2013 -- week 21 -- road trip!

i feel like everyone's bucket list should include a long cross country road trip. ideally you would take your time, seeing all sorts of weird things, eat strange but local delicacies, and stop in a lot of states. so when csv was talking about how she needed to get her car from vermont to arizona after her graduation, i jumped at the chance to accompany her. not only would i finally get a chance to drive across the country but i would also get to go to some new states -- this was especially exciting since i haven't been to a lot of the midwestern states, and my goal in life is to go to all 50.  

we've been planning this trip for a couple of months. we've looked at maps, ordered aaa books, read books about the sights and eats along the road, and researched the things to see along route 66. and all of the planning really paid off -- we had an amazing time, saw nifty things, and ate awesome food. and since i bought a fancy new camera the pictures are super cool. which means the blog posts should be great; be looking for those in the coming weeks, including a guest post by csv about all of the food we ate along our trip.

some highlights from this trip include the four new states i went to (missouri, kansas, oklahoma, and new mexico), local food in oklahoma (fried onion burger, a coney, and calf fries), the changing landscape from one state to the next, and the grand canyon where we met up with rcg.

have you done a cross country road trip? where did you go? what did you see?

2013 -- week 20 -- we have a doctor in the family!

when i think of vermont i think of deathly cold weather. like stay under the covers, make lava cakes, and watch movies all day cold. and it is. but only during the winter. the rest of the year, vermont is crazy beautiful -- it's so green, has awesome farmer's markets, and the blueberries are spectacular. and for the past four years one of my good friends has been living there attending university of vermont's medical school. this past weekend she graduated, so a bunch of us came to celebrate her hard work. and yet again, vermont was green and beautiful.

we spent the weekend doing all of the last minute things she hadn't gotten a chance to do in her four years of living in burlington, like visit the ben & jerry's ice cream factory and check out the von trapp family lodge. it was a great weekend with friends, good food, lots of laughs, and a new doctor!

sorry for my absence, but i made you a gif(t)!

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

sorry for my absence this past week -- i've been in vermont for my friend's graduation, and then subsequently on a roadtrip from vermont to arizona.

but that means i have tons of blog posts in the works. and they'll be extra pretty because i just bought a canon rebel sl1!

meanwhile, i hope you enjoy this fun little gif i made of her graduation. 

that time we hiked for 12 hours

a month ago, a friend of ours invited us to hike/climb baboquivari, the holiest mountain for the tohono o'odham tribe, for his birthday. our friend is from tubac, a town slightly south of tucson along I-19, so he's wanted to climb baboquivari for as long as he can remember. every year he attempts to summit the mountain, but inevitably he comes up short because the last part of the mountain needs be climbed with ropes. this year, he decided that he'd had enough and hired a guide to help him (and us!) get to the top. 

this is a story in pictures of our 12 hour hike up baboquivari.

 

 

  

how cute is this jack rabbit?

  

 

happy birthday tv!

the beginning of the hike: 6am. gross.

   

 

ahhh. i love these trees.

 

  

 

one of our guides.

 

climb on!

 

 

we made it to the top!

  

tokens of gratitude to i'itoi.

"kiss the mountain air we breathe."

 

how cool are our guides? they're doing a simultaneous belay. amazing.

  

 

we did it!

thanks to tv & bv for the use of their pictures. and for letting us tag along! you guys are awesome.