Sledding in the backyard

We had a GREAT snowstorm this weekend. The snow advisory was over 24 hours long, which led to about a foot of snow (a little more in drifts). The snow came mostly on Saturday night, so when we woke up, it was a challenge to get the door open.

After a restless morning, I decided to go out and do an experiment. Our house backs up to what used to be the Erie Canal, so there's a big hill in the backyard that was once the bed of the canal. It's mostly unusable because it's pretty steep but I go up now and again as I keep my compost up there.

I decided to try to make a sled run using all the snow that fell. The biggest challenge (besides getting up a snowy hill) was the stone retaining wall at the bottom. I piled lots of snow there and tested it a few times, then went and got the kids. Here's the results, as seen from the third floor window:



And from the back deck:



We had such a great time that we invited some of the neighbors over later for a little more sledding. A few came and we did several runs, followed by hot chocolate inside. It was a great time. Wish you were here.