“Country Roads” to Evergreen Lake
Our normally tight-knit neighborhood has gone into hibernation this winter. In an attempt to rally the troops, I sent an email inviting them to come skating at Evergreen Lake on Saturday. No one could come but I was saddened that half of them did not even bother to respond.
They could have just dropped me a note stating, “I would rather die than be seen skating with you in public.”
That would have been the polite thing to do. 
It was their loss. Jamie, the kids and I prefaced our outdoor adventure by having breakfast at Country Road Cafe in Kittredge.
From their nine different kinds of eggs benedicts to the famous smashed mashes, this place was love at first sight. Jamie has never deviated from their gargantuan breakfast burrito, the kids adore the fluffy, stuffed pancakes and this time, I experimented with their egg, tomato and cream cheese sausage wrap with roasted red pepper sauce (excuse me while I wipe the tears of joy from my eyes).
From there, it was onto Evergreen Lake – my favorite place to skate in Colorado. I was thrilled because this would be my 3-year-old daughter’s first time on ice skates. Growing up in Canada, I was introduced to skating shortly after leaving the womb. I was raised gliding along frozen lakes, rivers and even our garden that we turned into a rink. When growing up on tundra, you learn very quickly that pretty much anywhere is skatable and that frozen nose hairs are a fashion statement.
Such was not the case on Saturday with our 58-degree temperatures. I thought the balmy weather would be ideal with two little ones but with sun comes slush. And every few feet, our skates sunk into the ice because of it.
Or it could have been due to the extra 30 pounds I gained over Christmas.
Despite the poor conditions, Hadley was a champ and learned to balance herself very quickly. With my assistance, she tentatively took her first steps and started gliding and weaving as she bossed me around.
Pretty much, it was like any typical day in the Johnson household.
After a while, she needed a break. Jamie and I loaded the kids onto sleds and we flew across the ice as we whipped them around in circles.
Or at least we would have had we not been skating through a Slurpee. For the first time, I caught a glimpse of what those poor sled dogs experience in the Iditarod.
And ascertained that is probably why the driver always shouts out, “Mush.”
What are your (and your family’s) experiences with ice skating? Where is your favorite place to go?
“Mush.” Bhahahahahaha!!!!!
Did you write “let me know if you’ll be there” on your e-mail invites? E-mail is a pretty casual way of communicating these days, and people don’t treat an e-mail invitation quite the same way they would treat a formal invitation received in the regular mail. If you don’t let folks know what you need from them, they aren’t likely going to provide it.
Also, did it matter if you knew who was going to be there? Were there activities planned that needed specific numbers, or was it just a “we’ll be there, come join us” invitation?
Just some things to think about. Life’s too short to stew over something like this. It sounds like you and family had a nice time without any additional folks, so all’s well.
Great tips, Kathleen! If you knew my sense of humor, you’d know I was only joking and not stewing. Though it would have been fun to have our friends join us!
Ah, skating. I too know all about frozen nose hairs. Skating was the thing to do when I was a kid (skating in the winter and swimming in the summer). We went to the rink every weekend, skated on the frozen pond and my dad even made a rink in the back yard (great until it melted!)
Country Road Cafe looks GREAT!
I love love love ice skating. I went to college in VT and discovered that the golf course behind the dorms had a small water feature that could be my own personal ice rink with just a little labor using a dining hall tray as a shovel. Once I’d cleared the snow, the sun did the rest. It was bliss.
Now I live in MI, where the winters occasionally oblige us with outdoor skating. But only when I’m eight months pregnant and probably shouldn’t partake. Because they say it’s not safe to skate on untied skates, and who can reach to tie them at that point? Since I’m not pregnant this year, you can be sure that I have yet to introduce my nearly-4 Son to skating.
But a mama can hope…
Our experience at the pond near our house right now would be a little like yours, if you imagine the Slurpee has been carried around for a while, sat on the counter while you checked your email, and you are small enough bathe in the cup.
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Geez – I totally got the humor Amber. It was pretty obvious to me. Glad you had fun skating!
What a lovely outing! Their loss indeed. We had a skating party last New Years. LOVED it. But I’ve never been skating on a real live lake pond. That would be an adventure!
We have zero experience, as Neil is a crappy skater and doesn’t want to demonstrate the fact. Hee hee. Usually it’s MY vanity holding us back…
Nice to see some skaters out there. And folks who actually get my sense of humor.
Well… let’s see… my favorite place to ice skate … um… I think there’s an indoor rink in San Diego… :S We really haven’t done a lot of skating. We were going to go a few weeks ago, but ran out of time… maybe someday…
I couldn’t skate if my life depended on it, but if you’d invited Skate (sorry, Kate) Hudson, you would have had the whole town with you!
I am sad to say that my kids will never know ice skating as a family event. I’ll be the one to introduce skating to them because somewhere in my husband’s past is a torrid ice skating event that is never to be spoken of. Really. I don’t even know the story of why he will never put on ice skates again. I just know that skates will not come near his feet and if a skating event is on TV, he turns it off and runs like a little girl!
P.S. Love, Love, Love Country Road Cafe!
We absolutely must give the breakfast place and skating a try! We have been taking our 4 year old just to Flatiron Crossing, where they have an ice rink this year to replace the sandbox.
Growing up in Upstate NY, we actually skated on Lakes, fancy that. Although my town would always freeze over the tennis courts, for a nearby fix.
BTW..I had to chuckle reading this. My daughter’s fair-weather friend has been in hibernation for months now. They’ve been pressing their hands on the windows and waving to each other! How funny. =) Denise
Looks like fun. I however, do not share your love of the outdoors, and definitely not frozen nose hairs. I am what is referred to as a weather wimp. Today we took the students out for recess, and it was actually nice out…until the gale force winds came whipping around the building. Here in Northwest Indiana (a suburb of the Windy City) that’s pretty common. What’s not is 67 degree weather in January! Crazy!
Nice to see you are getting your kids out into the out of doors! I’m a great advocate of out door play!! We are into cross country skiing ourselves … there are these things called Nordic Skates, that clip onto your cross country ski boots … they are supposed to be great for skating on lakes and rivers … they don’t come cheap however … but if you like skaing out doors a lot … they could be just the ticket!!
Oh.. I would LOVE to be added to the list for “Come out and play” time! Not sure how I do that however, I never even knew there was ice skating in Evergreen!
I hope ya’ll do it again sometime! I’m also all about trying new eateries… (I’m a growing foodie, and pregnant for another few days, so I have a good excuse!)
i admire you getting out and doing stuff – even in the cold weather. i’d rather curl up with a good book.
i’ve driven by the lake a few times and watched the skaters. it always looks like fun.
Thank you for this story! I haven’t been ice skating since I lived in San Antonio (odd location, yes, but it was indoors). I miss it. We’ve thought about skating at the little spot in North Cherry Creek, but we never got around to it. I think we’ll tackle Evergreen instead!
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