Happy Birthdays & Happy Trails

This Saturday we had a 60th birthday party for my mother. She's actually not 60 until tomorrow (Monday) but it was close enough. She had said she didn't want a party or anything but we wanted to throw her one to celebrate the big day and for all she's done for us over the years so we planned a little BBQ and party. There was a very good turnout with lots of friends and family helping us to celebrate the occasion and it was lots of fun. Thanks again to everyone who showed up and helped out to make this birthday a special one for her.

Last week we also celebrated Nana Noveska's 81st with a small party at her place. We have also been taking full advantage of the record setting warmth we've been having to finish winter off and start spring in full stride. We've been on a few walks down the beach and have been enjoying the fresh air but no real hikes yet. For the last two years our first hiking trip as a family has been Agamenticus, and with the nice weather and snow gone that should be coming up on our next nice day/afternoon off. For now there's pictures of all of the above if you're interested. Just click here to check it out.

Speaking of hikes, Ryan and I just did a Presidential Traverse last weekend up in the White Mountains. We've been trying to do a Winter Traverse for a few years now, and while technically winter the weather was sunny and in the upper 30's Saturday and the 50's on Sunday even up there. There was much less snow than usual this year and with the record warmth what they have is melting fast. We did still manage to find plenty of it, but conditions were definitely more like what you'd expect a month from now if it had been a normal winter. Perhaps we'll try again in a snowier winter but for now we didn't complain and did the 19.3 miles as an overnight trip, spending a night on Washington, which was roughly the halfway point, before heading out the next morning to finish the last 9 miles of the trip. We got to see an awesome undercast, do some fun climbing, watch a sunset from 5000 feet, see the stars and sunrise from Mt. Washington and more. It was an awesome hike, and as you might guess I took a million pictures. OK, not quite a million, but about 1/1000th of a million. I did narrow it down to my favorite 250 or so in one album which can be found here, and another shorter album with about 100 that still tells the story pretty good and is probably more than enough for most people. Click on either one and enjoy a virtual Presidential Traverse if you'd like.

With spring here we're sure to be off and about quite a bit. As I've said before we always love company so feel free to let us know if you'd like to join us. That's all for now!