Change is inevitable...

Change is inevitable and I choose to embrace it! My life has changed a bit since my last entry. As most of you already know I’ve moved down to Alabama, a state where Chiggers out number people 10:1! OK, I may have made that up, but it’s a good guess! Mike and I packed up our belongings, plus some, and began our drive south on the 17th of May. We made it all the way to Maryland before we had to stop, which to me, is quite the feat considering we were driving in separate vehicles, one of which could barely handle 50mph. Oooohhh that U-Haul, how I DON’T miss thee. Our first night we spent in a Walmart parking lot. It was reminiscent of our trip across country almost two years ago. We, or better yet, I, got about 5 hours of sleep that night. You see, when Mike’s head hits the pillow instant snoring occurs (not the annoying kind of snoring, just the kind that says, “I’m happily sleeping while you’re still awake”), whilst I lay awake, in insane jealousy, for at least 30 minutes before finally drifting off to dreamland... So where was... Ahh yes, we awoke around 5am and continued our drive south. OH! I almost forgot to mention the nearly $100 we spent on tolls ALONE passing through New York, New Jersey and Delaware!! SERIOUSLY people?!?!? Breathing... I’m breathing... OK, I’ve calmed down, let’s continue... The next day we drove, oohhh I want to say about 15 hours or so... YIKES! We made it all the way down to Georgia and stayed the night in a hotel (I HAD to shower before meeting up with the realtor, that would just be rude not to). The next morning we leisurely awoke around 8 and we were meeting with the realtor to sign some papers and get our keys by 2pm, or should I say 1400 hours? Military time... I have to get used to it if I want to stick around. We were able to unload the truck and put almost everything in it’s appropriate room by the end of the night! Amazing, considering we had spent the last two days driving! I’m pretty sure I did fall asleep when my head hit the pillow that night!

We’ve now been moved in for almost two months and I’ve already been back home twice! I was back home at the very end of May due to my father’s illness and then again for Mike’s best friend’s wedding, just two weeks ago. I’m also traveling to Vegas at the end of next week for work. I’ve flown more in the beginning half of this year than I did in all my years leading up to 2010. It’s craziness I tell ya!

Since we’ve been here we’ve done some exploring. We’ve driven five hours north (we’re in the southeastern corner of the state) three times now for climbing. It’s the closest decent climbing to us. It’s a beautiful little area called Sand Rock and there are many sport routes set up there, along with a few trad routes. I was absolutely thrilled when I first laid eyes upon this place! Climbing... in Alabama, who would have thought?!?!? The first time we had gone up, we met some folks from GA who were nice enough to show us another climbing area near by. It was in a place called Little River Gorge. WAIT! I’m sorry, did you just say gorge?!?? WOW! Alabama has gorges too?!?! Hmmm... maybe this state isn’t as bad as a thought! ;-) The second time we headed up there we met up with one of the guys who was in the first group we met, but with other friends of his. They were nice enough to let us tag along with them on a short hike down Little River. What an amazing place!! There’s all kinds of swimming holes and places to jump off of, and a beautiful waterfall to stand under! I wish it was a little closer!!

Hills, rocks and rivers aside, we’ve also done some exploring south of us. About a month ago we drove down the Panama City Beach. Despite it being fairly crowded down there, it’s a beautiful place. We spent most of the day in St. Andrews State Park. I saw my first Alligator in the wild!! OoooooOoooo... scary!! I also had my first swim in the Gulf, sans oil! I must admit though, I do miss the frigid temperatures of the northeast ocean! I could barely tell the difference in temperature between the parts of my body that were in the water and those parts that were out. It was not very refreshing. Nonetheless, I enjoyed our trip to the Gulf Coast and will most likely return at some point.

Boom!... BOOM!!... Happy Fourth of July everyone!!! What did you do for the 4th? Oh me, well Phil, Sarah, Mike and I drove five hours north, to our favorite place... Sand Rock!! We had the perfect site atop the “mountain” (it’s only 1600’, not sure if I consider that a mountain), who’s rocky terrain leads to a wide open vista of the towns below. We left on Friday morning around 6:30, stopped at one of the few Whole Foods in Bama and stocked up. We stopped again at Mountain High Outfitters where Mike purchased a new pair of climbing shoes! We arrived at our site around noon time, had some lunch and got a few climbs in! That night we had the BEST steak dinner EVER (OK, so it wasn’t Ruth’s Chris, but it was pretty damn close, especially for camping)!! Thanks Phil for awesome grill-skills! The next two days we’d spend some time in the morning climbing and then chill out, river-side, for the afternoon/evening hours! OH! And of course, what kind of Fourth of July would it be without our own mini cannon?!?!?!?!? Yes folks, that’s right! Phil brought along his totally radical mini cannon, which we proudly fired off into the night sky and smiled as it loudly echoed across the valley below! Oohhhh I just love explosions! We were also able to perch ourselves up on the rocks that over looked the fireworks of three or so towns! All in all, I’ve a some good times down here so far. Thing are a little different than I’m used to, but as I mentioned before, I embrace change! I hope you all are well! :-)

Washington... the state, not DC... Geeezz!

Mike and I departed Boston Saturday (Sept 12) at 3:15pm and arrived in Seattle at 8:10pm. It was only about a 4 hour flight across the country (no head wind). We met up with Gina, Nate and Paresh for some yummy pizza and a couple of drinks. I spent Saturday night at Gina and Nate's lovely apartment. Sunday, Gina and I took the ferry over to Whidbey Island and walked around Fort Casey, had lunch at a little Thai restaurant, then drove up to Deception Pass to take in the beautiful views. That evening Gina, Nate, Paresh, Sibyl, Mike and I went out to eat in West Seattle and I moved my belongings over to Paresh and Sibyl's place where I spent the rest of the vacation. Mike and I packed quickly for our backpacking trip up Mt. Daniel and went to bed. We woke up relatively early on Monday and headed out to the Cascades. We experienced some traffic, difficulties locating film for the video camera and extreme dirt roads, which landed us on trail at about 3:30pm, another late start yet again... We're getting good at this! The trek to camp was a bit slow due to the fact that I had blisters from a hike we had done the previous weekend. They began to hurt only an hour into our hike and never stopped hurting from that point on. "Use moleskin!", you say. I did, matter of fact, I got blisters under the moleskin. Yeah... I'm THAT good! We finally arrived at camp around 6pm and set up shop just as the sun set. The timing actually worked out pretty well. Tuesday morning we were on the trail leading to the summit of Daniel at about 8:30am. We watched as some other hikers headed up ahead of us and took note of the trail they chose. We chose a route that was a little longer because of a conversation we had with another hiker the night before. It was a more round-about way, traversing the inner edge of the bowl through lots of scree fields. It was a long trek and my blisters were not very happy with me. When we reached the summit I breathed a sigh of relief... until we realized that we weren't at the actual summit... oh no... this was just the East Summit... So after some hemming and hawing on my part, onward we trekked to the actual summit of Mt. Daniel and it was amazing!! It was a fairly small spire that only one person at a time could stand on top of. After writing in the summit log, we chatted with another couple and then headed back to camp. We took a much shorter way down (the way we had taken note of that morning), which my blisters were very thankful for. We watched as the couple we had chatted with on the summit scrambled down this strange trail that was far off the beaten path. It was entertaining and we were imagining how pissed the chic probably was at her boyfriend for dragging her down this "not so friendly" looking path. We made it back to camp with daylight to spare and had dinner by the lake, a nice way to end the day. Wednesday morning we awoke leisurely, packed up and headed out. We made it to the car by about 12:30 and headed back to Seattle. On the way we stopped for a nice Italian lunch and then to catch a glimpse of Snoqualmie Falls. That evening, Paresh, Mike and I went to Feathered Friends to see Zoe Hart's (a super awesome chic climber) slideshow. It was AWESOME! Thursday, Mike and I bummed around Seattle with Gina, that evening Gina, Paresh, Sibyl, Mike and I had an excellent meal at a Mexican restaurant in West Seattle. After dinner, Mike, Gina and I went bowling. Gina kicked out BUTTS!!! She bowled 6 strikes in a row!! It was amazing!! It was like the more she drank, the better she bowled! Ha ha ha! ;-) Friday, Mike and Paresh went climbing at Index and I took my blisters and the Beetle to Mt. Rainer. I almost got a speeding ticket in the park! Pshhh!! These park ranger's ain't seen nothing!! They should see me drive around MA! Speeding... HA! ;-) Rainer was just as beautiful as it was during my last visit and Mike and Paresh had an excellent time at Index. We all had a splendid day! Saturday morning was a washout. Paresh, Sibyl, Mike and I had a filling breakfast at a lovely little restaurant in West Seattle and then did some shopping at Second Assent, that evening Mike and I went to Safeco field to watch a Mariner's game. The Mariner's were playing the Yankee's and unfortunately the Yankee's won... Boooooo! It was still a fun game, though! :-) Sunday, Paresh, Mike and I headed out to Leavenworth for some climbing. We had a delicious breakfast and then headed up to our climb! It was a beautiful day, we all got a lead in and had grand ol' time! What a way to end our trip!! That night I stopped by Gina's to say goodbye and she, being the SUPER nice person that she is, brought me back a slice of a Snicker's cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and put a little candle in it for my birthday!! Awww!! Gine, you're the BEST!! Monday... Happy Birthday to me, I wish I could have flown for free (that was a terrible attempt at rhyming)!.. We arrived at the airport around 7am and finally arrived in Boston around 6:30pm... the entire day was spent flying... yay me! Ha ha ha! All in all it was an amazing trip, filled with good times, lots of laughs and beautiful views!! I LOVE Washington!!

Long time no see!

I think I might have forgotten that I had a blog for a little while here... My apologies. I believe a recap would be appropriate. Stay with me now, this might take a little bit... {deep breath} and here we go...

June 20th, Meghan's Bachelorette party, Boston MA. There were quite a few of us wrecking havoc on the little city of Boston. It was an excellent evening filled with raised eyebrows, a dancing street walker and a crazy woman that goes by the name of Higgs, strippers, a lot of hairspray, half naked men, the largest alcoholic beverage we've ever feasted our eyes on, dancing, a street violinist and a lot of laughs!! OK... some of that may not be true, but that's for me to know and you to... well, never find out! ;-) Good times were DEF had by all, right Meg!?! Pictures can be viewed here.

June 27th, Meghan and John tie the knot, Walpole MA. Well my best friend is married and that can only mean one thing for me... hold off for as long as I possibly can!!! Ha ha ha! Kidding! Meghan and John were married at Blessed Sacrament Church and the reception was held at the Walpole Country Club. It was a beautiful day, despite the downpour that occurred right as everyone was scheduled to arrive at the church. :-) We all got through it and the day couldn't have turned out more perfectly! Pictures can be viewed here.

July 3rd and 4th, El Quatro de Julio, Humarock/Boston MA. July 3rd Mark, Mike, Janice, Rich and I headed to the annual party held by the Dorrer's at their beautiful house on the beach, in Humarock. It was a lovely evening filled with fireworks, bonfires, good food, yummy drinks and great people! The evening of the 4th of July Mark, Mike Rich and I headed into Boston to fight the crowds and get glimpse of the incredibly awesome fireworks display that Boston puts on! We sat our keesters down on Storrow Drive and watched in amazement! I've been into Boston a few times and I'll tell ya what, it NEVER gets old!! Pictures can be viewed here.

July 10th and 11th, Exploring NH. July 10th Mike and I headed north with climbing in mind. I was really stoked to lead something again! We got to our trusty campground near Waterville around 11pm and were surprised at what we saw... No camp sites available!! Never in the two years we've sought out a site at this particular campground has it been full! We weren't sure what we should do, so we headed further down the road with the intention on checking out the sister campground to this last place. Well, SOMEONE told SOMEONE to take a right turn when it was supposed to be a left and we found ourselves driving down this seemingly never ending road. We drove by some cars parked on the side of the street and figured there were free spots along the road, so we found one, set up shop and went to bed. We awoke in the morning to the sound of a truck door slamming shut. I looked out of the screen and there was a ranger putting a ticket on our car. APPARENTLY people pay $20 for these sites that are on the side of a road without a toilet in site! Insanity I tell ya! We were jipped! Anywho, we paid the robbers and continued on our way up to North Conway. As we were driving I was reading through the climbing books trying to decided what I wanted to do. I read a blurb that said that this particular climb required two ropes... "ROPES!!" I said, "I never packed my rope!!!" I looked over at Mike, the disappointment in his face said it all... "Bummer man! What do we do now?", I said. After trying to come up with some sort of solution that would put us back on the rock we decided to just explore the Kangamangus and all it had to offer. We stopped at Rocky Gorge, which we've always driven by and said we would stop there someday, today was that day. We drove further up the road and explored different parts of the Swift River. Then we drove to Cathedral to see if we could bum a rope off of Mike's friend who was supposed to be climbing up in that area that day. We couldn't find her so we decided to pick Strawberries. As we were waiting in line to pick Strawberries we started chatting with a guy that worked there. He asked if we had just come off a climb and we told him our story of how I forgot the rope. He felt bad for us and said, "Here, take my rope, I'm not using it!", we were SOOO grateful and took off to Cathedral to get some climbs in before the sun went down. Well, I pulled out my bag to unload my gear, I unzipped it and my mouth dropped... There, all coiled up in it's bag, my ROPE!!! OH MAN!! I was pissed!! I forgot that I put it in my bag so that I wouldn't forget it. I really wonder about myself sometimes. Well we got a few climbs in, returned the rope, and headed off to a remote camp site we took note of during our last trip up north. It was a beautiful site, right on the river! We were all ready to cook our dinner on the open fire and BAM rain starts falling down in buckets!! We quickly retreated to the tent where we cooked some couscous in the vestibule and fell asleep. A failed weekend? Not quite, but definitely filled with a fair share of adventure. Pictures can be viewed here.

July 18th and 19th, Bike Ride to Truro MA. Early Saturday afternoon Mike, Seth and I fired up the engines and began our ride down to Truro, MA. It was an excellent day for a ride. We only ran into some traffic closer to Truro and we may or may not have hopped into the breakdown lane for a bit... Bad! We arrived in Truro and met up with Kate and her family who had rented condos right on the beach. After visiting the local paahhhkie we jumped into our swimming trunks and played like children in the large waves!! It was a BLAST!! We had seaweed fights and we were taking turns riding the waves in on an alligator float!! Awesomeness! That night Seth, Mike and I went into good ol' p-town and had ourselves some tasty pizza and some alcoholic beverages! That night Mike and I rolled out the tent on the beach and instead of getting in it, we got on top of it and nestled into our sleeping bags and spent the night under the stars. It was amazing! :-) The next morning Seth, Mike and I hopped on our bikes and headed off to the farthest point on the arm and then explored the National Seashore. We arrived back at the condo and spent some time laying on the beach, then we set off for our long journey home. An excellent weekend for sure! Pictures can be viewed here.

August 1st -3rd Papoose Pond, Waterford ME. August first, we waited, and waited... and waited some more for Bryan to get his butt over Mike's house!! I don't know what time our convoy ended up leaving, probably sometime around 2PM. We got up to Waterford around 5pm, I think, and did some shopping at a local Walmart (gotta love Walmart!!) and set up the cabin, I mean, the tent right as night fell. You'll have to excuse me, I often forgot that we were in a tent because the "tent" was closer in resemblance to a cabin than an actual tent. One might be wondering, "What does she mean it resembled a cabin?", let me explain. After we set up the monstrosity of a thing I notice Bryan walking back from his car with a small folding table, I asked what it was for, his replay, "The AC"!!! I'm sorry, WHAT??!?! I didn't quite catch that, did you just say you were setting up an AC in the tent!?!?! Yes, they were and that wasn't the end of it. A oscillating fan accompanied the AC so we all froze our butts off at night. There were 3, count 'em THREE, air mattresses, a little fake lawn carpet to greet you at the door which was surrounded by some plastic edging to keep the little streams created by the rain at bay. I think it may have been the most luxurious tent I've ever seen constructed! Ha ha ha! Other than having to put that thing together, I also got in a couple games of beach volleyball, some excellent food, a few glasses of good bourbon and tasty tequila and a few laughs! I topped off this lovely long weekend with a climb at Cathedral with Mike! An excellent way to end an excellent weekend! Pictures can be viewed here.

August 8th, Tripyramids, Waterville NH. Five AM, Saturday morning, I'm ready to go! Guess who isn't?! Marrkkkkkk! Yes, Mark, the same guy who gave me hell the night before saying people are always waiting on me... Yeah... I rest my case. Anywho, Mark and I got up to the trail head pretty early, I want to say maybe 8:30—9. It was a beautiful day for a hike! It's about 3 miles of flat terrain and then the trail starts climbing, before you know it you find yourself on the north slide, scrambling up big ol' slabs of rock with excellent views! The summits don't offer much in the way of views, but the north and south slides offer some beautiful vistas! We ended the hike with a dip in some frigid river water, brrrrrr, and sunned ourselves on the rocks for a little bit. It was a wonderful day! Pictures can be viewed here.

August 23rd, Mark's Race, Attitash Mountain NH. Saturday afternoon I met Rich, Janice, Mark and Mike up at the slope side condo they had rented. That evening we all went out to dinner at The Moat in North Conway, it was DELICIOUS!! After dinner we watched Batman Begins and retired to bed. Sunday morning was Mark's race, we all cheered Mark on as he flew by, coming in 3rd in his division!! We stuck around for the award ceremony and then headed off to see if we could squeeze a game of mini golf in before the rain came. No such luck in North Conway, it was raining cats and dogs. We crossed over the Kanc and had some pizza in Lincoln. It seemed to be a consistent spitting of rain there so we figured we'd chance it and get that mini golf game in and oh boy did we get a game in, it was epic! I am the three holes in one champion while Mike took 1st, Mark took 2nd and Rich and I tied for 3rd (my short game is terrible)!! Ha ha ha! It was a great weekend!

Insane in the membrane, INSANE IN THE BRAIN!

WOW! That word pretty much sums up my weekend! What a way to end the winter climbing season! Mark, Mike and I began our hike up one of the gullies on Mt. Webster fairly early on Saturday morning. We had the most perfect weather you can imagine. We all actually got a little bit of a sunburn on our faces. Most of our time was spent hiking some 1500 ft on a snow-covered gully, which turned into some ice at the top, then we had to bushwhack through some very dense trees for a 100 ft. or so until we finally reached the top where we spent the night on the ridge. We found a cozy spot amidst some trees where we dug out a tent site and set up shop. It was a lovely night (not too cold) and we awoke to yet another beautiful sunny day today. A mere 3.4 mile hike through some portions of knee-deep snow and the occasional opportunity to glissade got us to the road where we had to walk another mile or so to the lot where we had parked to the car. My feet were really excited to see the car! Ha! :-) It was definitely one of the best weekends I've had this winter!

Moving on... the weekend leading up to this past weekend, Danielle and I headed up to Loon where I finally, FINALLY, got to use my skis! It was so AWESOME to be back on skis! It was a beautiful day and the snow was just right. Danielle and I experienced some great "spring skiing"!

Going backwards even still... the weekend before that, Mike and I headed north to get some more ice climbing in. Despite the crowds, we managed to get a couple climbs in at Kinsman. We spent the night in North Conway and got up early to attempt Black Pudding Gully. We hiked all the way up to the base of the climb, Mike started up the climb and with the first swing of the ice axe into the vertical section, out rang a loud hollow sound (not good when ice climbing). Mike did some investigating and discover that he could do the Irish Jig in the large, 10 foot tall section that was between the ice and the rock. In my opinion, Mike did the smart thing and backed off the climb. We decided to venture further up the road to a place we hadn't been yet, Texaco. We were able to get a couple climbs in there and then headed home. So, with Spring just around the bend... I guess you could say I've had one, totally rad winter!! The picture of Mark, Mike and I above was taken from atop Mt. Webster. For pics of Mt. Webster, click here.
For pics of Kinsman, Black Pudding and Texaco, click here.

OK... so I'm not awesome at keeping up-to-date with this blog stuff... Hmmm alright, let's see... what's happened since my last entry?... I typically can't remember what I did yesterday so you'll forgive me if I forget something, right? Here it goes... Sometime in January Gina, Danielle and I went snowboarding at Pat's Peak. It was Gina's first time on a snowboard and Danielle and I did our best to keep her off her butt! :-) She did really well and I hope she keeps up with it! I still have yet to use my skis that I bought last season!! It's starting to drive me a little insane... I don't know what my problem is but everytime I go to the mountain I end up snowboarding... maybe it's what my inner-self truly desires... Ha! :-) At some other point in January Mike and I went ice climbing at Frankenstein Cliff in New Hampshire, it was totally rad! We had a beautiful sunny, 0˚F (with the windchill) day! The weekend following that Sean and I went up to Mt. Snow in VT. I've never been, it's a pretty sweet mountain! Sean totally showed off in the park! Ha! (Sean - if you read this, I'm kidding, I'm just envious of your mad skillz!) Which brings us to this past weekend... Mike and I drove up on Sat. to the Crawford Notch area and did two short climbs, stayed the night in Twin Mountain and returned to Mt. Willard to do a longer gully climb on Sun. Now for all you MA people, while you were enjoying the beautiful, sunny 40-something degree day, Mike and I were freezing our butts off in a snowstorm in the White Mountains! Ha! It's amazing how different the weather can be from one place to the next. Now keep calm... don't get your panties all up in a knot, I'll have pictures posted soon!

Like... WHOA!

Like... whoa! Don't get me wrong, I love the holidays, but MAN I'm glad this craziness is over! So let's see... Christmas Eve was awesome! The fam all came over and it was good times as always (Auntie Jan & Uncle Jim, we missed you both!) The weekend following Christmas my mom, Joanne, Jim, Scott, Steve, Michelle, the Canadians and Lou took to the slopes of Sunday River... slopeside! Granted the weather was a bit strange we still got a full day in on Saturday and I rode a half day Sunday, it was AWESOME!! Oh and did I mention we also enjoyed the heated outdoor pool and jacuzzi!! Yeahhhh... like I said before, AWESOME!

New Year's Eve Nick and I went to Nate's house in Essex. Nate lives in a cool house connected to a saw mill where he works. I enjoyed some live music provided by Nick, Nate, Tim, a couple guitars and a bongo. We counted down to 2009 with the folks in Time Square and then froze our butts off watching a firework show in the driveway. At about 3AM I partook in some drunken guitar lessons thanks to Tim. I met a lot of really awesome people and had a grand ol' time! Now it's time to catch up on some much need sleep!

Click here for pics from the aforementioned Sweater Party and Sunday River

I've got a need... a need for speed!

Ice climbing, rock climbing, driving across country... yeah, they're all good but I need more in my life... I need to fly! Ha! Kidding! It being close to Christmas and all, I've once again got lazy about updating my blog... shame on me! Anywho, let's see... two weekends ago Mike took me flying in the morning, it was awesome! I flew the plane all by myself (pictured above)! Ha ha ha! That night Mark, Mike and I were off to an ugly sweater party... good times, indeed!! Sunday afternoon Mike and I went back into Boston to watch a game of racquets. It's similar to squash but far more dangerous. It's played in a granite room with an acrylic ball wrapped in twine and tape that can reach speeds up to 180mph... don't believe me? Google it! Fast forward to this past weekend which was FILLED with snow!!! YAY!!! The fam and I went to our annual xmas party with friend's of the fam, also good times!! And ahhhh well, I shoveled... a lot! I'm looking forward to this coming weekend when I'll be hitting the slopes up at Sunday River! That about does it for now. For the folks who actually read this, Happy Holidays to you all!

Click here for Plane Ride pics!

Does it get any better?!

I'm in love... This past weekend was my first time Ice Climbing and I must say, I can't WAIT to go again!! I love it!! Mike and I hiked up to Tuckerman's Ravine and did some mixed climbing. It was amazing! As I stood there on the top of Tuckerman's, the wind nearly knocking me down, snow flying by my face I thought to myself, "Does it get any better than this!?" I looked out at the snow covered mountains and realized all in one moment that this year has been absolutely incredible, I've done many things I thought I'd only dream about doing and I'm so grateful. Above is a picture of Mike on the first pitch of our climb.

10 mile hike in knee deep snow without snowshoes... AWESOME!

I ended this nice long weekend with another snowy hike!! Mark, Mike and I hiked Galehead Mtn. on Sunday via the Gale River Trail to Garfield Ridge Trail to Frost Trail. It started off with a little dusting of snow on the ground which then turned into ankle deep, then knee deep and then nearly hip deep! Judging by the little snow we encountered at the trailhead we figured we'd be fine without snowshoes... boy were we wrong! Luckily for us a couple people had gone up ahead of us with snowshoes and blazed a nice little trail. We took turns with another party ahead of us, who were also lacking in the snowshoe department, breaking trail beyond what those folks in the snowshoes had accomplished. It's never a bad day hiking in the snow, even if ya have to do a little extra work breaking trail! Above is a picture of Mark from the lookout just below Galehead's summit.

Isolation

This past weekend was a chilly one! Mike and I headed north early Saturday morning, we drove into some snow showers up near Cannon... I can't even begin to tell you how stoked I was to see snow!!! We started our hike into Isolation Shelter around 2:30 and found ourselves searching through the dark, snow-covered woods for a campsite after discovering that a bunch of dudes had overtaken the shelter. We set up shop quick and enjoyed our dinner while listening to some Christmas tunes as the snow fell around Mike's little tent. It was like Christmas except we hadn't even made it through Thanksgiving!! :o) The wind was howling that night. We guessed the gusts had to have been up in the 60mph range. Mike's watch read a whopping 16ºF inside the tent... I can't imagine how cold it was outside the tent, especially with the wind chill and all! It was a wonderful, chilly night!! I love winter!!! Above is a short clip of our drive up 93 (you need to have the sound on to fully appreciate this clip). Click here for pictures!! :o)

Brian Regan & good beer

Tonight was filled with lots of laughs, good friends and frothy beer.
Mark (seen in the photo above), Mike, Luke, Seth, Katie, Bryan,
Danielle and I saw Brian Regan at the Orpheum Theatre and then had
some munchies and drinks at Cheers! It was a damn good time! Mike and
I are hoping to get a hike in a some point this weekend if the rain
will ever let up... we'll see! ;-)

Exploring Crawford

Ok... so I've been a little lazy this week. I'm just now getting around to posting a blog for last weekend, sue me. Nonetheless, last weekend Mike and I did a little bit of exploring. We revisited Mt. Crawford in hopes of discovering a new climbing route on the summit. It was a bit colder than it was the previous weekend, as you can see in the picture above, we're bundled up pretty good. We repelled off the summit only to find a 20 some-odd foot cliff with nothing on it worth cleaning out and setting up an anchor for. Oh well, it was still a great time and... hey, we tried! :o) Just a side note... I can't WAIT for ice climbing season!! YAY! Click here for pictures!

Stoopdafied @ Slightly Stoopid

Mike and I got stoopdafied at Slightly Stoopid last night!! Well, not really but it was one kick ass show!! We witnessed a fight between someone in the crowd and one of the two lead singers... It was sweeeeeet! Now I'm packin' up for some more backpacking and a possible
route discovery! Weehooo!

Climbing and backpacking all in the same day... I must be dreaming!

This weekend was splendid! Mike and I drove up to Franconia Notch Friday night and spent the night in the truck so that we could wake up early to begin our climb on Cannon. Sure enough we were the first ones in the parking lot Saturday morning. We climbed Wiesner's Dike and about halfway up the climb it became extremely windy and cloudy, by the time we reached the top of what once was Old Man's head we were experiencing 50mph winds! It was freakin' awesome!! We met Mark (who hiked up) at the top and headed down together. We were soon on our way to Davis Path which we hiked up to Resolution Shelter where we spent the night. Sunday we hiked through the very wet trails which lead to the summit of Mt. Crawford. At first the summit was very cloudy and we couldn't see a thing but after spending a few minutes there the clouds started to clear and behind them were some pretty sweet views! The picture above was taken at the summit of Mt. Crawford and you can find more pictures by clicking here!

Camel's Hump, VT

So, as most of you know Mike and I returned to MA Thursday, the 9th.
We drove from a little west of Cleveland to western MA and
accidentally took a detour through PA... It was about a 13+ hour
drive. Ooopppsss! Ha ha ha! Nevertheless, we stayed at Jim's and
returned home on Friday. So, I'm now back into the grind but totally
missing the road!! If you'd like to see 373 photos from our trip please click here! Now that you're all caught up to speed, the image
above is from the summit of Camel's Hump in VT. Yesterday my mom, Mike
(my brother) and I hiked VT's third highest peak, at 4,080 ft. It was
a really nice hike it was just too bad that we had to share it with a
million other people. Ha! Anyways, we had a great time and I highly
suggest this hike to anyone, you just might be better off on a week
day or in the winter! :-) Click here for pictures!

Greetings from the windy city!

We're now leaving Chicago after spending most of the day there. We
visited Millenium Park, took the elevator to the top of the Sears
Tower and enjoyed a tasty deep-dish pizza at a local restaurant.
Sunday we visited the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North
Dakoda. Monday, we saw the largest buffalo in the world (sculpture),
you're jealous... I know. Tuesday, we visited Minneapolis, we walked
around the city for a bit and had lunch at Key's (best turkey & wild
rice soup EVERRR!!)... and thennnn... we went to the MALLLL OF
AMERICAAAA!! Holy cow that is one HUGE mall!! Oh! And, of course, we
went for a ride on one of the roller coasters and the swings IN the
mall!! Wooohooo! Which brings us to today. Above is a picture of part
of the Chicago skyline from the Skydeck atop Sears Tower.

Glacier (pronounced glas•e•aire)

Friday we drove from West Glacier to Logan Pass in Glacier National
Park. Unfortunately, the road was closed to thru traffic due to some
construction so we were unable to see the East side of the park. We
were, however, able to hike the Hidden Lake trail at Logan Pass and
see some Big Horn Ram and a Grizzly!! That was the first time I've
seen any bear in the wild, it was awesome!! Fortunately for us the
bear was far, far away... man, he was one big dude though! Glacier was
amazing! We're now in eastern Montana, where livestock outnumbers
people 5:1, experiencing some overcast as we head back East. The
picture above was taken from the Hidden Lake trail at Logan Pass,
looking towards Going-to-the Sun Mtn.

Direct to you from the WiFi Bonnie & Clyde

We're currently parked outside a Hampton Inn in Montana stealing some WiFi because I've been seriously slacking with the whole taking pictures with my phone thing (so the picture you see above is from my digital camera, so sorry if it's a bit large or small... or anything)... Anywho, we camped in the Clearwater National Forest in Idaho last night. This morning we woke up a bit earlier than usual to hike up to some natural hot springs off of Rt. 12 in the Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness Area, also in Idaho. The water temperature was a mere 106° F... it was niiiiiiiice! I digress, Friday we made it up to Seattle around 7pm and stayed the night with Paresh and Sibyl and then on Saturday, Mike, Paresh and I headed over the pass to Leavenworth to do some climbing/camping (in the Westfalia!!). We got a couple of climbs in on Saturday and went into town for a nice Mexican dinner... Sunday morning we were up bright and early to start our 6 pitch climb, Outer Space, in Leavenworth... well, I wasn't so bright that morning because that Mexican food I had the night before didn't quite agree with me... so Mike and Paresh did the climbed and I hiked in a bit later to snap some shots of them. It was a beautiful day for a climb or a hike, in my case. After having a grand 'ol time in Leavenworth we were on the road, back to Seattle. Monday we visited the Museum of Flight, Mike was in his glory! I had been there once before but it was fun to visit there again! Afterwards we had some Thai food on Fremont Street, it was delicious! Tuesday we walked around Pike's Place and dragged our feet because neither of us wanted to leave. A BIG THANK YOU to Paresh and Sibyl for putting us up for 4 nights!! You guys are AWESOME! We had a great time and THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! :-) Above is a picture of Paresh and Mike climbing in Leavenworth.

It's big, it's blue, it's Crater Lake!

San Francisco, Redwoods & Crater Lake... Let's see... We arrived
Sunday evening in Oakland, CA. Monday morning we woke up early and
toured San Francisco. We saw Fisherman's Worf, took a ride on the
trolly, admired the switchbacks of Lombard St, and took in the views
from atop Coit Tower. Later that evening we had dinner with Carlo
Fiatarone and his mom, Dina, and two cute kids she was babysitting.
That was the first time I met any relatives from the West Coast. They
were super nice people and I'm looking forward to seeing them again
someday!! Tuesday we headed up to Redwood National Park. Man, they got
some BIG trees!! It's like walking around in some kind of fairy tale
land! Ha! :-) Wednesday we started our drive to Crater Lake. That is
definitely the most pristine lake I've ever seen!! Sooo inviting but,
sooooo cold!! :-) Now it's Friday and we're heading up coastal route
101 to Seattle where we'll be meeting up with two of Mike's friends to
do a little climbing and such!

Yosemite

The picture above is not some cheesy backdrop nor did I superimpose my
feet... That was taken from my little perch at Glacier Point,
overlooking Yosemite Valley. Wow... That's all I have to say. Standing
tall in the center of it all is Half Dome. Mike and his friend Jim
climbed that 3 years ago, I'd like to come back again to do the same!
Friday we went for an afternoon sail on Lake Tahoe then we were off to
Yosemite. We arrive late Friday night and stayed the night just
outside of the park. We woke up early Sat morning and climbed Fairview
Dome in Tuolumne Meadows, it was awesome!! Today we drove through the
valley and we're now on our way to San Francisico.