This weekend has been a fun one! In fact, I haven't been able to post because of all the fun.
Friday was Emily's (a teacher friend) birthday and so Jamie and I headed over to her place after work. While there, I realized how long it has been since I hung out with my friends...too long. I am now inspired to have a BBQ and enjoy this gorgeous weather next weekend.
Saturday was good for two reasons. First, it was the last day of Saturday Academy which means that starting next week, I get to seize my Saturdays back. No more getting up at 6:45am on a Saturday morning! No more early Friday nights! Actually, who am I kidding, there were still be many early Friday nights.
Also, we got to see our friends Ben and Ragan and their adorable son. Better yet, they brought him to our house which makes it the first time we have had a toddler at our house! Of course, Junior hid for the duration of the night, but Cody and Carter became fast friends. They even shared a head bump (Cody's favorite display of affection.) Good to know that Cody likes babies. Or at least, tolerates babies.
Last weekend, Jamie and I made the trek to our favorite old haunt Shenandoah National Park. A couple Christmases ago, we had gifted each other camping gear. Him: new hiking boots, Me: a new backpacking pack. Since then, we had not yet ventured out into the wilderness and were long overdue. Our plans for winter camping in February were foiled, and work and life had gotten in the way of subsequent plans.
So, we planned our hike, made GORP, and packed our packs. The rain didn't deter us...in fact, it gave us more motivation because it meant that those other, less hardy, campers would not crowd our hike. And we set out into the misty woods.
We chose a 17-mile loop that took us along a ridge, down a mountain, along a river, and back up the mountain. Despite the wetness and the mistiness -- it was actually perfect backpacking weather. We were motivated to keep on trekking since we would get cold if we stopped. By the time we were getting ready to stop for the night it was sunny and gorgeous.
One thing that kept the hike exciting was that there were 14 "stream" crossings.
I say "stream" in quotations because it was more like "river" crossings. I'm guessing Spring is actually when the water is at its higher levels and so we had to brave the cold water throughout the day. I resigned myself to walking through the water, but Jamie showed off by hopping from moss-covered rock to moss-covered rock. He paid the price when he fell a few feet from a waterfall, but aside from that was definitely drier than I was for most of the walk.
All-in-all it was a great hike and I would actually love to do it again. Not too easy and not too hard. Good views too.
Sadly, despite the fact that we slept in a tent in 30-degree weather, I was better-rested after that night than I had been all week. Go figure.
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