After completing the ceiling trim on Hygge Hale, Eli and I decided to take a tiny house build interlude and go for an outdoor adventure for my birthday.

Birthdays are important to me–celebrating each person’s unique character and special existence in the world–so I like to treat myself to something fun to celebrate mine.  [Okay, embarrassingly, this is showing just how very far behind I am on posting to Live The Ideal…  my birthday is in January!]

Eli and I decided to go camping on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountains in Toiyabe National Forest.  We’ve spent a lot of time outdoors in our lives – both for work and pleasure – so winter camping isn’t daunting to us.  However.  As the weekend approached, the forecast was for snow, not a dumping, but snow…  and also 5°F nighttime lows.  Umm…  But, I’m a tough guy, right?

We went for it.

We arrived late, finding an adequate spot for dispersed camping in the National Forest, loaded on the warm clothes, had a quick dinner, then climbed in for bed.  We’ve got a pretty good set up in the back of our truck: a platform for sleeping installed over two wood drawers for storage (all Eli-made).  The headspace is a little tight, but it makes for a nice nest.  So, we went to sleep like this:

 

And woke to this:

 

Eli, being a champ, braved the cold first and started making breakfast and hot tea.  After a number of threats from me about not leaving my sleeping bag EVER, the tantalizing thought of snow (it doesn’t snow where we live) got me up and out.  Brrrrr!!  BearBear, my trusty companion since my single digit years–despite being a polar bear–opted to remain in the truck nest (whimp).

 

Then we strapped on our snowshoes and headed out into the white-frosted, forested mountains.

And, it was all worth it.

We had the place to ourselves and soft white flakes falling all around us… all day long.

 

Besides, at the end of the day, a hot dinner by the truck and tasty birthday beverages awaited us to keep us warm.   …And, the down pants Eli had gifted me!  Perfect!  Man, those suckers are amazing!  So, we spent some time toasting my birthday with imperial stouts and amaretto (my favorites!) as we again braved the dropping temps.

 

But that extra toasty sleeping bag and blanket nest in the back of the truck was calling my name.  Time for bed.

We slept soundly, despite the cold, in our zipped together sleeping bags and lots of down and fleece.

And, again, we awoke to this:

 

But also this:

 

I may not love being cold, but oh do I love cozy — and I definitely love being in beautiful nature vistas.  No matter the time of year.