Waking up New Year's Day to a blizzard

Snow, what snow?
Originally uploaded by Brite light photos.

JAMESTOWN, New York - The New Year always dawned cold - sometimes with a few feet of snow on the ground - and I remember thinking that Christmas vacation was almost over.

When I saw the photo with today's blog, I was reminded of those New Year's mornings.

The end of the Christmas holiday for me meant long months before the weather warmed and I could think about getting my boat out of storage at Maple Bay Marina and get back on the lake, to water ski and generally raise whatever hell was possible.

And I think February was the worst month, with those bitter, bitter cold days with no sun, howling winds and only Valentine's Day as a holiday worth thinking about.

Most New Year's Eves, I remember mostly wandering around with my friends, occasionally finding a party, more often just wandering.

Today in Puerto Vallarta I woke up to a chilly 69 degrees after listening to fireworks for a good part of the night. From our deck, we were able to see fireworks from a half-dozen hotels, the walkway along the city and to the north at all the beach resorts.

We will be celebrating the first day of the new year in La Manzanilla, 100 kilometers south of here where the main attraction (besides a French restaurant) is a swamp featuring crocodiles - the big monsters like we used to see on Ramar of the Jungle. Last season we saw a 25-footer and the only thing between you and destiny is some yellow police tape that says Peligroso!

That's a long way from Jamestown, a long way from the frostbite ice skating that sometimes was a big part of New Year's Day - if it wasn't snowing horizontally.

And in a weird way I kind of miss it this morning as we pack for our sojourn.

I'll get over it.