go hike a mountain

March 25, 2008

We dropped my dad off at the airport in the morning and hurried back to the house to pack up all of our things. It wasn’t easy getting the car situated - we had accumulated a lot of stuff during our trip, including several boxes of my belongings I had left with my parents before moving to Massachusetts. Jesse is a packing genius. We weren’t any less comfortable this time and were still able to arrange the car at night for sleeping in. We drove to Atlanta and checked out a couple of REI stores in the area and found a rest area to sleep at.

March 26, 2008

It had been a while since we both had slept in the car and we slept so well it was 9 when we finally woke up! (We’re usually up at 6 or 7.) We drove back into downtown Atlanta and found an all-day parking lot near the Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola.

There was a fairly long line for the Aquarium, but we had arrived just before it opened, so the line got moving once they allowed admission. It cost $60 for the two of us. There was a guy at the entrance taking group photos for those souvenirs they sell who saw Jesse’s Boston Red Sox hat and asked if we were from there. We told him New Bedford and he exclaimed, “Ah, New Beige! Fall Reev!” Kind of makes you miss the place, huh?

There weren’t many tanks in this aquarium, but the size of the tanks was very impressive. Most of the exhibits allowed you to walk underneath and view fish and other sea life swimming around above you.

Here’s a 20-foot whale shark, one of four at this aquarium. To my surprise, the woman at this exhibit giving you information about some of the creatures that were swimming by told us that this is the only aquarium in the U.S. to have whale sharks. The next closest place you’d have to go is Okinawa, Japan (where I lived for 7 years). I knew I had seen these guys somewhere else! Although they are the largest sharks, they are not predatory and have a mouth smaller than my fist. They eat krill and shrimp.

Another part of the aquarium was set up like a Louisiana bayou or the warm waters of the Amazon. There were very large catfish.

I’m actually looking into this piranha tank from inside the bubble. A little girl here told me they had a dead piranha at her school.

There were a few beluga whales.

And giant Pacific octopus. Yum.

In all, it was a pretty impressive aquarium, but we saw everything there was to see within 2 hours. We finished up much earlier than we had expected, so we left for Kernersville to spent a night with Jesse’s aunt and uncle again.

We got there just in time for dinner and went with Lloyd after to watch Aaron’s ultimate frisbee practice. Aaron actually had us stand in the field to represent extra players when trying to demonstrate a play to the team. He’s a very good leader.

March 27, 2008

After leaving Lloyd’s, we drove east a little way to see my sister again. We spent several hours with her and Greyson.

When my niece Isabelle came home from school, we all went out for an early dinner. I forgot to take any pictures of her, but she’s a beautiful (and very giggly) child. We said goodbye and hit the road again toward Washington D.C.

March 16, 2008

My dad finally returned for his time off and we decided to return to New Orleans, this time for a New Orleans Voodoo game. We had some lunch on Canal and walked back toward the arena.

Here we are in front of the Superdome.

The Voodoo is an arena football team that plays in the same arena as the Hornets. It was interesting seeing the arena set up this way because we had just been to a basketball game a few days before. The court-side seats are taken away and these soft barriers are put up around the entire floor.

The Voodoo won by a lot, but it was a really good game. Unlike NFL, the arena football games are higher scoring because the area they play in is half the size of a normal football field. We left New Orleans and stopped in Biloxi for dinner at a casino on the way home. We also put a few bucks in the slot machines but didn’t win anything. Too bad.

March 17, 2008

Jesse and my dad spent most of this morning trying to install new shocks on one of my dad’s trucks.

The funny part is that they didn’t realize they both put on the same shirt this morning, our gohikeamountain.com shirts, so they looked like a pit crew.

March 19, 2008

My brother came to hang out with us for couple more days when he got time off.

While my dad and I were busy finishing tiling and grouting the master bathroom shower, TJ fooled around with the dogs.

March 23, 2008

The last day TJ stayed with us, the guys all decided they wanted to play some basketball. We went to one of the courts down by the beach which was a little windy. We brought Lola with us and she barked at the basketball and followed it most of the time. She also got her first look at geese and barked at them too. In fact, this was the first time I had seen her back hair stand up along her entire back.

TJ, my dad and Jesse were challenged to a game by a group of 12-year-olds.

I believe they won the first game and lost the second. Jesse and my dad played a game of one-on-one afterward.

We stopped to pick up some groceries on the way home because my dad was asked to make spaghetti. It turned out amazing, like usual.

I know we haven’t updated in a while, but we haven’t been doing much. We’ve been in Florida since late February and have been waiting around for my dad to come home. His arrival date was pushed back a few days, then a few more, until he finally came home 10 days after he was supposed to! We’ll be spending time with him and my mother and making our way back to New Bedford after, stopping at a few places here and there. Our only real plan is to visit my sister and her family on the way back and to attend a 2-day adventure expo in Washington, D.C. Here is a summation of the last couple of weeks.

March 1, 2008

We woke up early and loaded up the car for an 11-mile canoe trip down the Blackwater River. The canoe rental and parking cost us $63 in all and the guy running the operation was kind enough to not charge us for Lola (TJ’s dog) because it’s normally an extra $5 per dog. While we waited in the parking lot, she ran into the woods to find sticks for us to throw but most of them were bigger than her and she couldn’t drag them out.

There were several other groups of people taking canoe trips as well and we all had to ride on benches in the back of a very large pick-up truck.

When we got to the drop-off point, the boys picked out a really good canoe. It was fiberglass instead of metal and it had comfier seats.

We pushed off from the shore without flipping and made it under the first bridge without any major problems. When we were about 100 yards away from the bridge we heard someone behind us take a dip in the river when their canoe toppled. We were a little worried we’d do the same because Lola was walking back and forth in the bottom of the canoe, and although she’s a small dog, the little shift in weight made a big difference in steadiness.

We stopped at a few beaches for breaks and changes in rowing position. Lola had fun running up and down the beach and eventually swimming around in the water looking for sticks we threw for her. We forgot to bring a bowl for her to drink from so we had to use a ziploc bag.

Jesse was the best at steering us in the back seat.

We finished the trip in about 4.5 hours. Now we’re thinking about canoeing up north in New Hampshire and Maine.

March 2 - 7, 2008

Not much went on throughout the week. At some point, we drove to Pensacola to have dinner with TJ at a little pizza joint called Ozone’s. The restaurant is located in the first level of what used to be a hospital. TJ told us the kitchen was the morgue. Pretty creepy. We roamed around the upper levels of the building a little. It’s mostly been turned over to offices. We also saw Be Kind, Rewind at the Rave theater in Pensacola. And we hung out with the dogs a lot. Here are Sheila and Stanley being sweet on each other.

Sheila and Lola are almost inseparable when TJ brings her over now. They take turns chewing on things even though there are many toys to choose from.

March 8 - 9, 2008

My mom asked us to dig a couple of stumps out of the yard while TJ was around to help. Stump #1 wasn’t that big of a deal. The roots were easy to dig out and the tree itself hadn’t grown much before it was chopped down a few years ago.

Stump #2 took several hours of work to remove. Jesse and I spent about an hour just digging out around and underneath the roots. TJ later came out to help whack at some roots with the axe. The boys finally resorted to using a chainsaw to separate the roots. The only problem was that the roots were growing downward as well as outward. If they hadn’t cut some of the top of the stump off, it would have been as tall as me when they took the whole thing out.

Here are Sheila and Lola being buddy-buddy again.

And Stanley just looking weird.

March 10, 2008

This day we decided to drive out and visit Florida’s highpoint, Britton Hill. It was only a 1.5 hour drive from my parent’s house. It’s in an area called Lakewood and there is actually a nice park and a few hiking trails devoted to the area. A stone marker stands at the highpoint.

This was our 21st highpoint and was cake.

March 12, 2008

TJ, Jesse and I woke up early to drive to New Orleans to roam around a few hours and later attend a New Orleans Hornets game. We found some parking in a central location and walked about 20 blocks to the end of the French Quarter to find the French Market. We had sandwiches at a little pub. Jesse had some kind of chicken and red sauce sandwich that he said was quite good. Mine had ham, brie and apple slices. Yummy.

TJ realized not long after we started walking that he had worn the wrong shoes. They were new and they were rubbing on his heels since he didn’t wear socks, so we had to hunt around for flip flops before we could do anything else.

We walked down to the waterfront to check out the river.

We poked around Jackson Square and stopped for cafe au lait and beignets at the famous Cafe du Monde.

Walking around, we passed a clothing boutique that a bulldog was guarding.

Those are all the photos of our trip to New Orleans because we ended up leaving the camera in the car during the game. We weren’t sure they would allow it into the arena and didn’t want to take a chance with having to walk all the way back to the car if they didn’t. The Hornets played a great game and the crowd was very pumped about their team. They won by 25 points. We left the game at about 10pm and had to drive all the way back to Navarre because TJ had to work the next day.

So, that’s about all that’s happened in the last few days. We’ll try and post again before we leave Florida because internet access might be harder to get from here to the end of our vacation. Hope everyone is well, but please let us know! (Leave a comment.)

First of all, I want to thank everyone for the comments you’ve been leaving. We really look forward to them. Anyway, we’ve completed 20 of the state highpoints and it’s been less than a year since we started! We didn’t even attempt Clingman’s Dome because some roads were closed for the season and we heard reports that a lot of cars are getting broken into in the Smokies. We’ll be able to get this summit along the Appalachian Trail, which we plan to hike in 2009. We’ll also be able to get Mt. Rogers along the AT because it’s just a mile round-trip from the trail. It was a little sad not being able to complete Mt. Mitchell, however, especially because we were just a few hundred feet away. I guess it just means we’ll have to come back to North Carolina for a visit. Here are the 20 we’ve completed highlighted in red. Thanks again for all of your support!

February 24, 2008

Jesse woke up this morning and decided he needed to see an alligator. I took him to the boardwalk at Payne’s Prairie, but we didn’t see any here. There was someone photographing a pair of bald eagles across the street, but I didn’t have the right lens for bird photography, so I left them alone. This is what much of Payne’s Prairie looks like.

We took a pamphlet on Payne’s Prairie and saw that an area called Alachua Sink would probably have more alligators. The directions conveniently took us past a one of the houses I lived in with the ugliest stucco job and biggest rats in Gainesville.

We found the parking area for the Alachua Sink without any problems and I realized I had actually been there once before with my brother. There were a lot of oak trees with spanish moss.

We were fortunate to have such good weather. It was only 9am and the temperature had to be in the 70s. I also got a few mosquito bites.

About 15 minutes into our walk, we came across the first of many alligators. This one was sitting up a bank about 5 ft from the path.

Jesse swears the alligator was following us. He started out in the water and we spotted him from an observation platform just below. Every time we walked 5ft after that, he swam a little further in the water, until we stopped for a while and he decided to come waddling up the bank to stare us down. Pretty creepy.

A group of cranes was circling overhead and later a hawk or falcon.

We spent about an hour looking at the alligators and left to head back into town. We went by the Thomas Center, once the largest privately owned residence in Gainesville. Mr. Thomas donated it to the city and it now houses city offices and the grounds have a fountain, gardens, and plenty of grass to stretch out on. The magnolias, azaleas, and several tree roses were blooming.

We drove through the University of Florida and I showed Jesse where the football and basketball teams play, the Swamp and O’Connell Center, respectively. We drove past the dorms I lived in when I first got to school. We stopped at Lake Alice on campus to see if we could catch more alligators, but there were none sunning themselves close enough here. Instead, we saw something very peculiar. I thought I saw a fish floating above the water, and it turned out a black bird with a really long neck (probably a crane) had just caught a fish and was heading for shore while holding it out of the water. I wasn’t totally crazy. You can barely make him out in this photo.

He sat on a low-lying tree near the shore and tried beating the fish on the branch a few times before tilting his head back and gulping the fish whole. It was tough to see because there were so many trees in the way. We’ll see how the whole thing turned out on video later. Anyway, here’s the Baughmann Center across the lake.

And here’s a funny turtle we found on the shore. He had a weird anteater snorkle nose.

We got some lunch at Leonardo’s of Millhopper, the makers of the best damn garlic rolls I’ve ever eaten, and another favorite from my school days. Afterward, we made our way to Orlando to catch an Orlando Magic game. This time we had to buy $20 tickets because the cheaper ones were sold out. Because we got there about an hour before the game started, we got some free thunder sticks and free figurines. We looked like huge fans.

The Magic beat the Kings by 20 points, a huge difference from the Bobcats game we saw. Jesse joked that we’re like Ron Artest groupies since we’ve seen them play twice now. It was just a coincidence. I got a Geico gecko mask at the game, too.

We slept somewhere on I-75N on our way back to Navarre.

February 25, 2008

We had to drive the most boring stretch of I-10 on the way to my parents house, but made it there in reasonable time. We needed plenty of time to catch up on episodes of Survivor and Rock of Love 2 that my mom had recorded for us.

February 26 - February 29, 2008

We haven’t done much since we’ve been at my mother’s house. We’ve been to the carwash and to the grocery store. We’ve hung out in the sun and watched some movies at home. My brother came over and we went to see Semi-Pro in the theater. He had to give his dog a wash before she could come in the house because she was filthy.

He brought over some shrimp chips which I haven’t had in about 2 years.