Starting a New Year

I've done wrap-up posts in the past, where I go over the past year and how it has gone. And I've done goal posts as well, saying what I plan on doing in the coming year. I suppose this is a goal post, of sorts. But I don't have a big list of goals. Specifically, I have two.

I purchased an annual sno-park pass, chains for my car, and two new sets of snowshoes (one of my previous ones broke on my trip in December, so I am now up to three sets of usable snowshoes). The annual sno-park pass is good through October at national park sno-parks. A single day pass is $5, while the annual is $26.

So, my first "goal" is to use my annual sno-park pass a minimum of 6 times, in order to make it financially reasonable to have purchased the annual instead of the daily pass. So far, I've use the pass twice since purchasing it, once in December 2015, and once in January 2016. I'm making plans on going snowshoeing again soon, and possibly sledding at one of the parks in the next few weeks as well.

I think this is a reasonable "goal" to set. I have the financial motivation to do it, since it is already paid for. I really enjoy snowshoeing and getting out into the mountains. And it is really only a little over an hour (two hours if I have to chain up early due to snow on the road) to get up into the mountain for a good snowshoeing trip. The more I go, the more I want to go.

My second, and final, "goal" for 2016 is to get in the picture. I've spent years taking pictures of my dogs, my cats, the places I've been. But I am in few of the pictures, and I want to change that. I want to be able to look back and not only think, oh, look how cute Koira was when we were snowshoeing that winter. I want to be able to look at a picture and see us both out there having fun together.

I'm not setting it as a specific time frame, or with specific numbers. It isn't a matter of "take one photo of me with dog each week" or "photos must be submitted by Thursday" because I want to succeed at this. Some weeks, we don't do a whole lot. Or I am not feeling good. Or I am super busy and unable to find the time or motivation to do it. And I don't want to feel like just because I've missed a week, I've failed. That isn't how this is going to work. Instead, what I want to do is when I am out doing something fun, when I have my camera out and am taking pictures of Koira, I want to get some pictures of me as well. I might only get a few photos one month, and then a hundred the next, because that is how life works out for me. And that is okay. The "goal" isn't a strict, rigid structure. I just want to get more pictures of me with my dog.

With my snowshoes.

To this end, I purchased a remote for my camera. I have a tripod, but is a large, bulky one that is hard to haul around with me. I have been shopping around for a small, lightweight tripod that is still heavy duty enough and heavy enough to balance my rather large camera. I'd like to get really good at using the remote and tripod combination to get some pictures. Broaden my photography horizons and all that.

She thought this trip was cold and ill-planned.

For now, my mom took all of these photos of me and Koira when we went snowshoeing this past Saturday. On Sunday the weather changed and we were hit bad with freezing rain and ice over everything, so we were lucky to get a chance to spend a day on the mountain before the bad weather came in.

She was half making sure I was okay after I fell, and half trying to get into my lap so she didn't have to stand on the cold, cold snow any more. 

Anyway, what do you think of these "goals"? Think they are silly? Awesome? Strange? Do you live in the area and want to help with them by taking a trip up to the mountains for snowshoeing, sledding, cross country skiing? Feel free to comment and let me know!