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“TRAVEL IN LOCAL SPACES” “WAITING ON THE EQUINOX” by Jessica Kuzmier
I always enjoy winter, living in an area where lake effect snows are about as common as heat is in Florida. Part of the thrill of living in upstate New York is being snowed in a winter's evening, having a fire roaring, and knowing the next day you can spend a day walking, sledding, snowmobiling or skiing in a winter wonderland because everything is closed or it just seems like a good day to take a personal day from the office. I have only skied once, but I like doing the other winter fun sports. Tubing is a favorite pastime in this region for those who don't ski, and the local state park offers winter fun by taking a tube and sliding down a huge hill, which in flatter terrain might be called a small mountain. Here, it's just a hill. Winter is also a good time to plan ahead. Winter cleaning always sounded more logical to me than spring cleaning. I'd rather be outdoors than dusting the curtains when the weather is nice. Winter is a great time to get things organized for outdoor plans in the year to come. Sure, the snowmobiling and snowwalking are great. But with blizzards and ice storms threatening at every gesture, the idea of driving fifty miles just to go hiking is less likely to happen than it does during the other three seasons. A spontaneous drive might be to go to stock up on extra milk and library books to carry you through the next snowstorm. Single degree Fahrenheit temperatures with wind chills that go into the teens below zero aren't usually the kind of days you take a random twenty mile walk to the next town. The colder months are better spent reading up on the adventures of others, trying to organize those notes from previous travels into something legible, and looking to atlases dreaming of greener things.  Even on the Weather Channel, they are counting down the days to spring, as though they are also looking forward to greener things. It's like most of the world is holding off for the equinox. Everyone except for the ski enthusiasts. They're hoping for massive snow through May, I'm sure. One thing that I'm looking forward this year is to continue an informal goal to go to as many state parks as possible. In the Central Region, a lot of those parks are parks with waterfalls and glens. I'm thinking that the best time to go to those parks is in the early spring, when the snow melt is at the highest. The good thing, too, about state parks in New York State during the early spring is that for the most part, they are free. From what I remember, really popular parks like the one in Niagara Falls and Jones Beach are exceptions. Even a fairly no-name park, Glimmerglass, charges on weekends during the winter, because they have a winter fun festival. So sometimes finding a free park can be tricky, even before Memorial Day. It can be done, though. The other advantage of going to parks in the early spring is that you avoid the crowds. Most people don't take off their two weeks vacation in April. They save it for July or August when their kids are out of school and show up to the parks then. That's why it's so lucrative for the state to charge then; because the revenue is higher. My suggestion to people who only go to parks in summer is to try it earlier, in the springtime. You might actually be able to hear your family talk during the picnic instead of hearing someone else's boombox. Personally, I am looking forward to going to the parks myself. I look forward to long drives where I don't have to worry about ice on the roads and expanding my horizons. Until then, it's time to hit the atlas.  |