Warmer Journeys

After the cold hike up the Franconia Ridge, we were happy to spend the next weekend in warm Tampa! We stayed at Justin and Angela's place on Tampa Bay. It was great, very relaxing.

The view from the clubhouse in Justin and Angela's community.

Even the manatees came out to say 'hi'.

Our main purposes for the visit was to celebrate mom and dad's 40th anniversary. We had a very nice dinner as a family. And after dinner, we were all very excited to see when a cake was brought out.



Mom and Dad were surprised. As was everyone else, since none of us ordered it. Then we saw the writing on the top of the cake.




"Happy Birthday Jimmy Z". Poor Jimmy, I guess he missed his cake.







The following weekend we went to a conference for Katie at Cape Cod. She got a scholarship to present a poster there. Which means I got a free vacation while she worked.

Enjoying the conference center. Just a tad bit chilly. A tad.

The Conference center/resort.

The conference was an allergy one, and speaking of allergy, Katie has decided to apply for a fellowship in the field. Today she had her first interview for a start in July 2010, very exciting!

Been a good foliage fall this year. Brilliant colors!

Hiking Trip

This past weekend we headed to north towards the top of New Hampshire for some hiking and camping with friends. The foliage network has it between high color and peak up there right now, so we got to enjoy some great foliage.

When our friends suggested we go, we thought it would be a great idea. Unfortunately, we didn't look at the small print. Actually, it was the first sentence on this link. "This very rigorous, 8.7 mile loop is for experienced hikers only." They weren't joking. And of course our friends are these marathon-running, very fit group of hikers, so it was an intense hike. The hike is supposed to take 6.5-8hrs on average, we were about at the 6.5hr range, with a nice lunch (and us slowing down the group!). The hike was about 2.5 miles up, 2.5 miles along a ridge and 3.5 miles down. The ridge went over three peaks, the last was the tallest, called Mount Lafayette.

Here's the 5 of us getting ready to start the hike. The weather at the campground was supposed to be a high of 49 and a low of 35F.

Little chilly, but ready to go!

So far, so good! Enjoying the view of one of the waterfalls.

So, the low at base camp was supposed to be 35. And we heard a rumor that it could be 15degrees cooler at the top. We were doubtful. Then on the hill, we started hearing rumors of snow.

Here we are with the first glimpses of snow.

And, finally at the top of the first peak. Turns out the 15 degrees cooler was wrong. The temperature was close to 20F, with wind chills that were surely single digits. Also, the mount was under a cloud, so we could not see any view - actually, couldn't see beyond 5 feet away much!

Kind of looked like the moon on a snowy day or something. I understand now more what Frodo must have gone through.

Finally, on the way down the clouds broke and we caught glimpses of what was a beautiful view.

On our way down! Hope that there may be an end to the trail yet!

View farther down. This shows the ridge we went across.

From the campground.

At the campground.

The next morning, trying to stay warm, eating a delicious breakfast!

All in all, it was an intense weekend, but it was a lot of fun. Katie can't wait to get out and go camping again. Maybe. For now, we are looking forward to next week's trip to Tampa with the only hiking being to the beach and temperatures in the mid-80s!