Day 17: A day at the beach

Today the exiles had a day out at Grafton Lakes State Park with T & S, some other exiled Brits. Most of the day was spent on or around the beach, although only digging through the snow could tell you whether you were standing on the beach or the water. Here we are standing out on the lake. Only the snow prevented it from being as treacherous as a skating rink. Exile #3 and Exile #4 enjoyed a dog-sled ride and were joined by Exile #2 and S on a horse-drawn ride through the forest. Meanwhile T and myself measured the depth of the ice (approx 4 inches) by sticking de-gloved hands down ice-fishing holes and watched a state trooper driving an air-boat around on the ice of the lake. Standing behind it in the snow blown by the propeller was a taste of the blizzard conditions that we have so far avoided.

A good time was had by all. The temperatures were respectable, even reaching 20 °F but not quite the balmy 32 °F we had predicted. It snowed most of the time, the kind of tiny flakes blowing in the wind that rarely if ever make much of an impression in the UK - today of course there was no question of it not settling. If it hadn't been for yesterday, we would have thought it pretty cold. Fortunately, it was possible to get into the warm and we sampled the thoroughly-unhealthy delights of fried dough whilst sheltering in the warmth of an out-of-season beach-side cafe and stood for a few minutes by a fire someone had lit beside the lake.

It's snowing again now, although I doubt we will get the 3 inches required to trigger our drive-and-path snow-clearing service. Apparently, January so far has had 12 inches less snow than average. So there is some catching up to do in the next few days.