although as our neighbor pointed out, the lake trout just got a lot more expensive. 

Ever since Andy committed to purchasing a snowmobile back in November, I've been selfishly hoping that the new snowmobile will mean we won't get much snow this winter. Sadly, Mother Nature had other plans, dumping 14 inches of fluffy snow on us during the latest winter weather watch from Monday  through Thursday. Truth be told, after the 17 inches of snow we received overnight back in April, we were all pretty underwhelmed by 14 inches of accumulation spread out over three days. The school district however continued it's great "snow freak out" and declared an unprecedented three snow days this week. And I should be clear - 14 inches of snow is obviously not no snow.

The irony of the snowmobile's arrival into our lives is that I was actually the first person to ride it. Despite having driven a snowmobile once in my life, when Andy got a wee bit stuck at the top of a hill on the road to the cabin when he took the hill a wee bit slow, I ended up driving the snowmobile to cabin while Andy got a pull out of a snowbank from a neighbor. Andy's taken the snowmobile on a couple spins since (one of which I accompanied him on) but we actually need a little more snow before it's good riding conditions. Also, although the lake is iced over, because that ice was immediately covered by a layer of insulating snow, we're all waiting a bit before venturing out on the lake. The new snowmobile is too pretty and shiny to have it disappear into the drink in its first week of life!

 

Right now, Andy is hoping for more snow and spends a fair amount of time admiring his acquisition. I am not really hoping for snow, but am looking into taking the MN snowmobile safety course online. We're really ready for winter now, whatever Mother Nature decides to serve up next.