Mt. Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts and part of the Appalachian Trail

I just received some pictures from my big hike last weekend (post to come soon). Then I started reading articles posted to Facebook and they were all so horrible and discouraging that I just needed to escape. I found these pictures of a hike last Spring I took to the summit of Mt. Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts and part of the illustrious Appalachian Trail. If I can't be outside enjoying the amazing fall foliage that cheered me throughout my commute to work today, I can at least savor these photos and the memories of a nice, moderate hike with some good friends. I recommend this hike to anyone in the New England area. You don't need to train to complete it; it's no Mt. Washington. It can easily be completed in a few hours and there's a lovely lodge at the top that serves amazing dinner and has dorm bunk style accommodations so you can  extend your visit.

Starting the ascent

I <3 transcendentalism

Sitting in the clouds

Everyone loves a waterfall

The Appalachian Trail is well known to hikers.

Fall in New England

That's right, kids. It's that time of year again. The time when I talk less about travel, more about projects around the house, and that I realize that I actually talk about the weather A LOT.

Really, I can't help myself. It's just amazing outside. We aren't even at the most beautiful point, when the leaves are all sorts of reds and oranges but there are glimpses here and there of colors other than green in the trees. A big tree right outside of my office window always turns early and I can see some yellows and oranges blooming. But it's also that in between time when it gets warm enough during the day to wear shorts and a t-shirt but it's crisp at night. You can smell fresh mowed grass by day and fires in the chimneys by night. It's also apple picking time, although I'm waiting for October apples, the way Lucy from Charlie Brown waits for January snow:) And fall in New England is also time for some of the biggest fairs and I lllooooove me some fair food so I can't wait to get a day to do that.

In the meantime, though, I am training to hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim next month so I have been begging my friends to get out in the woods with me. A couple of them indulged me this past weekend and it was glorious so I wanted to include a couple of pictures.

Ode to 2011: 11 Events that defined my 2011

So I'm a week late with my farewell salute to 2011.....well, I'm late in actually posting it. As part of my job I run a Speaker's Bureau and we met on Thursday night. My coworker provided a writing prompt that helped me to reflect on what I wanted to say to summarize the year. It was a take on something that had been posted somewhere else onlline that highlighted the 11 events that defined 2011. I decided to make my own top 11 events of the year.

1. Glaciar Hike in Iceland.

2. Flamenco Show in Seville, Spain

3. My first trip to classic Europe.

4. Traveling with my parents for my mother's first trip out of the country to Bermuda.

5. Swimming with the Dolphins.

                                     

6. Canyoning in Costa Rica.

7. Seeing the Tower of London after all my reading about it.

8. Hiking Rio Celeste.

9. The New Kids on the Block Concert at Fenway Park.

10. Accidentally biking 72 miles on the Cape Cod rail trail and beyond.

11. Making my first from scratch apple pie to be served at Thanksgiving dinner.

Ultimately, 2011 was a huge year for me. I got to travel for 6 weeks out of the year and see some truly awe inspiring sights and, more importantly, have some life changing experiences with people I love. It will be a year I never forget. Can't wait to see what 2012 will bring....

Glacier Hike and Climb

During a week in Boston where the temps have been hovering around 90, I am slightly fascinated by these pictures from my trip to Iceland. I have never really shown pictures from that trip here and I think it's about time they start surfacing! Trouble is, trying to spell any of the places I saw there is near impossible. The combinations of letters is way more than my simple English only brain can comprehend.

This ice arch was dripping ferociously and the guide said it probably wouldn't be there the next week. He pointed out the fissure, which you can see in on the right, sloping down from the top. He then proceeded to walk us under the arch:)

The black lines are from volcanic ash. We drove by the volcano that had erupted the year before (and I think just had another, less major, eruption in May, perhaps).

These black lines, again volcanic ash, show all of the volcanic activity that has occurred during this ice's lifetime.

I strongly suggest you use a guide if you plan to hike the glaciers. Sink holes and other crazy crevices like this one can be lurking under what you think is snow. Isn't this pretty, though?

I had only wanted to do a glacier hike but one of the tour companies offered a climbing experience as part of the hike for about the same price. This was seriously one of the coolest things to do!!

Rappelling down was even more fun, though!

Hostel or Hostile?

I learned something very important this weekend. Hostel hopping would never have suited me. In fact, it made me quite cranky.

This weekend I hiked Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts with some friends that I normally train for triathlons with in the summer. At the summit, there is a lodge. Bascom lodge, to be exact. We had a bunk room reserved for Saturday night so we could hike up, sleep, then hike down. Somehow I missed the detail about all of us sleeping in one room in the first place, though I did come prepared with my handy travel sound machine. Apparently, when my friend made the reservation she was told that our group of 8 would have the room that could accommodate 10 booked just for us. When we arrived, though, we had two strangers in our room. This meant the sound machine was no longer an option. Additionally, in trying to be considerate of them, we went to bed on their schedule, which was way too early for this night owl.

Trying to get any sleep through the night turned out to be the biggest adventure of the weekend! Without the sound machine, I used my Ipod to listen to ocean waves but when the track ended each hour, it went right into Hawthorne Heights and woke me up. Every hour! There was also a baby (who brings a baby to a hikers lodge??) who cried in the middle of the night in the next room. Plus, with 10 women in bunk beds in one room, every toss and turn came with the requisite creaks, there were lots of bathroom visits through the night and we found out at least two ladies snore and one was rather chatty in her sleep.

Being the light sleeper that I am, this whole scenario did not bode well for me. When I got home last night, I legitimately passed out, face down, on the couch. An hour and a half later, when my phone rang, it was tragically difficult to even lift my head to find it to make it stop. Fast forward to Monday morning, where I now sit on my couch in a zombified state while I should be at work. I feel like I got hit by a bus. (Had to pause to yawn). I think I will go crawl back in bed now.

Blue Lagoon this weekend?

How magical does this sound??? A Midsummer Night Walk and Live Music on a Mountain and at the Blue Lagoon? An easy moutain hike, a campfire, live music and the amazing blue lagoon (which I will post pics of asap from a different computer). If you are even remotely considering a trip to Iceland....GO!! The landscape is just magnificent. It's such a unique place. It was green before being green was cool and the natives are all so proud of their country, which I adore. More to come on Iceland soon but I wanted to get this out in case you still need to make your weekend plans:) I will be hiking Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts this weekend so stay tuned.

Health and Fitness: Splurge or Save?

I come from big people. My family is intimately knowledgeable about procedures such as gastric bypass. I'm not a hater but it's definitely something I have to be aware of for myself.
I was not an athletic kid. I didn't do much by way of teams in high school. I have what famous female triathlete Sally Edwards coined "adult onset athleticism". I have had very positive experiences training for things with groups. First, I raised funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and hiked in the Grand Canyon (I'm strongly considering fundraising and hiking with them again). I met great friends that I still see frequently five years later. The best thing about those friends is that we share an interest in hiking so we can get together on the trails instead of just going out to dinner.
Right on the tails of that experience, I signed up for a training group for my first triathlon. I paid for the training group, which I attended twice a week. I went the all women route for comfort for my first race and I loved it and was totally hooked. I have been a volunteer workout leader with the same coach every summer since then. Again, I have made a wonderful group of friends who I can meet up with swims, bikes, and runs, as well as a few dinners.
Through my experiences, I came up with a little list of things I think are worth splurging on and other things I think you can save your money on.
Splurge:

• Gym membership. I currently have two. One I love for it's classes. I, myself, am more motivated to get to the gym if there's a specific time I have to be there. The other gym I go to for it's total convenience. There are no classes but it's open 24 hours a day and I can walk from my house. Of course, you can totally do amazing workouts without a gym but I think if you are just starting out, a little structure can help.
• Healthy foods. Produce can get pricey but if you love strawberries so much and you know you will eat them, they are worth buying even if they are not on sale. Since for me the alternative would be snacking on something that will make me need to go to the gym for, it's better to just spend the extra dollar or two.
• Fitness magazines. I get three of these sent to my house. The articles and tips give me new ideas and help get me back on focus. Just seeing the cover of my Runner's magazine reminds me that I need to schedule a run.
• Proper footwear. I get fitted for my sneakers to make sure I am buying the kind that best suit my run/walk. Knock on wood, I have never had a foot/knee/leg injury thus far from running.
• Music. I get excited to workout if I have new songs to listen to on my Ipod.
• Race entry to an event you really want to complete. Having a day on a calendar that you have to work up to is extremely motivating. Don't set an unrealistic goal; start small. But it's doable!! Races can be expensive so don't go overboard and sign up for a ton. Pick wisely-read up on what kind of goodies you get, look at pictures to get a sense of the race environment and pick something that fits your style. I think women's races are super supportive and I try not to do a race that doesn't have a shirt I want:)

Save: 

• Fancy workout clothes. Unless buying a snazzy new outfit motivates you to go, I find I have collected a ton of wicking fabric shirts from the races I have done. You will likely find there are a few specific items you really want to purchase. For me, it was tri shorts, which are like bike shorts with a little less padding but they really help the comfort on the bike. But the first year I hiked, I didn't go out and buy fancy moisture wicking underwear and gear. I wore wool sweaters and casual swishy pants instead of the high tech zipper pants. 
• Supplements. If you do a tiny bit of research, you can find natural food sources that replenish you as well, if not better, than workout products. For example, chocolate milk after a muscle workout. I now use a powdered drink mix on my bikes and runs that I love but it took a good amount of learning about what my body needed before that was a good purchase. When you are starting out you don't need to load up on products.
• Fancy equipment. Again, don't spend a ton of money on a hobby that you aren't sure you love yet. If you start biking and love it, you can buy last year's model for a cheaper price. I started on a cheaper bike my first season and only upgraded year 2 or 3, when I knew the hobby was going to stick around.
• Name brand stuff. Kind of back to point one, you can get a good sports bra at Target for a fraction of the price you would spend at one of the specialty stores in the mall.
• Workout videos (if you don't actually use them!!). You can also try a bunch of them out on Netflix.
• Personal training. Ok, this one is controversial. I think personal training is great and motivating. I just think that you should get to the gym and try out some of the cardio machines to see if you can really roll with this environment before you spend big money on something you don't want to stick to. 
• Low fat foods/Frozen yogurt/diet products. Low fat foods tend to have more sugar than the original. Get the foods you really want, regardless of whether they are low fat or not and eat in moderation. If you deprive yourself of something entirely, you will go nuts focusing on it. And diet products are generally not healthy and are just gimmicks. I knew a woman whose sister dropped dead in her 30s from appetite suppressants. They mess with your heart. Do it the healthy way and load up on fiber and water.

I hope this helps some people who are starting out! I'd love to hear from other people about what works for them, too.

Helllllooooo again!

A wonderful little thing called vacation tore me away from you for a while. It was sooooo needed and I feel very refreshed. I took some notes on how to hang on the the vacation hangover.
Some ideas:
walk more, spend time outside, read, journal, make fewer to-do lists, soak in warm water, tv is good, don't try so hard, be less scheduled, sleep, sightsee, try new restaurants, care a little less about the details, spend less time on the computer, empty your head, fantacize about life lists, plan your next trip, think about what you are grateful for.
Most importantly: work isn't life-just a means of funding experiences.

The best part is that my next vacation is only six weeks away! Then it will be full blown summer!! Hooray! (That deserves an extra whoop of joy since it snowed today-nice April Fool's joke Mother Nature). Case in point, below is a picture of Iceland yesterday; THIS is a picture of Massachusetts today. Really?

Danger: Ice. That doesn't scare us!

One of my favorite activities in the whole wide world is hiking. I used to hike throughout the winter but I didn't get out as much this winter. Maybe because it was Snowmaggedon, perhaps. I was super excited to hike with some of my triathlon buddies and a friend from nursery school on Saturday. Yes, I said nursery school-pretty impressive that someone has known me that long and would still go into the woods with me, no?