First day of the new year . 4000 feet / 28 degrees

We stayed up at Warner Springs with Amy's family this weekend and it was cold as fuck . We had a good time but it was seriously chilly up in the mountains . On the way home we decided ( actually Vaughn decided ) that we should go the long way through Julian and up into the Cuyamaca mountains and as the elevation climbed , the temperature dropped , fast . We started noticing frozen puddles & ice on the side of the road and that quickly turned into snow . " I better watch out for black ice " I remember jokingly thinking to myself . . .

Well I actually hit my first black ice and lived to tell about it . That stuff is not to be fucked with . I was going about 30 through a 25 mph corner and as I saw it and called it out , my back wheels broke lose and got sideways for a split second . It was a left hand turn "S" turn with a steep hill on the right and an on coming lane to my left . I got loose coming out of the righty and swung my ass into the left hand lane . There was a car coming around the top of the corner and he was on the inside of his lane , and saw me break lose . Luckily by the time it would have been critical , I was hit dry ground and got right back into my lane and we passed with nothing more than a casual glance . I gleefully shouted " WHOA " and Amy cursing our predicament ( almost under her breath ) " fuck . . . "

She didn't talk to me for a few miles despite my attempts at small talk and levity till we actually made it to the top of the mountain .

We ended up at our cruising altitude and decided to stop into Paso Picacho , which is a nice little camp ground that we like to go to ( when the weather is a little nicer ) and actually got into Vaughn's very first snowy adventure ! It was 28 degrees and there was a lot of lastnight's snow & ice on the ground so it was hard packed but still a little crunchy .

We scraped up some slush and managed to make Vaughn's first snow ball & throw it at mommy , and wander around the frozen wonderland that is 4000 feet above San Diego proper . The nice ladies in the check in booth told me that the morning's temperature was nothing , that it got down to 2 degrees the night before and that this was warm & refreshing . . . uh yeah .

As we worked our way down the mountain at a decidedly slower and more careful pace , the temperature climbed dramatically and soon we were enjoying our sea level day time temp of 61 degrees and relaxing on our couch reflecting on the year past . . .

If the first day of the new year has any indication as to what it holds for us in the future , I'd say were off to a pretty good start .