| About a week ago, we had a chance to get away for a vacation at Lavallette, NJ. We went down with Tim, Cherie and Carrie, and stayed with Ted and Carol. It was a very relaxing time, and I enjoyed being away from the computer and email. Here's the view from the house. |
| We didn't spend too much time on the beach, but most mornings we walked around and Carrie played. |
| Most of the time we spent relaxing around the house. |
| The last day we were there, Albert, Megan, Audrey, Liam and Isabel joined us! |
| Here are some ultrasound photos from last week. The first one is a full-body view from the side with the back up and head to the lower-right looking down. |
| The next one is a side-profile of the head looking up and the last one is a hand. |
| Backpacking in the Adirondacks |
Last weekend, we went backpacking in the Adirondack Mountains with our friends Adam and Elspeth. Becca and I go camping once or twice a year, but we've never done an actual backpacking trip where we had to carry everything with us. We decided on a 3 day hike in the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area.
On Friday, we made the 7.5 hour drive to D.A.R. State Park just across the border in Vermont. We arrived in the evening and camped out Friday night. We left right after breakfast and headed to the trailhead to start our hike. |
| Here's a map showing where we hiked and camped each day. Our best estimate is that the hike was about 17 miles. Day one was 8 miles, day two was 2.5 miles, and day three was 6.5 miles. |
| On day 1, we arrived around noon and started the hike near Crane Pond. We decided to make the hike over Pharaoh Mountain while we were feeling fresh. |
| It was a long climb, my thighs were burning by the time we made it to the top. |
| These two panoramic photo are both looking west from the summit. You can vew a large version of the top photo (775Kb, 3000 x 600 pixels) or the bottom photo (736Kb, 3000 x 675 pixels). |
| This photo is looking east with Pharaoh Lake behind us. You can actually see the site where we camp the third night (spoiler alert) in a lean-to! |
| Becca and I both thought the hike down was harder than the hike up. Not so much in a tiring way, but more so in a painful knees-and-ankles-hurt-really-bad way. By the time we got down, we were all tired and ready to call it a day but we had to find a place to camp. We found a nice lean-to, but it was already taken so we found a semi-flat area and pitched our tents. We were too tired to make a fire, but we enjoyed some Mountain House meals and went to bed. |
| The next morning, Elspeth cooked up some delicious bacon and pancakes for breakfast! |
| We were all still feeling worn out from the previous day and decided to only hike a few miles until we found a nice camp site for the second night. |
| Here's the view from the south-west tip of Pharaoh Lake. |
| About half way through day 2, the trail opened up to the lake and we had a great view of Pharaoh Mountain that we had climbed the day before. It was absolutely beautiful! I made a desktop wallpaper version (950Kb, 1920 x 1200 pixels). |
| At one point we came accross a nice camp site, but passed it up in hopes gaining a little more ground. We soon came up on a sweet lean-to over looking the lake. There was a couple packing up their things and they said we were welcome to it. Looking at the map later, we realized that the trail didn't even go past this lean-to, but Adam picked the perfect time to miss a turn and we hit the jackpot! |
| It was only about 11am, so we had most of the day to relax. The bugs were pretty bad in parts of the woods, but a nice cool wind was coming off the lake which made for perfect weather and no mosquitoes. We made coffee, took a nap and played cards. Adam and Elspeth taught us to play Euchre which was a lot of fun! It was a perfect day. |
| Someone left a canoe on this outcropping of rocks. |
| Below are Becca and Elspeth filtering drinking water from the lake and all of us enjoying dinner around the fire. |
| Starting the 3rd day of our hike, everyone still looks pretty happy. |
| A foot bridge was out, so we had to do some rock hopping. |
| This was an interesting formation of rocks in the lake. |
| Adam nimbly jumping across a stream and me standing in the woods. |
| We didn't see a lot of wildlife on the trip, but we did see a beaver jump in the water and swim away. We also saw a number of beaver lodges on our way back. |
| Taking a break with about 1 or 2 miles to go. |
| Here's the "after" photo with the car just around the next bend. We still look pretty chipper, but by the last mile, my feet were really hurting. |
| It was a great trip! We had a lot of fun getting away and it was nice to not have a phone or computer for a few days. Thanks Adam and Elspeth for showing us the backpacking ropes! |
| Here are a few photos of Christian & Jennifer from their anniversary a couple weeks ago. |
| Last week, our friends Adam & Eslpeth and Christian & Jennifer both celebrated their anniversaries on the same day! They each asked if we could take some photos, so we met up for a few shots around town. Here are a few favorites of Adam & Elspeth. |
We have an exciting announcement to make; there's a mini Brock or Becca on the way!! The ETA is November 6 and we're super excited. Besides being a little tired at the beginning, Bec has been feeling completely normal.
We have really enjoyed our time together as a married couple without kids, but we're now looking forward to big changes and the next phase of our life together. We're both the youngest in our families, so I'm sure we'll have lots of questions for friends and family, but hey, how hard can this kid thing be? ;) |
| Chuck Gibson: I Will Follow |
| A few months ago, my friend Chuck asked if I'd be willing to take some photos for an album he was recording. Dave Warfel and I met him at an old warehouse and took some shots that worked out well for the album. We also put together a website and Dave designed the album artwork and CD. It was a very fun project, but the best part is the music. Chuck did an amazing job on the this album and I've really been enjoying it! You can listen to samples on his website and I would highly recommend picking up a copy (iTunes, Amazon). |
| Last week, there was a carnival near our house. I just had to stop by and get myself some fried Oreos, funnel cake, and deep fried Pepsi to wash it down. Yum! Don't worry Mom, it wasn't all junk food. I had some deep fried veggies too! Oh, and I shot a few video clips between bites. |
| I've been playing around with the video functionality on my camera and had time to do some experimenting last weekend. Here are a few clips I took. |
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