take a vacation

but I’m outa here for a week of camping, hiking, and relaxing in western Colorado.

See you in a week or so!

I’m heading out with my daughter to the annual caving convention near San Antonio, Texas. The forecast is not for my favorite kind of weather- hot and humid (although it’s supposed to be 5-10 degrees cooler than this last week), but otherwise I’m looking foreward to the trip. We probably won’t do much caving but there are a lot of other things to do in this area and the convention is always a good party! (I’ve been to 3 of them previously). This year the national convention is being held in conjunction with the International Congress of Speleology, which is only held every 4th year. There are people registered to attend from 48 countries outside of the US!

It should be a great time- see you all in a week :)

Yay! I finally finished off the last horrible 3.5 weeks at work where I was covering a coworker who’s away for her marriage and honeymoon. I used to work regularly in the area where she works, but it’s very busy and there are constant problems there.

So now I get a week’s break! Tiger and I are leaving tomorrow afternoon for our first vacation together in over a year. We’re driving a circle route and spending 2-3 days in each of three areas- Vegas, Flagstaff, and Albuquerque.

It should be a great time! :)

After a 2700-mile loop in 9 days through eastern Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, and back to Kansas and eastern Colorado!

On the bad side, this was probably the soggiest camping vacation I’ve ever taken. There was only one day that we didn’t get rained on while hiking, and several times we got soaked.

But that was balanced out by some great times. Among other things I visited one new state, got to one new highpoint for this goal (my 18th state highpoint), went to 5 new places for this goal, had a nice visit with a 43er who I’ve never met before, and hiked several new trails for this goal.

Attached is a pic of Triple Falls (AKA Twin Falls, because in drier weather there are only two streams) near the Buffalo National River in NW Arkansas. It’s one of several waterfalls that I hiked to during the week.

that I’m just about done packing, but I’m a little concerned- do you think I have enough beer? ;)

Actually, I’ve about reached the “If I don’t have it, I don’t need it” point. Just about ready to head out.

I’ll talk to y’all (a little Arkansan speak) in about a week and a half!

my last Monday of work before vacation! Yay!!

It’s been 7 months since my last vacation. I know that isn’t very long for a lot of people, but I think it’s the longest I’ve gone without a vacation in 9 years.

Friday after work I’m heading off to Arkansas. I’m going to meet my caving buddy there, who’s driving down with another guy who I used to go caving with regularly but who I haven’t seen in many years. We’re not planning any real caving on this trip but we’re hoping to do a lot of hiking. I should get several new trails for this goal (although it seems like hiking new trails is a lot more frequent for me than posting about it- I’m way behind on entries for that goal!).

The map attached shows the area where we’ll spend most of the week. I visited this area several years ago with my sister and we just barely scratched the surface- there’s a lot to do outdoors there!

I’m just a few minutes from heading to the airport- back home to Indiana for a week.

I’ll be checking email a couple of times, but probably won’t be on here much (my mom’s computer is a dinosaur and really slow!).

See you all in a week or so :)

from my daughter’s teacher to take her out of school for a week- so it looks like we’ll be heading back to Indiana for my last vacation of the year.

Not the world’s most exciting vacation destination, but most of my family is still there, and we always have a good time :)

8 days and over 2400 miles later…

I did climb Borah Peak, and also did some hiking in Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks. And went snorkeling with marine fish in the middle of the desert!

I won’t be on here much for another couple of weeks while I get moved, but I’m back.

WAY too early on my first day of vacation! I still have some packing to do, and my sister’s getting in to town a couple hours earlier than I thought.

I’m planning my attempt on Borah Peak for Monday- wish me luck!

After that we’re going to make a quick visit to Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks.

I’ll be back home late on Saturday the 19th.

Talk to you all later :)