My brother and sister in law have a favorite lookout over the valley where our family lives. They've been there several times since the summer and every time they go they tell me I have to go with them sometime. We decided it would be pretty to go sometime when there was snow - so when the temperatures plummeted and the snow began to fall, we began to make our plans. We arose at 6am on a Saturday morning when the temperatures were "a balmy 6" (to quote the forest ranger who drove past us at the lookout). We had checked the time of the sunrise the night before, but failed to calculate that the time would be when the sun was in the sky, not beginning to rise - so we raced the sun to the lookout and got there as the pinks and oranges and yellows were already hovering over the valley below and the orange ball of a sun had already begun to rise. Regardless, I made the best of the situation and actually enjoyed the lighting better after the sun had been up for about 10 - 15 minutes. It cast a fun pinkish orange hue on the sparkling snow - you will see that I tried to capture those tones in the following photos. We froze - but being a photographer isn't always comfortable. Thanks Nate and Danielle for braving the bitter cold with me, it was a fun morning. Let's go back now when there is some green on the trees!