Grey Rock Training and a Story (or two!)

(Keep reading, two bonus stories) 

Only two short days after returning home to Colorado from D.C., we decided to hike up to Grey Rock in the Poudre Canyon. I have summited or attempted to summit Grey Rock about 20 times of so in my lifetime and every time I do it, I reflect on it being harder than the last time. I guess we thought, why not start with a kick your butt hike for the first one?

That view of Grey Rock that everyone has a picture of.  

Grey Rock is a popular summer hike amongst locals of the Northern Colorado region. It is 5.6 miles round trip on the summit trail with an elevation gain of 2800 feet. David and I have disputed the actual milage every time we hike it because it usually feels much longer than it is, but his phone proved that the map at the beginning of the trail is, in fact, accurate. I did a terrible job on the hike this go-around, as the altitude prevented me from breathing at all. I think, with liberal breaks for eating and picture taking, it took us 6 hours round trip.

Some damage from the High Park Fire, 2012

True fact: David proposed to me on top of Grey Rock. He did not plan on proposing that day and did not have a plan or a ring, but I said "yes!" anyway.

View of the lake near the top. 

Another story related to Grey Rock:
When we were young, dumb, and newly engaged, we decided to summit Grey Rock again. I had been rock climbing a few times with David previously, but was by no means a pro at it. He asked, as we were leaving the parking lot if I wanted to bring our climbing gear out of the car with us so we could climb the face of the rock. Thinking for less than a half second I said, "No, I don't want to climb that hard after hiking that much!" and so we left the gear behind. We opted for the longer meadow trail which seems like it should be easier, but I'm pretty sure it is not. Somehow, we got off trail and ended up on the back side of Grey Rock. Thank God for carins (stacks of small rocks used to mark the trail). We kept going up and up until we happened upon a couple sizable boulders. When a large boulder is right in front of your face, and you see a few in the near distance, its easy to be deceived into thinking the top of this giant rock face is closer and more attainable than previously imagined. This was my thinking, and so we went up. And up. The more boulders we climbed, the less possible it was to down climb them to turn around. After struggling to climb to the top of a few boulders I believed was the top of the rock, I was saddened to see that we were maybe less than 1/10th of the way up the whole thing. I in Merrell shoes and David in Chaco sandles (both with Vibram soles), eventually saw the end in sight, but not without much sweat, some tears and a firm belief at numerous occasions that we would have to be rescued off this damn rock. (OK, David was much calmer than I and he did not cry.) As we approached the top, I noticed rain clouds heading our way, which created a problem as my super grippy shoes would soon be rendered useless. At last, when the rain started, we had a fire under our butts to get up fast. By the time we reached the top, my heart was racing at nearly 50 respirations a minute, the rain was turning to hail, the lighting and thunder started and our aluminum-lightening-conducting trekking poles were sticking straight up out of our packs. Exaggeration much? No, this is exactly as I remembered it happening. Then we were met with a lake. An f-ing lake. What to do now? The rocks surrounding the lake were wet, so that grippy part of my shoe did not work. We decided to trudge through the lake, took a couple of strides through, heard thunder and promptly got out and figured we would make the rocks work after all.
I swear to you, the minute we got off the top of the rock, and worked our way down to a little less elevation, the clouds parted, the rain stopped, the lightening dissipated, the sun came out and the birds started chirpping.
The End.
In reality, in climbing terms, this was probably no more than a class 4, or as David claims, it "was like scrambling". In my mind, it was a 5.10 and I am an amazing rockstar of an athlete for the accomplishment, without ropes or climbing shoes.

David in the distance

Altitude Sickness Part Two

Our body is awesome, and has an interesting way of adjusting to our needs and the situations we put them in. A red blood cell is formed when the need for more of them arises. When you start at a low altitude where oxygen in the air is plentiful, your body decreases its need to produce erythrocytes (red blood cells). As soon as you go up in altitude, your respiration rate and heart rate increase, even at rest, to pump the few blood cells you have in order to oxygen to your tissues. Hypoxia (when the body's tissues become low on oxygen absorption) starts the process of forming new red blood cells. A hormone produced in the kidneys called erythropoietin is released, which alerts the active red bone marrow to produce more erythrocytes from erythropoietic stem cells found there. This process of creating new red blood cells can take up to 4 days before being released into the blood stream, and the new cells can live up to 120 days. Blood cells are constantly being created and replaced.

With a higher count of red blood cells, you can handle altitude a little better because it becomes easier to deliver oxygen to the tissues.  Blood doping is a frowned upon and widely banned practice used by some athletes to increase their ability to perform at altitude. What I hope to accomplish before starting the trail on July 3rd is to increase the level of hemoglobin (oxygen carrying molecules found in red blood cells) naturally so that I can handle high altitude without getting or feeling sick. To do this, I plan to hike outside of Fort Collins as often as possible and spend some good quality time at higher altitude (say, 12000 feet).

A few more facts:
Not everyone will fall victim to altitude sickness. Genetics plays a bigger role in determining your susceptibility to altitude sickness than physical fitness. I got screwed here.

Denver, CO only has 83% of the oxygen available at sea level

According to the Altitude Research Center at The University of Colorado (altitude.org), Denver has only 83% of the oxygen available at sea level. By comparison, Kilimanjaro at more than 19,000 feet has around 49% and Everest is 33% (oxygen tanks are considered standard gear if summiting).

Signs/symptoms of altitude sickness can easily be confused with fatigue, migraine and nausea.

Prolonged altitude sickness/exposure can create bigger problems such as cerebral edema, swelling of the brain resulting in confusion, problems with coordination and delirium. Worse yet is pulmonary edema, or fluid accumulation in the lungs, which can end in sudden death.

Questions? Feel free to comment below.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_high_altitude_on_humans
http://www.altitude.org/home.php
http://faculty.ucc.edu/biology-potter/life_cycle_of_the_erythrocyte.htm
http://www.wsj.com/articles/climb-every-mountain-without-altitude-sickness-1435599091
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/blood-doping

Altitude Sickness Part One

Circulatory System 

With an increase in elevation, the air becomes thinner and the need for more oxygen increases. Problems can arise when going from sea level to 4000 feet. Fort Collins, where I will be for the 10 days leading up to our departure on the Colorado Trail, is at an elevation of 4982 feet. The CT starts in Denver/Littleton at 5430 and within 80 miles ascends12,000 to with most of the trail staying above 10,000 feet. Without properly acclimatization, nausea, vomiting, headache and fatigue can occur. 

In the circulatory system, oxygen poor blood is pumped through veins to the heart then through the lungs to pick up oxygen before heading back to the heart again to be pumped through the rest of the body through arteries.

This can be a bit confusing to the untrained eye, but start with 11 where deoxygenated blood enters the right atrium of the heart, flows down to the right ventricle (1), out the pulmonary vein (2) (veins carry deoxygenated blood), to the lungs (3) to pick up oxygen and release carbon dioxide to be exhaled, back to the left atrium of the heart via pulmonary artery (4) (arteries carry oxygen rich blood) down to powerful left atrium (5) of the heart to be forcefully pumped out to the body via aorta (6) traveling through smaller and smaller vessels called capillaries that reach to all tissues in the body (7 and 8) before heading back up towards the heart as deoxygenated blood (9, 10 and 11) to start the process again. Each cycle takes approximately 30 seconds.  Image from www.blendspace.com

Every red blood cell (eyrthrocite) has somewhere between 240-300 million hemoglobin molecules which each have the ability to carry four oxygen molecules. One cycle of a given portion of blood can take approximately 30 seconds to complete. Only 5% of the oxygen content is lost on each cycle. On a side note, because of the eyrthrocytes ability to carry so much oxygen, the American Heart Association has deemed it more valuable to keep the heart pumping blood to the tissues via compressions than to introduce breaths into the victim.

Blood is composed of about 65% red blood cells which have about 240-300 million hemoglobin molecules capable of carrying four oxygen molecules each. Photo from http://rpi-cloudreassembly.transvercity.net/2012/11/05/forms-of-oxygen/

http://www.hematology.org/Patients/Basics/

http://www.becpr.org/facts_statistics.aspx

http://lsa.colorado.edu/essence/texts/heart.html

https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/hematology-and-oncology/approach-to-the-patient-with-anemia/red-blood-cell-production

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/redgold/basics/bloodproduction.html

https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/Breathing-How-Oxygen-Travels-in-the-Body0

http://www.sallyosborne.com/Med%20Lecture-%20Transport%20Of%20Blood%20Gases.pdf

http://www.altitude.org/high_altitude.php

http://rpi-cloudreassembly.transvercity.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/hemoglobin.jpg   

Hair

What I started with.

One of the first blogs that I had read about thru hiking as a female had a little snippet on hair. The recommendation for hair was to cut it off into a cute little pixy cut. Cute little pixy cut does not work so well for my, ahem, fat face. My hair was longer than I remember ever having it, and I had worked so hard to grow it out. Cutting it super short was not really an option.

Nobody will ever know if I'm having a bad hair day,

For work, I keep my hair in a messy (and totally unattractive) bun which is probably really bad for your hair. It doesn't matter a whole lot because my hair is kept very neat and tidy under a scrub cap all day long. On average I probably give my hair attention two days a week. In order to help with the after work don't-want-to-do-my-hair but want-it-to-look-awesome, I bought a wig. Unfortunately, wigs are heavy, uncomfortable, hot, and I find myself adjusting them all the time. Besides all that, I can't wear them without feeling the obligation to let everyone know that I'm wearing one.

In a perfect world, this is how I wanted my hair to look naturally. Ha. 

I set out on a mission to learn how to french braid my hair. I remember my mom french braiding my hair as a little girl and unfortunately, I never grew accustomed to the way it looked and didn't think it fit my personality. Despite that, I watched a couple of youtube videos and gave it a shot. It looked bad: I had a couple of very thin pieces awkwardly mixed in with some thick pieces and it didn't look so great, and I didn't care (that day). For each hike we did, I tried it again, and actually got much better at braiding than I expected. From the back, and from the front, I wasn't happy with what it looked like.

I'm not very good at french braiding.

I can't put my hair up in a messy bun because we have decided to wear hats to protect from the sun and the hat doesn't fit well over it. I don't like a pony tail resting at the base of my neck, either. I felt I had one remaining option: short haircut. We read some blogs and reviews about hiking and haircuts and the consensus is; how do you want your hair to look after the hike? I've had a pixy cut before and vowed never to do it again. For most of my life, my hair has been short or shoulder length, so I settled on chin length this go around.

In the end, I'm not sure it will work out super well for the trail. It might be too short to put up, or too long that it will get in the way. I figure a hat will help keep it in place and it will probably look fine. Regardless, I am happy with it because it is much easier to deal with and cooler than long hair.

And now its short!

The Life of a Traveler

We love to travel. Enjoying an awesome dinner in Georgetown, D.C.

I have just completed my third assignment as a traveling surgical technologist Washington, D.C.. In the past I have taken 13 week assignments to Llano, Texas (hill country) and Denver, Colorado. This is the first time David has joined me.

It seems like a pretty exciting, and awesome concept- who wouldn't love getting paid to travel and see the world? To try out a place before uprooting and moving there and feeling stuck if you feel like it is not a good fit. Traveling is perfect for David and I because we want to see how people live in different parts of the country and if we could live there. We don't know where we want to end up. Fort Collins, a place we both grew up, is a pretty awesome place and we kind of set out on a mission to see if there is anywhere else we would want to call home. We took a chance and moved everything up to Sheridan, WY and although it was beautiful and full of nice people, it was a bad fit for us.

Traveling for work, from an adventure/travel perspective, is pretty awesome. You get your housing and travel expenses paid for, plus an hourly rate while you work (don't get too excited, its actually pretty low). Now that its over, I feel like I would after any vacation in that I need a vacation from my vacation. I'm tired! Every weekend between work weeks David and I would go on a grand exploration around the Capitol or to the best hiking spots we could find. We ventured out to national and state parks in nearly every direction, visited caverns, cute towns and museums. We tasted the good things that the East coast has to offer. During the weeks after work we would go on local hikes, try out a local restaurant, or see the hidden treasures that Cabin John and Glen Echo have to offer in the way of glass blowing and a tour of Clara Barton's house (founder of the American Red Cross).

The downside is, you have to pick and move every three months (or 6, or 9, or 12 depending on extensions). Your home changes, your friends change, your life changes. It's the willingness to be flexible and step in when needed that is what you are getting paid for.

That moment when someone (Liz?) drops off this beautiful banner in your OR to make you smile.

Of course there is the job, because you have to work, for that is the point of it all. The first week is like starting any new job. You are overloaded with new information during orientation and meeting 100 very nice strangers whose names you can't immediately remember. Week two is proving yourself to be a competent employee. Weeks 3-10 work continues and might actually become easier as I settle into my routine during these weeks. Week 11 is always hard because I realize the end is near, and time is running out fast. It becomes time to make those final social plans and do the things you kept putting off. Before I know it, time is out. I've been talking about "What's next" for weeks and now it is time to do the next thing (in this case, Colorado Trail). My last day happened, and I was blown away by the kindness given to me by those I worked with in the form of an awesome banner and delicious cake (and more hugs than this non-hugger preferred). Week 13 ends, and you have to move on to the next thing.

I ADORE the attention to detail in this drawing!

Wait, did you miss the "what's hard" about traveling? People. It's hard to leave them because people are awesome, and so very unique. I don't forget the people I meet. Whether it seems like it or not, I think of them more than they know and hate the part where I will most likely never work with them again.  People are neat.

The Way to a Wild Walk in the Woods

(No spoilers).

In the last week I have watched "The Way" and "Wild" while beginning the book by Bill Bryson, "A Walk in the Woods". Originally I had intended to wait until after the Colorado Trail to begin these books and movies so that my experience would not be tainted by what these true stories.

C&O Canal

After watching Wild, I set out on a six mile loop along the C&O canal that weaved in and out with the Billy Goat trail in tow with my pack full of rice, ten pounds of weight plus six liters of water. I did not enjoy it because it was hard work, and quite boring to do it alone. (David flew to Colorado on Tuesday to start preparations for our hike). So, I decided to pretend that I was Cheryl Strayed. I  figured if she could do 3000 miles of backpacking with a heavy uncomfortable pack by herself, I could probably handle six miles.

Wild (Redbox) is the true story of Cheryl Strayed who lost her way in drugs and affairs who decides to discover herself on the Pacific Crest Trail. She hiked a little before embarking on this journey and knows very little about backpacking at the start of the hike.

The Way (Amazon) is one man's pilgrimage on "The Way of St. John" trail in France for his son who died early on in his journey. The main character, Tom, has pretty much no experience hiking or backpacking.

A Walk in the Woods (Kindle) is about Bryson's experience to hike the entire Appalachian Trail with a long lost pal named Katz. Bryson has some experience and knowledge about the outdoors while Katz is both completely out of shape and unprepared for what to expect.

Here's my review on all three:

• Katz and Bryson are hilarious, and very entertaining. Bryson has a way with words that has me laughing out loud on numerous occasions. I cannot wait until the movie comes out in September of this year. 
• Wild lived a lifestyle and had challenges/hardships in her life that I cannot relate to. The actual film and story was a little too "R-rated" for my liking but I got the point anyway. I feel it demonstrated the monotony and day in/day out aspect of thru hiking well. Additionally, it addressed the challenges single attractive women who hike alone may have to deal with.
• The Way was relatively predictable and boring. The Way of St. John does not look like an a "trail" I would be interested in doing in my lifetime (flat, on roads, through small villages, not that pretty, staying in hostels vs camping, etc.). 

Here's what I've learned:

• If you don't train, don't prepare, and have no clue before setting out for a thru hike, chances are good you will someday have a movie made about you. 
• You're feet are going to hurt. Bad. You might lose your boots or toenails.  
• The unexpected stuff that cannot be anticipated might just be the highlight of your journey. 
• You will get cold, and probably encounter snow. Might as well plan on it.
• Care packages are like striking gold, and stuff like Snapple and Little Debby snacks are what backpackers dream about at night. 

Most importantly, I've learned not to stress the training too much. I think its good to be prepared, and I feel ready, but at the same time, perhaps the first few days on the trail is all the training you really need. Thoughts?

Sunscreen Review

Lets call this my first gear review.

Neutrogena, ~$7-9 on Amazon

I have used Neutrogena sunscreen for years. Apparently, it has chemicals in it that help darken your skin or allow you to get a tan better. I would call that a perk. I believe it works, and always reserved it for use on my face because I thought it would protect my face beautifully and protect my face from acne. After all, they have reputable skin care products for clearing up acne. I haven't actually seen any true results of good acne clearing from using their products, but I hope, and feel good trying them and believing that yes, this skin cleaning product is really scrubbing out the deep trenches of my pores. Could be wrong.

I have two complaints against Neutrogena sunscreens.

1) Now that I don't struggle with acne as much, I noticed that this sunscreen makes my face break out. I didn't notice before because acne has always been a part of my life and now its mostly not. What made it very obvious is my husband was also breaking out, and he hasn't had acne for years.

2) When I sweat in the heat of the day, it burns like heck when sunscreen infested sweat drips into my eyeball. I don't like that.

Badger with zinc oxide. ~$14 on Amazoon

Verdict: I believe it works, and does a good job, but I will not be using it on my face anymore. With David's hours of research we have been using Badger broad spectrum SPF 35 zinc oxide sunscreen cream on the face and Neutrogena for everywhere else. So far, my arms, legs and chest have not been breaking out. Badger goes on white and stays white until you really rub it in. I like it. I put it on way to close to hiking time the other day and probably wiped all of it off immediately when I started sweating so who really knows if it works. The thing about hiking on the AT and surrounding areas is that you probably don't really need sunscreen at all- you are blanketed by fully bloomed leafy trees this time a year and the sun hardly leaves an imprint on you anyway.

A Weighty Issue

When I tell people that I am planning to thru hike the Colorado trail, I feel like people make a double take at me, like, “You? Seriously!?” When stopping by the ranger station at the beginning of a hike to get some info, the attendant usually gives us instructions like we have never spent any time in the woods before. I guess I don’t look like a hiker based on my physique. If you haven’t been able to tell from any of my pictures, I am not a size two. Or eight. According to BMI calculators, I am obese.

I’ve always been mildly over weight, except for a short time in 7^th and 8^th grade where I was able to go to a backpacking summer camp which kick started a year ahead full of sports and physical activity. After that, I got lazy and slowly accumulated the pounds. I love food. I have always loved bad-for-you, fattening and made-for-you food.

The thing is, my muscles still work. Under the cushion, I have strong muscles. I’m not lazy, per se. I don’t look like the picture of health, but I promise you, I am strong hiker. I can run longer than some people half my size. I have learned that being an appropriate weight does not equal being in shape. For the most part, I am usually in mild to good shape. With a few weeks of hard work, I get bumped up in to very good shape.

Abram Falls hike Great Smokies, March 2015. Not in that great of shape, but accomplished this "moderately difficult" hike in just under 2 hours. We were booking it, and literally passed every single hiker on the trail. We didn't mean to be rude, or be "those guys" but we were in it for the intense workout and planned it poorly to take place on an apparently very popular hike. I do remember hurting with a headache and calf pain that night and so on from overdoing it, but was proud of the accomplishment anyway

Abram Falls, 210 pounds.

218 and miserably out of shape. July 2014 Steamboat Springs, Colorado

My heaviest weight, which was held for most of 2014, was 218 pounds. That was bad for several reasons. First of all health, but most immediately important to me was the fact that I felt very limited physically to do the things I love, which include getting outside and hiking. Yeah, clothes don’t fit, and that’s inconvenient, but what I care most about is what I can do, not what I look like. Honestly, I feel a lot smaller than I actually am, and don’t realize how big my foot print is until I’m squeezed into an amusement park ride, airplane seat or see pictures of myself from the wrong angle.

Starting Old Rag 3 or 4 weeks ago, 200 and something pounds. 

I have decided to do something about my weight so several things have happened in the last couple of months. For the last two months, my husband and I quit drinking alcohol, I quit drinking caffeinated beverages, we upped our activity to an average 10+ hours a week and I joined weight watchers. Hasta la vista, pounds! 

  

Today, June 7, 2015. 203 pounds. I haven't worn shorts, let alone skin tight shorts, in years! (K, the backpack hides the muffin top. But the legs? I'm happy). 

Training Raven Rocks Hike

Raven Rocks Elevation Profile, 1500 foot elevation gain. 

We have done many training hikes, usually on the weekends with some hiking around our place on the weekdays. We have only added weight in our packs a couple of times on short hikes. I've been nervous about adding weight/carrying a backpacking pack because the hikes have been difficult enough. We finally added weight, and yesterday was difficult because of it. Most of our gear is in a storage unit in Colorado. The only "gear" we have here in D.C. is the stuff we have bought in the last three months: my new Osprey backpacking pack, David's Deuter day pack, hiking socks, platypus bladders, and frogg toggs. David added two 5-pound weights to his pack and I put a gallon sized ziplock bag full of rice in the bottom of my pack. Also included in my pack was food, headlights, first aid kit, Chaco sandals, three jackets, rain gear, bug spray, sunscreen, phones and about 4 liters of water. Since I don't have a scale, I have no idea what our weight was.

Rollercoaster begins here, Appalachian Trail sign. 

We decided to do the other side of Buzzard Hill to the north which lead to an overlook called Raven Rock. It was supposed to be a 5 mile round trip affair with 1500 or so feet of elevation gain. The 2 3/4 mile hike to Raven Rock went surprisingly well, so we decided to keep going. The overlook was awesome! We eventually saw a sign talking about how the roller coaster was over. Thank God! For the next mile, it was heavenly and flat. I figured if the rest of the AT is like that, I would consider doing the rest someday. During the hike we met several AT thru hikers, most notably Mark and Connie who had reached their 1000 mile mark earlier that day. Although clearly in a hurry to finish their 24 mile day, they patiently talked with us and answered some gear questions David had. (They have a blog at trailjournals.com). All in all, we hiked 9 miles with our packs on. The way back was way more challenging than out, but we still managed to hike 1.9 miles an hour on average.

Signal Mountain/Mudhole Gap

(From journal)

Sunday May 24, 2015

The discomforts of camping

When I woke up I was surprisingly not-as-sore as I expected after Buzzard Hill. I realized last night as we recovered in the comfort and warmth of a permanent structure that the CT is going to be a lot less glamorous than I originally thought. No warm shower, no hot food, no TV, no fluffy blanket, no comfy bed to greet you after a long day hiking. Actual sleeping is the uncomfortable part of backpacking (next to bugs, and lack of bathrooms)

The comforts of home

We went on the longest hike of my life today, literally 15 or 16 miles. As far as hikes go, it was pretty tame: 2000 feet of gentle elevation gain over the first 5 miles, then down and mostly flat for the next 9 with maybe a mile of uphill mixed in there somewhere. My feet really started hurting about half way through. The hike was kind of a combination or three or four different hikes which included Mud Hole Gap and Signal Mountain. The first five miles had pretty views while the rest was mostly just service roads and a tiny reservoire of water. We had many a good conversations and sweet moments. At one point we were talking about what we would do if we were super rich and David said, "If I had 100 million dollars, I wouldn't want to spend this day any differently than I am right now, here hiking with you." Earlier he stopped and hugged me and said, "thank you so much for doing this with me". I've been having a lot of fun, too. Its beautiful out there! I enjoy the workout and sense of accomplishment hiking offers. Beautiful views and good times with David. In a way, its kind of like (SCUBA) diving: we are both happy, a good team and are exploring/seeing nature. Now that I'm getting in to better shape, its not as stressful and challenging to keep up with David.

Buzzard Hill

From journal:
Saturday May 23, 2015

Buzzard Hill Elevation Profile, 3000 foot elevation gain. hikingupward.com

I am beat tired. Clearly did not eat or drink enough today, either. We got up late and started hiking the AT portion that included Buzzard Hill, part of the "roller coaster". Its about 9 1/2 miles round trip with four or so up and down hills that equal approximately 3000 feet of elevation gain. I did alright for most of it even though it was very difficult to do the uphill portions without many/any short breaks! There was no grand finale or amazing view to greet us at the turnaround point. The last .7 miles of the trail really kicked my ass physically and mentally because what I remembered from the beginning of the hike was very different (longer, harder, steeper) and I felt like crying and throwing a fit right at the end until I realized, "Oh, hey! The end is right there!" The rest of the evening was shot for me I was so exhausted. We stopped at Subway on the way home and never before has a BLT sub tasted so amazing.

A view that is not exactly worth all the trouble at the top of Buzzard Hill.

I have to remember how lucky we are. First of all, David and I like each other and for the most part, we think alike and enjoy doing the same things. This is happening and it feels like we are on the longest and best vacation ever. We did the touristy/D.C. stuff at the beginning: came, saw, conquered. Neither one of us was really built for the big city. I love how we have been getting out and exploring the world around us more than going to museums or reading about someone else's explorations and adventures. We saw a young black bear a few weeks ago, turtles in the C&O canal, a skink, butterflies and a bald eagle swooped down onto a tree less than 50 feet from us today. How cool! I am convinced that more awesome things can happen in a day than we realize at first glance. On the way to our hike today we were driving through Virginia, listening to "Country Roads" by John Denver, holding hands and I realized that at that moment, I could not be any happier. Where we are, where we're headed and what we have done so far- our life together has been so full of adventure! I love it.