Tuck Takes Off

See ya, treadmill! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Escape from New York! My friend, Fina, and I rented a car last Saturday and headed up to Clarence Fahnestock State Park for a day of cross country skiing and fresh air. Cross country skiing is an amazing exercise that burns approximately 1 billion calories/hour (okay that’s a stretch…here are the real – and astounding, nonetheless – details, courtesy of ESPN.com.) But what was truly awesome about this excursion  was how  easy it was.  Fahnestock is 55 miles north of Manhattan (Cold Spring, New York, is nearby) and in the winter it offers groomed trails for cross country, snowshoeing and inner-tube sledding. Travel is 80 minutes, tops, and you can rent equipment there – best to get there by 11 am or so on a weekend just in case supplies run out – or bring your own.  It’s cheap ($25 for gear and a day pass) wholesome fun. The trails cross flat open  fields and frozen lakes (great for skiing fast or learning how to glide to extend your stride) or they twist and turn, up and down, through the woods. Fina and I skied beginner, intermediate and expert trails (where we caught a few nice hills and a few resulting face-plants)  and we warmed up by the fire outside the lodge when our fingers got cold.   I stayed toasty in my Patagonia Storm Gore-Tex miracle jacket, the same one that took me up Kilimanjaro. All in all, ’twas a Norman Rockwell meets Robert Frost delight, with some serious cardio thrown in. By the time  we wolfed (oh, sorry, “ate”) our apres ski dinner, we had earned it.  So have a little adventure and trade  taxi honks for the muffled quiet of frozen trees and snowy fox tracks. Shhhhush. You’ll be glad you did. I, for one, can’t wait to go back – xoxo Steph

Shushing through woods on a snowy afternoon...