Hawaii…

Not being a beach girl, I didn’t think that I would enjoy Hawaii as much as other people.  What I didn’t realize is that Hawaii is awesome.

From the multiple black sand beaches to others with hot as lava when you walk across it sand to the one just steps outside of our hotel room, they were all awesome.  We saw fish, all kinds of weird birds, and multiple green sea turtles.

Of course, I did get a humongous burn the very first full day we were there. Oops…but my husband got it worse with blisters forming on his. 

Everything else on HI was awesome. It is a strange state…saw a feral donkey and goat hanging out together, chickens were everywhere in Kauai, signs for watching for cracks in the road. Just awesome.

 

Photos under the cut.

Spectacle Island

Many of my adventures have taken me onto boats for this summer…and my trip to Spectacle Island was no different.

Spectacle Island is a 15-20 minute ferry ride out of Long Wharf in Boston and is part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. Today’s island has been reshaped over the years with dumping, erosion, and the fill from the Big Dig to become one of the highest points in Boston Harbor.

The National Park has a green visitor center that has CLIVUS toilets, expansive views of the city, and covered picnic area.

There are a number of trails to walk along and view the city or the lighthouse.  One of these trails takes people along the shore that is scattered with rocks and the occasional dead fish:

The other main feature of the island is the trash that is coming out of the ground and washing up on the shore…seaglass and pottery shards. As an archaeologist, I am always looking down on the sand at the beach for seaglass and random things. At Spectacle, you don’t even have to search…it is all there, but not for the taking.

The ferry to the islands is almost done, just about another month. I hope to get back out to George’s sometime before then to find the dark space again!

Seek the Peak Re-Cap

So, I made it up and down the mountain without falling down once, which is actually quite an accomplishment for me.

The week began with some beer:

A sampler from Moat Mountain, lovely place to eat and lovely place to stay about 20 miles away from Mt. Washington and nice comfy beds.

Larry came along for the ride and the weather reminded him of traveling on the ocean with all the fog and rain.

The last of the snow from the winter…it wasn’t as impressive as last year since it was all gloomy when we went by in the morning. If we had come down the same trail (which we should have) the pictures would have been much better.

We made it up here in fairly record time for me. 4 miles in just about 4 hours…with the extra weather and some issues with breathing and a large group of people standing in the middle of the trail, so annoying.

A quick picture after we hit the summit going down Lion’s Head.

You can see how different the weather can be in just a few hours. It was lovely on the way down from the summit.

Remember, kiddies! Be Ice Smart! And remember to scream and wave your hands in the air while running away from large ice boulders.

I love $3 pint glasses!

But orgasmic, organic berries are even better!

Mountain Week, Summit Photos

Four times up and cloudy skies each time. I actually had some clear skies once while almost to the top, but they went away fairly quickly.  Mount Washington spends about 90% of its year in some sort of cover: fog, clouds, snow, sleet, rain. It looks like this time will be no different with showers predicted for the morning of our hike.

Hopefully by the time this summer is over, I will have two more summit pictures to show. One will be a true summit (in my mind) because I’ll walk up myself. The other one will be aided by a car ride (really a truck ride) up the Auto Road. As my birthday present to myself, I have booked myself a weekend at the Mount Washington Observatory. Not only do I get to be geeky and learn about weather, I get to sleep overnight on the summit. How cool is that? I would rather the clear skies for that because I am definitely bringing both my cameras (just got the new one) to try and take pictures of the stars! 🙂

Mountain Week, The Mountain

Mount Washington stands at 6,288 feet (1,917 m) and is the highest point of both the White Mountain’s 4000-footers and of New Hampshire. It is known for having incredibly wild weather and holding the record for the highest wind gust measured at the Earth’s surface, 231 mph on April 12, 1934. Before Europeans arrived, it was known as Agiocochook.

First seen in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, it was first ascended in 1642 by Darby Field (for whom Mt. Field is named for). The Crawford Path was laid out in 1819, providing access to the summit. In 1861, a stagecoach road was placed for the summit (which was turned into the Mount Washington Auto Road) and in 1869 the Cog Railway was created.

One of the silliest things I’ve done in my life is to pick up a book entitled “Not Without Peril”; I did this on the first night of a 20 mile hike through the White Mountains and was fascinated by the ways that people have died on Mt. Washington. Some were quite simple, people wandering off trail or trying to summit in storms…other people have died in very unique ways, the ones who died by drowning caught my attention. Apparently, someone has also been murdered on the mountain in 2001.

I would strongly suggest not picking the book up before going on a hike through the Whites, but it is a good read overall.

Fourth!

Hope tomorrow is a clear night!
Stay safe

Happy Fourth of July!!

New York, New York

23 hours…that is how much time I just recently spent in New York City with the sole intent of getting myself into a taping of The Colbert Report. I had been to a taping of The Daily Show earlier this year and had jumped on tickets for TCR when I saw them available. Unfortunately, my boyfriend couldn’t go because of work training so one of my co-workers came with me.

The show was fabulous. Stephen is a sweet guy and extremely funny. The people running the show were mostly good to great. The only problem was that I didn’t have enough time to go see all the other stuff I wanted to see! Always a problem.

A picture of the stage set… I got yelled at for taking this photo by one of the security guys, but I love it anyways:

Can anyone figure out what the middle part of this graffiti is? I think it could be a spaceship or perhaps a mutant lobster?

A Day Spent

It wasn’t a great day, but it also wasn’t horrible.

Started out with me seeing Matt Lauer on TV and then Natalie Morales in front of Faneuil Hall.

Then, a trip to Dorchester Heights to wait for a group that never showed up because of the flu.

While there, I found an egg with something still inside 😦

Then off to the Public Garden where I saw some birds attacking and eating a sparrow, yuck! And I think I saw a baby duck dying. He let me get real close, the mallards that were around him kept biting at him, he was shivering and not making any noise…it was slightly worrisome and sad.

And I ended my day in the Granary Burial Ground watching a squirrel nibble upon something on top of a gravestone.

So, not too bad a day. Got some sun, took some pictures…and didn’t get rained on.

Esmeralda

Today, I went to visit the Esmeralda, a tall ship from Chile. I had some mixed feelings after hearing about her past, but I also wanted to see what the ship looked like after meeting a few of the sailors the other day.

It was a rather dreary day at the Navy Yard and no one was really visiting. The gangway was angelled very high and my feet slipped a few times going up because of that and the residual rain from earlier this morning.

Once on board, I just wandered around the main deck. There were plenty of sailors to talk to, but I prefer to wander on my own. Took some pictures:

For more information on the Esmeralda, look at this post on Amnesty International.  They are still trying to get information about the people who were tortured aboard the ship and where their bodies were buried.