Where did fall go?

Kyle woke me early on Sunday as he headed out hunting with Dylan. It was one of those mornings where it was useless trying to fall back to sleep. Although, Juneau had no problem with that.

The sun filled our living room and as I sat by the window I half expected it to still be 70 degrees outside. Our kitty, Zooey, meowed at the door so she could go out. I opened it for her and was instantly sucker-punched by the bitter cold. It's definitely November.

Getting outside can be challenging this time of year. It's dark when you wake up and dark by the time you get off work. Hibernating seems like the best option, really. But we're not bears so taking walks in the dark and finding classes at the gym instead of working out outside become the new routine. That's why I'm so thankful for the weekends. The only real dose of daylight I get each week.

On Sunday Megan and I decided to take advantage of the sunshine and took the dogs for a hike up Trail 257, a popular mountain biking trail. One nice thing about the cold weather - the bikes, dirt bikes and four-wheelers are pretty much packed away for the year. The trails now belong to the dogs. The trail was beautiful, and if you go all the way to the Forest Service road, you can take that and connect back over to Caribou Ridge if you want. Megan, Bear, and Bea are all too familiar with the trail from riding, but it was mine and Juneau's first time checking it out. The evidence of winter was everywhere. The snow was even visible in the distant mountains - it just hasn't hit town yet.