Long time no post...

Wow, 2 weeks since my last blog post. So much for trying to blog at least once a week. I kept meaning to get these pictures up, but it just didn't happen.

All of the pictures here are from a trip to Vermont that we took last weekend. I took Friday off from work and we headed up in the morning, and then back later in the day on Sunday. I realized that it takes us longer than I would think to break camp- a good thing to know before our upcoming vacation as I consider our long days of driving and now I know we'll have to get up a little bit earlier so that we have enough time.

Our first stop (not counting a quick stop at King Arthur Flour) was Ben & Jerry's. We took a tour, checked out the "Flavor Graveyard" and had a sample of icecream. And of course took cheesy touristy pictures. Next was a stop at Cabot (mmm.... cheese) and then we headed to the campground.

One thing that my family "collects" are highpoints, or the highest elevation of each state. My Dad started collecting these and as a result I've done a number of them with him. Now I've started doing some others with Chris. In fact, on our upcoming vacation we hope to get 7 more states. So on Saturday we hiked Mt. Mansfield, the highest point in Vermont. It is a mountain that is owned by Stowe Mountain Resort (a ski resort) who has a road up to almost the top of the mountain. In order to get some extra summer income, they charge you to drive up the road. So, we drove as far as we could and then had about a 45 minute hike to the peak. It was pretty cloudy on the way up, and when we were at the top it started to sprinkle, but on the way down the clouds moved away and we got some nice views. When we got back to the parking lot the clouds moved back in. Perfect timing!

After the hike we went stopped by a craft fair and although we didn't make any purchases, I did see a few things that I really liked and am considering getting a custom-made piece as a gift for my brother. Hopefully he'll like it.

As we were heading back towards the campground we saw a sign for the floating bridge. Not knowing what a floating bridge was, we figured we should go check it out, so we followed the signs and here's what we found. Ok, now here's my thing- I can understand creating one floating bridge for the novelty of it. In a small town maybe it could become a tourist draw (hey, it drew us in). And maybe when that bridge disintegrates I can understand replacing it with another floating bridge. But this one was replaced SIX times! At what point do you think that maybe this isn't such a good idea and just create a normal bridge?

Sunday, we took yet another walk to the firetower in the campground (I think we climbed it every single day) and then headed towards home. We made a quick stop in Hanover, NH. The Appalachian Trail goes through town and we were kind of hoping to do some trail magic. However, way too many people and really no hikers. We saw one, but he looked like he was just out for a short hike, not someone we would want to give Magic to.

And in other news, I got just a tiny smidge of scrapping done- one card (didn't scan) and two layouts that you can see here and here. DH slightly complained about my choice of materials on the second layout as I used paper and embellishments of things that he hardly ever uses. Oh well. I still thought they were cute. And now only 6 layouts until I'm "caught up" before my trip. If I'm lucky I'll have a chance to do one of those before we leave on Friday.

Weekend Review

For your viewing pleasure, we have a post that is NOT about gardening. (Feels like I've blogged about that a lot lately.)

This weekend we went to New Jersey. Chris' family has a cabin there and his parents were going to be there for the weekend, so we went down to see them there.

On the way we had to stop at a convenience store. I went in to make my purchase and waited. And then waited some more. There was only one employee, and he was busy pumping gas outside. He said he didn't see me go into the store, but we made eye contact. However, since I was in the store alone, it allowed time for me to take a picture of the bong collection. I also got to look at the box of porn DVDs.

Later on Saturday while at the cabin a deer came up to me. Literally. I thought he woudl be scared when he saw me, but instead he came right up to me. No stranger danger at all! In this photo on the left you can see me on the right and the deer next to me. For some reason he kept turning his head away right when I was taking the pictures.

I went inside to tell Chris' mom and she came out and the deer was still there. She tried feeding him some lettuce, but he wasn't interested. Instead he ate a cigarette butt that was on the ground. Mmm... tasty. Blech!

She then pet the deer. Personally I don't believe she should have fed or pet the deer, but I certainly understand the temptation. I wanted to but was partially afraid of it biting me, but I also didn't want it to get too comfortable with humans.

Next up is a photo of Chris and I "hiking". The cabin is very close to the Appalachian Trail, so we wanted to do some Trail Magic. We went to one place and were looking at the map trying to figure out what would be a good spot when a park ranger came by. We asked him for his advice and he told us of a shelter a few miles away. Perfect! The shelter was .2 miles from a road and parking lot.

We hiked up with a few gallons of water and ran into some weekend section hikers. One of them (the dad of the group) had thru-hiked in '03 and it looked like he was out with his son and either daughter or daugther-in-law. It was her first time backpacking.

Sunday morning we went back and noticed that 2 1/2 gallons of water was gone, so we left 2 more gallons as well as a bag of Snickers and Skittles.

Later that afternoon we swung by again and found 3 more hikers. Good thing we stopped by because they hadn't checked out the bear box where we had stashed the goodies. They were very appreciative!

As we were heading back to the car I kidded with Chris that we were now section hikers. After all, we had hiked the same section 3 times now. Probably doesn't count though seeing how it was such a tiny section. :)

We also made a stop at High Point. My dad "collects" high points- that's the highest point of each state. He had been to High Point, NJ before with Andrew. I figured that since we were so close I should get this one as well. After all, I've visited a number of the others with him.

This monument is at the top. There are 292 stairs inside, as you can see below. And let me tell you- a day later my calves are killing me from climbing those steps!


After High Point we headed back to the cabin, packed up the truck, and headed home.

Funny how a 4 hour drive feels so much longer after you've been driving around all morning through state parks, etc.