Are We There Yet?!

The delayed start of this winter is certainly bringing out the 5 year old in us. Every skier and rider is seething with anxiety, talking about how they have all of their gear and equipment ready to go; they are just waiting… Every so often I catch some of my friends trying on their new coat for the tenth time, or going into the sports shop just to see if anything new has arrived this week. Almost every day someone has a new video online that everyone has to see, from a snowboard being turned into a functioning boom box to a skier tearing through a neighborhood while leaping over driveways and dodging garbage cans on a downhill snow-covered sidewalk.

Here’s the thing: we live in the Northeast. We know that snow on Halloween doesn’t mean there will be snow on Thanksgiving. But then again, the promise of a cold snowy winter and the anticipation of La Nina’s effects do not make the waiting any easier.  It seems as though the last day of skiing and riding back in April was years ago (because it definitely doesn’t feel like months).

I just have this picture in my head of three grown men, squeezed into the backseat of a car, sweating in their new gear with anticipation sparkling in their eyes, asking “Are we there yet?!” Every day feels like the car ride that won’t end when you have the winter skiing and riding season to look forward to. When I was a kid stuck in the car for a long ride, my Mom would always tell us what time we would be “there”. Being the sly child that I was, I used that mile marker to exchange the traditional “Are we there yet?” for “What time is it?”

So now, I am sitting in my winter gear, tuned snowboard next to the door, watching a cool new winter video thinking, “What time is it?”