Winter Storm Maya hit us hard. We live at the top of a mountain at 1500ft elevation, its not really that high when you compare to say, any mountain in Colorado, but its high enough to have a whole different weather impact than the valley below us. Even just two streets down from us had little to zero ice, just rain. We are typically 8-10 degrees colder than the valley and that can make a huge difference in the winter. We have been encased in ice for almost 4 days now. We have spent our days and nights listening to trees falling, limbs falling, ice dropping like hail all around us. It’s a little unsettling to say the least and now we make our 3 year old wear a helmet when we go outside because it really hurts when a chunk of ice falls 50 feet much less a tree limb.

The only redeeming factor so far was last night. I put our son to bed, and walked our reluctant dog out onto the ice skating rink of our yard to do her business when I looked up and saw it. The moon, the clear winter sky of stars untouched by light pollution and the moon light reflecting off all the ice that encased each and every tree limb. Wow. I promised myself when Danny got home we would grab a camera and head out. (Im paranoid with my currently injured back and didn’t want to slip and fall on the ice without anyone else around) Fast forward to an hour later, Danny walks thru the door and the first thing he says- “Honey did you see the moonlight on the icy trees?? Let’s grab the camera!” Annnnd this is why we are married. As we are getting the camera gear set up, our neighbor texts us…”Dude, have you guys seen the moon? You should totally get your camera out and do a long exposure.” YES! It was that incredible. So we shuffle across the solid ice that once was our yard, and set our tripod up. They don’t teach you in photography school how to set your tripod up on ice…it’s way trickier than you would think. We spent about 2 hours photographing this incredible moon that lit up the trees up like it was Christmas. It’s past midnight at this point, about 25 degrees and windy, pitch black except for the moon and the city lights below us, with trees and limbs and ice falling all around us, it was the most perfect Valentine’s Day date Ive ever been on.