Monday, January 30, 2012

Happy Trails

As you may have noticed, my hubs has been doing a lot of traveling recently. Big trips. Long trips. In fact he has been away three out of four weeks this month. Missed two full weekends at home. Yes, technically he can make up those 'lost weekends' sometime during the year but let's be honest...he probably won't. Oh maybe a day or two but he has vacation to use plus, when you're away from your office for two weeks you kinda need to get back to the office. Which is where he is this week. yay!

Although hubs has traveled for work all of our married life this month has been way more than the norm. While its exhausting on many levels he enjoys interacting with people in countries around the world and handles all the coming and going better than most. It sounds exotic to some people and often times I guess it is. Here's a dinner he had last week in Mexico City-


Those are grasshoppers on that taco.
Mmmm?

All this to say that in spite of his around the world travels, at heart he's still a Tennessee boy who likes nothing better than a walk in the woods with his best girl and his dog. We don't live far from a stretch of the Appalachian Trail and we've been wanting to hike the bit that's nearby.


When we lived in NJ 20 years ago we used to take our little girls to the trail. Are they just too adorable or what?! Course we never got too far because somebody always conked out en route to the top, but we tried.


Sigh.

Back to present day...it was cool yesterday but also bright and sunny so we took advantage of that and hit the trail. As we were pulling out of our driveway we saw these vultures on our neighbors rock.


I know they're part of that whole circle of life thing but I gotta say I'm not a fan. I was hoping their presence wasn't some kind of omen. Who thinks I've watched The Jungle Book a few too many times?

To access the wooded portion of the trail you first have to cross a large open field. As we started across we heard gunfire and decided we should see where it was coming from. Wouldn't want to accidentally be mistaken for a deer now, would we?


Turns out it was a local gun club holding a 'frozen toes' event in the next field over. They were shooting at targets so we relaxed. We chatted with them for a few minutes and I think hubs would have been happy to hang out there all day but we had a mountain to climb. Literally.

One thing you should know about Northern NJ-its rocky.
Very rocky.
The trail thru here is also rocky.


And steep.


And my knees are not what they were at 30, that's for sure, but I persevered...


We made a couple of stops on the way to the top...


Someone needed a break.


And we needed to take a cheesy picture.


Everybody needed to check out the beautiful views...


Totally worth the jello legs.


And spending a day outdoors with this guy?
aka the mountain goat....


...still makes me happy.

26 comments:

  1. Looks like a fun day, Joyce! Vultures scare me and hawks! LOL :) oh and sometimes those big black birds.

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  2. Aw, what a nice post! Such gorgeous scenery. And doesn't it just put you in awe, once again, of our amazing Creator!

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  3. Looks like a fun day! Sorry he is travelling so much lately

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  4. What a great day!! Love that picture of the two of you, but not at much as I love his bushy mustache of yesteryear.

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  5. I like that you make the most of your time together and that he didn't bring a grasshopper taco home for you.

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  6. Such a great way to spend the day. Thanks so much for sharing. Have a fabulous week. Blessings, SusanD

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  7. Such great pictures. Glad you had a good time, jello legs and all.

    My brother hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia, through Tennessee, all the way to at least North Carolina a couple years ago. I think he did 500 miles of the Trail. I can't even imagine, but he loved it.

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  8. Sounds like a great hike. Good that you had the time together.

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  9. I want to know...did the dog take the picture of you and Hubs? lol!!!

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  10. I always enjoy your nature photos, as well as your account of the nature experience! Jello legs...LOL You are blessed to live in a beautiful area :) thanks for sharing it.

    About those grasshoppers on that taco...I don't think so!

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  11. I totally get the 'jello leg' thing.

    I love how he takes pictures for you on his travels. That is one well trained Hubby for sure!

    How do you think you'll do when he retires and the travel ceases? I myself am looking forward to the non-stop togetherness. ;)

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  12. When you said "rocky" you meant "ROCKY"! The photos gave me a totally different perspective of the word. LOL Congrat's on the climb!

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  13. Beautiful story! Sometimes though, it's not so much the "quantity" of time you spend together that makes everything perfect, but the "quality" of the time you do get. Your pictures and anecdotes are lovely!

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  14. beautiful shots.....It's hard having a traveling hubby, mine is in Europe for a ten day business trip and he keeps sending me pictures of food and sights! I want to send him pictures of the garbage that needs taken out and our snowy driveway that needs plowing! lol!

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  15. Tastes like chicken!
    Nice to have beautiful days like that. My knees, unfortunately, would not be able to do that.

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  16. Great day to be hiking! And what a view you had! Nice with just the 3 of you too!
    Darlene

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  17. Glad you finally had a weekend with hubs. You walk looks like it was wonderful. Mark belongs to a gun club, he loves it. Your husband is brave. I know his meal may have tasted wonderful but I could not have eaten it. Sweet pictures from the past.

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  18. I LOVE your cheesy picture. I have lots of cheese like that of my husband and me too!

    The view was great and... Okay, grasshoppers?? I just can't shake that one!

    Anyway, glad you got him home for a weekend! :)

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  19. Reading this made my legs throb! :o) Looks like such fun and something my Hubby would absolutely love to have nearby. Great pics!

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  20. What a fun day ... except when you thought someone might be shooting in your direction. And you're dog is so cute! I'm kind of pining for a puppy at the moment. :)

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  21. Grasshoppers? No, thank you!
    What a great view! That makes it all worth it, huh?

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  22. There's nothing better than to spend the day like that with the love of your life. I am in need of some that myself. It seems we are always on the go these days. I love your photos and this very sweet post. Enjoy every minute of your time together.

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  23. What a great day you had. Looks cold however. I'm so glad that you and hubs still enjoy each others company. I pray you have a long time together.

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  24. It looks like you had a great time ... and I had to laugh at "jello legs" ... not that I've ever experienced "jello legs" (yeah, right!). ha!

    I consider myself a pretty adventurous eater, but I do believe I would have to draw the line at grasshoppers! ewwww

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  25. Ohhh. great pictures! I think I totally recognize that view! Would that be Mahlon Dickonson? I remember climbing up to the top and you can see all the way to NY on a clear day. And its a nice view of Lk Hopatcong (where i live!)- and there is an old old ski area there as well - the ski lift posts are still there if I recall. Pretty neat!!

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