I know that it is almost spring, because I can see cars caked with mud. I used to live on a dirt road, and I know all too well how a dirt road turns into a soupy disaster that paints every car the same shade of grey during spring. My white VW Golf has its own muddy tinge building up right now, but it's not all bad because I love spring. 

 

Spring is the renewed opportunity to get outside and be involved with the nature that is all around us; to go for a hike or break out the shorts and just enjoy any weather that is above freezing. In New Hampshire there is plenty to do during the spring and I plan to take advantage of this short and temperamental season.

 

One thing to do, although it is a bit more popular with our western neighbor Vermont, is to visit a local sugaring house that is producing maple syrup. Spring is the time of year when the sap in sugar maple trees begins to rise up from the roots with the fluctuating temperature of the spring. This sap is collected and boiled down to make the thick, sweet, maple pancake topping we all love. Most of these sugaring houses, that produce real maple sugar, are small and locally run by families who will usually enjoy curious visitors, enticed by the sweet smelling steam billowing from the sugaring houses.

 

If you're a ski fanatic like myself, the spring offers a famous skiing opportunity here in New Hampshire. Tuckerman's Ravine is a bowl on the east side of Mt. Washington that has snow cover for about six months out of the year. It's a three mile hike from Pinkham Notch to the base of the ravine and another push to the top. The snow pack in the ravine averages about 55 feet a year and allows for skiing through May. Tuckerman's is on the top of my spring list this year, but be sure to check the Mt. Washington Avalanche Center's website before visiting because conditions can prove to be hazardous.    

 

However, with the snow disappearing one problem does arise. Four months of accumulating snow has hidden four months of accumulating trash. The first thing on my spring agenda is to get outside and clean up a little before the leaves come out and the spring birds come back.

 

So as I sit here unnecessarily wearing shorts, with my window wide upon clearing out the stagnant winter air with a fresh spring breeze, I would like to wish you all a happy spring. Get out there and enjoy it, but don't let your cars get too muddy, and maybe even ride your bike to work this week.