An Update.

So, I'm working on becoming a better climber, and being more healthy and fit in general. So, I've been climbing more at the wall lately, and I have decided to do the "Mile High Challenge" over the summer. Eh, we will see if I make it. I need to go to the top of the wall 144 times & so far I've done 19. I already feel stronger though.

In other news, I'm going on a trip to Colorado for 10 days with Outdoor Pursuits over the 4th of July. I'm so excited. I've never really been "out west" before, and I'm excited to do some 14ers. Also, some of my favorite leaders & participants are on the trip, so really, I don't think I could ask for much more. Right now, I'm food planning. I want to stay relatively cheap & eat out as little as possible. I'm trying to be pretty creative so I'm not eating the same things over and over. When my plan is more coherent I'll post more details.

In all, we should summit 5 mountains, including the highest mountain in the Rocky's, Mt. Elbert. The others are: Mt. Evans, Quandary, Grays and Torreys. If you want to learn more about 14ers, check out this awesome website: 14ers.com/

In other news, this is a picture of Rachel & I when we saw Brave. :) Did you know that there were two of them? ;)

Trippin'

Sorry that I have not updated lately. I think about working on it sometimes, but my life has been pretty crazy lately. Or maybe I just haven't felt like writing.

I'm going to start back with the two trips that I have been on lately.

First, I took an overnight camping trip to Cohutta, GA with Rachel and Chris. It was very nice. There is a great waterfall there for swimming & I feel like we had quality friend time. I didn't know Chris super well, but now I'd call him more than an acquaintance. :) Here are some pictures taken by Rachel:

 Above: the waterfall was much bigger than this... this is just one of the three tiers. The water was deep enough for good swimming, but it was VERY cold.

Left: Yes, this was taken while Chris was diving.

The next weekend I took a trip to the Smokeys with Aaron, Jacquie and Jeff, some friends of mine from Outdoor Pursuits.

It was much more "active" than a normal trip that I take... personally or with Outdoor Pursuits.We biked 11 miles through Cade's Cove in the early morning. Then, we hiked a round trip of five miles to Abram's Falls for a swim. Then, we hiked up Gregory Bald (5.5 more miles) partly in the rain.



The pictures from the weekend were taken by Jeff. Obviously, I never take my camera with me on trips and resort to using other people's pictures.

The picture above is the view from Gregory Bald looking at Cade's Cove.


The picture at the very bottom is of Jacquie & I doing the "little mermaid hair flip". ;)

Both of the trips were a lot of fun. Too bad I'm not going anywhere cool this weekend... I have to take the practice GRE. BUT, I am going to watch Brave with my own Brave, Rachel Hanle. I have high expectations. I hope it doesn't disappoint. 

I've included the trailer below: