Full Day At Fernal 2

Last year, in July, Rich had the idea to spend a full day at our favorite swimming hole, Fernal Shores (actually called Fernald Shore, but I didn't realize that until a year after talking about the place, so I'm sticking with the original name I knew it by. We had a great day, and it still gets brought up from time to time, when talking about Jesse's one-for-the-ages sunburn, or when I upgraded to an iPhone 4 after swimming with my iPhone 1. Good times.

It was a blast, so we wanted to make sure to do it again this year. We showed up even earlier this year, and had an awesome day. 

Irwin started off the day by begging for breakfast hot dogs. 

While Josh wore an awesome shirt.

He refused to eat his food in favor of begging for ours. Dummy.

We came mega prepared this year. Not only did way more people come, but everyone brought A LOT of food. Look at this spread! We know how to do "hanging out at a beach all day" pretty perfectly.

There's nothing quite like a breakfast hot dog.

Even shitty Al loves them.

Here's Jesse drinking his "diet coke." (hint- there was a lot of rum in his diet cokes)

And here's a random picture of a squirrel someone took with my camera. I still don't know who. Apparently he stole some food, so someone wanted to get some pictures of him.

I love this one. Whoever took this- great job!

The reason this post is going by in fast forward and doesn't involve a lot of talking points isn't because I'm writing it 6 weeks after it happened (though that doesn't help). The reason is because this day followed the theme of this summer- I was having too much fun to remember to even take pictures. To be honest, I was in the water most of the day. Most of the day, for everyone involved other than Heidi, Dawn and Aaron (who left fairly early) and Al and his girlfriend (who sat on the beach reading while everyone else swam and then left insanely early) was spent in the water. 

It absolutely ruled. The first round of swimming was small, but involved some good B and laughs. Then after eating again and hanging out on shore, round 2 was mega. Rich, Holly, Josh, Vicky, me, Jesse, Sarah, Matt, Tegan, Al, Heidi, and Dawn all throwing 2 frisbees and a waboba (a sweet little ball that bounces off water). I don't think I've ever had a game of water B-throwing with that many people, and it was a blast. It was the kind of thing that lasted incredibly long, but you still don't want it to end. 

Round 3 involved us floating around, and me doing a new favorite summer activity- drinking a Blimearita way out in a lake while floating around and having laughs with friends. It was summer in a nutshell. 

The day continued on like this- swim, come out and eat, swim, repeat. Some people left, Dan, Kate and Max showed up for the second half of the day, and even Reinert and Jess showed up for the last hour or so. It was exactly what we had wanted- just a bunch of friends hanging out and swimming all day, eating hot dogs and chips and having a good time. 

No headball was played this year, but we did attempt a game of Tip, where you tip the frisbee to a teammate, which went pretty much exactly how it went on the Saco River trip: if my team didn't catch it, it was the fault of the other team who gave us a crappy throw, and if the other team did catch it, it was because we gave them perfect throws. Weird how any game involving Dan just erupts into arguments. 

Eventually, the sun started going down, and we had to say goodbye to our full day at Fernal. I still don't understand how the day went so fast. I was there from just short of 9am until about 8:15pm, and I can't remember the last time something went by so fast. It felt like 5 hours, tops. I guess that says a lot about the day. It was just an awesome time, all day. 

One of the best things about Fernal Shores is that you will never get a bad sunset there. And we got a special one that day.

I took this shot to mark the end of summer. Sure, this was in August and I had plenty of swimming left, but it really kind of felt like the end of summer that day. Jesse and Al were going back to work after a summer off, it was a big gathering of people I never swim with towards the end of summer, and we knew that swimming would start to die down as it got colder. It's weird how now, as I'm posting this in October, this picture really does make me sad... just a lonely frisbee floating in a lake with summer setting in the distance. 

We got some great instagrams out of that sunset too. Here's Dan's, of me (I think) catching a frisbee from someone, with Max hanging out in the shallow water.

Here's Rich's, which is absurdly ridiculous in color, but I absolutely love: Max, enjoying summer and swimming the only way a 4 year old (or a 30 year old, apparently) can. As I type this, I remember that he was naked at this point- he was naked for like an hour, screaming WABOBA every 5 seconds. Weirdo. 

And here's mine- one of my favorite pictures I took this summer. There's a huge stump in the water, which is completely out of place in an otherwise nothing-but-sand swimming area. Too many people stubbed their toes on it or swam directly into it last year, so the first thing I did this year was to jam a branch into it so we would know where it was. The branch stayed there all day, and I couldn't be happier I put it there, if only for this shot. I love the juxtaposition of it against the sunset with the reflective water. And the best part about this shot is- I didn't really do anything to it other than put 1 instagram filter on it and blur the edges a little to make it have a mysterious feel to it. I just waited until the sky was at its best, and did continued my theme of going way out in the water and braving destroying my phone again for sweet water shots. I absolutely love this picture.

Full day at Fernal was everything I wanted it to be, and hopefully next year is even better, with even more people, more swimming, more food, everything. I want to do this every year. It is now a new holiday I will always look forward to. FDAF represent.

currently listening to: Balmorhea- "Stranger"

4,000 Footer #4: Mount Willey

Mount Willey would be, and has since been, the biggest mountain I've hiked. Its summit lies at 4,285 feet- a medium mountain by 4,000 footer standards. The last 4,000 footer I did, Osceola, is actually bigger, at 4,340 feet. But hiking Osceola means hiking 2,050 feet of elevation change over 6.4 miles, which basically means climbing up 2,050 feet over a pretty moderate grade 3.2 miles. Willey is 2,854 feet of elevation gain over 5.4, meaning it would be 800 feet more of climbing over about a half mile less distance. In simplest terms, this would be a considerable amount of climbing up very steep sections, and easily the hardest hike I'd attempt. It proved to be quite the son of a bitch. 

I went into it as stupidly as possible too. Not only did I start later than planned (more from the surprise of traffic than anything), but I hadn't hiked for a month at this point. I made the stupid and surprising mistake of hiking a ton in the spring to get my muscles ready for the big boys, and then, right as I began hiking them, getting sick of hiking. Suddenly I had much better things to do, or the days I planned hikes  ended up ugly, or I just completely blew it on motivating myself. SO, I was fairly unprepared for this hike. I looked at it this way though- all too often I worry about not being able to get to the top, hurting myself, etc. I said to myself "hey asshole, you're in shape for hiking. Just get to the top of the goddamn mountain and stop worrying about it so much."

And I did. 

And I regretted ever having that attitude.

What a MORON.

I started nice and late, after a brief rain shower and ugly skies loomed overhead, threatening more. I didn't think I was at the right place at first, since a family of fat little kids with sneakers on got out and headed up the trail ahead of me, but I had forgotten that this trail also went to the Ethan Ponds- a definite tourist attraction. About a mile of this trail is on the Appalachian Trail too, and I was psyched about that, since other than hiking most of Lafayette in college, I don't think I've ever been on any of it. Right as I started, a guy came down into the parking lot who looked haggard and filthy, and I was certain he was a thru-hiker by how fast he was going. 

The trail climbed right away, and took me over a railroad crossing. Somehow, I would be hiking all the way to the top of that mountain in the distance. Damn.

The climb got ridiculous at this point, or at least for being that early in the hike. It was quite steep right away, going in a straight line. I immediately regretted thinking I could hike. But I needed to tough it out- this was the inaugural hike with my new backpack, the Osprey Kestrel 48 I bought at EMS a few weeks before. It felt weird having a bag that big after using my LL Bean bag for years, but even though it was heavier (due to having a bladder/camelbak with 3 liters of water in it), it felt pretty good, since the weight was so spread out. It wasn't easy to take off at rests, but it felt pretty solid while hiking and I LOVED having the camelbak, so I was happy with it right away.

5 minutes after this shot, I spilled water all over the bag and my car seat.

I saw another thru hiker- this time for sure, since I could smell him from 20 feet away. I was soaked and tired quite fast. I don't like starting hikes with elevation gain THAT fast. But luckily, after the initial climb, it flattened out a lot and looked like this for quite awhile:

reasonable.

I was happy I was making good time and not stopping. I was happy at how easy the trail was. That is, until I thought about the harsh truth behind a trail being this moderate for this long. The rest of the hike (probably 2200 feet) still had to happen. And that meant it would be even steeper across less mileage than I had originally thought. Oh boy.

After an hour or so and a mile and a half-ish, I came to the intersection of the trail to the summit of Willey or the Ethan Pond campsite or Zealand Falls hut. I sat for a few and continued on. It felt good knowing I had only 1.1 miles to get to the summit. It felt bad knowing how steep that trip would be. 

The trail got thinner right away.

And uglier, with worse footing.

And steeper. 

Much steeper.

nice stairs though!

I kept trudging on though, knowing that as long as I took my time and took breaks when needed, I'd hit the famous ladders/stairs, and eventually the top. 

I finally got to them, and actually was somewhat happy about it. This picture is only 65% sarcastic. 

Most websites warn of the ladders- saying that the trail is so steep, they had to install stairs/ladders that make the hike quite hard for kids, elderly, dogs, etc. A lot of people have a lot of trouble getting up and down them, and nearly every website lists the ladders as both a unique attraction and something to watch out for. I attacked them section by section, and oddly enough, found myself loving them.

Sure, they were ridiculously steep,

and I was already pretty damn exhausted at this point,

yea sweatboobs!

but they were a lot better than life without ladders/stairs:

The trail was quite steep before the stairs, and the terrain was pretty terrible at times, with one particularly memorable section just being practically sand on a 70 degree incline. It was tough footing, with parts requiring me to pull myself up on roots just to get up sections. This was easily some of the steepest hiking I'd ever done, and the stairs were a godsend for me. I've always had pretty good balance, so they weren't even really scary (until I looked down). 

Now, the problem for me was that every website talks about the stairs and then they're at the top. Therefore, I had had it in my mind all along that when I got past the stairs, I'd be at the top. HA! Not even close. There is a lot of mountain left after the stairs, and the footing and inclines don't get any easier. I did get to see my first hints of a view after the stairs though. 

I was now stopping for breaks every 100 feet or so. I think I was counting 40 steps then stopping for probably a minute or two. I was hurting. But the trail kept going, getting sketchier and steeper as it went.

At least there was footing here, but jeez, look at this:

And look at this lovely section I got to climb up:

I recently read about a blind guy who just completed all of the 4,000 footers, and the article was written right after he and his dog hiked here. I have no idea how they did it.

But, luckily, I was making progress, step by step, break by break. The top was clearing out, 

and I soon saw this:

I skipped this part to get to the actual summit for my summit picture. I was barely even relieved to be here- it was late and I still had to hike down. I walked through the summit and a fox ran in front of me, like 10 feet away. I was videotaping the walk too (for a planned movie of me reaching every summit), and I missed it! Pretty cool though. I passed the actual summit and went a little farther past it to a point I hadn't seen anyone on the internet talk about. It was VERY worth it.

I then took my summit picture with DeeTeez, and finally started to feel a little happy. I hurt and I had a long way to go, but I had just hiked the most elevation gain of my life, and that accomplishment felt pretty awesome.

the actual summit

I then went down to the overlook, and DAMN.

Jackson and Pierce

Route 302

the right of 302 and a lot of smaller mountains

Oh hey look, I made a panorama using those pictures that actually came out pretty damn good:

click it to make it bigger!

It was awesome up there. I put food in my hand, hoping that one of the birds at the top would eat out of it (Willey, Tom and Field are kind of known for that), but they didn't visit me. They might have if I stayed up there longer, but I had to go. This would unfortunately be a pretty short summit hang out.

let the mullet fly and harness the power of mountains!

I still had the mullet at this time, so I wanted to make sure I got a summit shot in addition to an overlook shot. 

I particularly love this one, of me walking back because I forgot something. Look at just how unbelievably disgusting I am: 

I LIVED LIKE THIS FOR 3 WEEKS. IN PUBLIC.

The clouds behind me began to reflect a sunset I didn't want to be there already, but it was beautiful.

I then flipped out a bit. My legs hurt. All of me hurt. But I wanted to get as far down the steep stuff as I could before it got dark. I decided I wouldn't rest until I made it to the bottom of the stairs, then I wouldn't rest again until I made it to the intersection and the flatter terrain after it. I went down the mountain ridiculously fast, just ignoring my jelly legs as best as I could. It was honestly pretty impressive how fast I went, and I only wiped out 3 or 4 times (which SUCKED).

By the time I got to the intersection, I hurt a lot. I had no idea just how messed up my legs were, but my back and feet were absolute hell. So I generally just took my time from there on out, listening to music very quietly and taking breaks when needed. It wasn't too bad, but the last bit of steep downhill was. I say this after every big hike I do, but it honestly is true every time- I've never been so happy to see my car- this time (for once) not completely alone in the parking lot. 

The level of happiness I was experiencing was nothing though, compared to where that level went when I remembered what was in town:

Good ole DQ, saving the day. It was glorious and helped me stay awake and alive for the way-too-long drive home. 

I slept like the dead that night, and was quite stiff the next day. It turns out though, that I had no idea what stiffness felt like. The next day and several after, I can honestly say that I was more of a mess than I've ever been in my life. It was literally like I had pulled or torn every muscle in my leg, and they were trying to rebuild themselves as I walked. My legs buckled under me seemingly every time I walked, literally. It was like they'd be strong and ok, then just instantly turn into noodles and my knees would bend in the wrong direction. I almost fell over while walking through my house several times. I was this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxR4RYaUCYA (only video I could find). It was awful. I couldn't even stretch. The only physical activity I could do was swim, and I could barely do that. I literally needed to pull myself up and down the stairs and put all my weight on my arms when I sat down. My calves healed after a few days, but my quads honestly took a week to a week and a half to fully heal. It was BAD. 

So the lesson is? Don't ever do what I did. Don't be the guy that goes "eh, I can hike this mountain out of nowhere. NO BIG DEAL." And truthfully I did hike it, with it only being a little beyond the expected level of challenge and pain. But the following days would prove just how stupid I had been. But hey, I knocked another one off the list. Now I only have 44 to go. Crap. 

________________________________________________________________________________

The short version: 

Although this hike is a bit of a tourist attraction because of Ethan Ponds and its connection to Zealand Hut and the Appalachian Trail, it is not a beginner mountain. Before the trail intersection, it's pretty easy and will feel like a nice walk through the woods. But after that, it is STEEP. The stairs/ladders are glorious, but other than those, this has some tough terrain and never-ending climbing. Your quads better be ready, otherwise you're in trouble. BUT, the trail is interesting, it's not insanely popular and the views at the top are pretty awesome, so it's definitely an awesome hike. 

-Turn onto Willey House Station Road off 302 in Crawford Notch. The trailhead is obvious. Stay right at the intersection of Ethan Ponds trail, and also at the intersection with the Ethan Pond campsite/Zealand Hut trail. From the top, you can continue on the same trail to get to Mount Tom and Field. 

-Hike time: Around 5 hours.

-Mileage: 2.7 miles up

-Elevation gain: 2,850 feet

-Summit elevation: 4,285 feet

currently listening to: Balmorhea- "Stranger"

Return to Lake Willoughby and an Epic Day

(and back to regular continuity of being a month behind on posts)

Partly because I used a picture from a google image search that has since disappeared from its original place, and partly because Lake Willoughby is such an awesome place, my original post about visiting Kingdom Trails and Lake Willoughby is my most popular post by a LOT. Plans were made very early in the summer to take a return trip to Kingdom Trails, this time with even more people. I hadn't biked much, but was still excited to make the trip, more for hanging out with friends and visiting the lake again afterwards than biking. 

As the weekend got closer, weather forecasts got worse and worse. Soon, it appeared that it was 100% going to pour all night Friday night and 60% or so through nearly all of Saturday. While I'm all about the YOLO lifestyle, camping and then biking in rain is not what I want to do. SO, I decided to head up Saturday afternoon/night when all of the rain would be done, and just make Sunday epic with a bike ride and a visit to Willoughby. 

It rained a lot Friday night, but according to Kevin, not much up there. And it was ugly on Saturday, but generally didn't rain at all. You can watch some sweet video of their Saturday riding on his blog. So, I missed out on Saturday, but still made the 3 hour trip up through the White Mountains early Saturday evening and met them at the camp site. When I got there, I only saw Kevin, Adam and Jake. "Where's Dustin and his crew?" I said. "This is it" they all said. This trip that was originally going to be at least 9 people ended up just being 4. Circumstances beyond some peoples' control was the reason for some, and not wanting to ride in shitty weather was probably the reason for everyone else. While I can't blame anyone, it was a bit of a bum out to see only 3 people there waiting for me.

But you know what, that just meant more quality time with each other. Let's party. 

We cooked up some hot dogs and random stuff Adam brought (like pasta) and drank beers, listened to music, and, other than Kevin being a raging asshole when I questioned his DJ decisions (playing Bjork), generally had good times. 

Early on, Kevin was possessed. 

And later got way more intense. (That's him playing butt guitar to Piebald)

I had bought a new camera a few days earlier, and this weekend would be the beta test for it. I found out that it has a setting that takes 2 pictures and combines them- not like an HDR, more like a time lapse. It made for some quality results. Adam's face!

This is our table- I don't know what the hell happened here.

Here's me. 

And here's Jake in a rasta colored hammock.

Look at his eye!

The night got weird and sillier, and I was already very happy that I had decided to make the trip. Kevin got better as a DJ too. 

creedance aaaalll night

As always, people went to bed very suddenly and fell asleep pretty instantly. These guys are pros, and they know exactly the moment to capitalize on drinking a lot then finding their bed to zonk out in. I, on the other hand, am terrible at it. I didn't drink that much and was trying to go to sleep on a mattress pad in a lean-to, exposed to the night with 3 people surrounding me, several hours before I normally go to bed. Oh goodie. I still felt confident that I'd be able to fall asleep soon though. And then Adam started snoring. Last year on the night I decided to sleep in the lean-to, Jake surprised me by snoring a lot, but he eventually quieted down and then slept in his car (weirdo). Adam was the last person I would expect to snore. He has 0% body fat, and snoring is usually attributed to a fat guy sleeping on his back. Sure enough though, he was on his back with his mouth wide open, and he was out of control. It began to infect me, and the noise of his snoring was all I could think about. I put on headphones and tried to blast loud but calming noise into my ears to knock me out, but it just sounded exactly like what it was- Sigur Ros with snoring added in. What followed was one of the longer nights of my life- falling in and out of sleep, realizing I had finally fallen asleep only because an album or song ended (which then woke me up again), not being able to get comfortable, and just the endless noise. If Adam stopped, Kevin would shift on his mini cot, creaking super loud. Awful night. But biking and Willoughby would come soon enough. 

Sort of. 

By the time everyone woke up and settled into the morning, it turned out that I was the only one who wanted to bike. They had biked a solid amount 2 days in a row and felt that they got their money's worth. I wasn't surprised Jake was saying that since he isn't the biking behemoth that the other guys are, but Kevin and Adam, freaks of nature who could probably ride 50 miles a day without sweating NOT wanting to bike? WTF?

I didn't argue too much though. I had been nervous about the weekend, since I was going to be riding with people who don't ever get tired. I hadn't ridden much and was nervous at just how tired I would get and how much I would hold them up. Truthfully, I was ok without biking. I mostly just wanted to go to Willoughby. In hindsight, once I saw Kevin's footage, I'm pretty bummed out we didn't ride. That trail looked so awesome and I wish we had done it. Oh well. 

We headed to Willoughby in Jake's car, and it was just as beautiful as I remembered it. 

Here's a panorama I took. Click the pic for the big version. 

I decided that since I had such an epic mullet (what a great feeling to reveal it to Adam and Jake when I got there), I needed to take some pics of it with the greatest backdrop ever. Here are the best photos. Yes, apple people, I'm wearing the apple shirt that promoted the release of the first iphone. OLD SCHOOL.

the mullet formed this lake millions of years ago

the perfect side view. good god.

This one is real weird (how weird is my body?), but it shows just how horrible my mullet was. I had this thing for like 3 weeks. How did I not get beat up every second?

The skinny guys had swimming stuff but didn't seem to want to get in.

I went right in though, and it was just as cold and crystal clear as I had remembered. It felt AMAZING. The skinny guys eventually made it in, then stood around and shivered while I swam around. We played catch with my gopro, which I had hoped would be pretty cool footage, but after already posting a very weird video featuring lots of underwater footage, it just wasn't worth putting any of it together. 

We changed and headed back into town to get a sandwich at the corner store. I had gotten a turkey club last year which was easily one of the greatest sandwiches I've ever eaten, and I wanted it again. It wasn't to be though- they didn't have any homemade bread left. My heart broke. So I got the same thing on panini bread with high hopes, but it was surprisingly not anything special. I was bummed out, especially since everyone else got thanksgiving sandwiches that looked incredible. We got some weird sodas though,

then said our goodbyes and went our separate ways- Jake back to Vermont, Kevin and Adam to Sanbornton NH, and me to... Franklin Falls!

mighty chicken trail

I went back and forth with it the whole way home, and eventually decided that I needed to ride. I had had my mind set all week on riding that weekend, and I had missed out. I still swam in Willoughby and had had an awesome night with friends, but I didn't bike, I had a horrible night of sleep, and I didn't get my sandwich. I needed to make the weekend better, and this would be the start of it all. After fighting sleep for the last hour (and stopping in Plymouth for soda because I honestly didn't see how I was going to make it back), I pulled in to what has become my favorite place to ride, suited up and went for it. 

It was HOT. I was absolutely pouring sweat when I finally stopped for awhile. This was humid riding though, and that's my favorite kind. As my luck/fat guy curse has played out this year though, I managed to get a flat tire at the absolute farthest point away from the parking lot. And as I'm still an idiot, I still didn't have my new pump attached to my bike. So, I got to walk all the way back to the parking lot. I hate myself. 

In the parking lot, I called Kevin for some advice on what to fill my back tire to, and ended up having a 15 minute conversation with some random old dude in the parking lot who was new to mountain biking and loving it. I got my bike all ready to go and put the stupid pump on my stupid bike and decided to go ride again. I had hours left of daylight and wanted to make this trip count. I hit up a trail on his advice (Rogue trail) that I've never ridden before, and it was incredibly awesome. I got a nice instagram of some sweet trees, 

then ended the trip in my favorite way, riding down to the dam and hanging out as a way to cool off. Rogue trail had been awesome, and my lack of sleep and temperature and humidity mixed with me riding really hard twice made me pretty exhausted. My back started tweaking a little bit when I was taking pictures of the insane clouds, so I lay in the middle of the road and just stared at the sky, completely alone on a beautiful day, surrounded by insane skies. Needless to say, it was a very nice moment. Here's the view looking down the road towards the dam from where I lay:

And here's some absurd skyporn- sun rays were shooting out everywhere from cartoon-esque clouds. It was awesome.

I got the hell out of there pretty quickly though, since the sky was definitely taking a turn for the worse. I wanted to swim. 

This was a great stop, since it was the first time this summer that I really felt like the pain was worth it. I finally felt good on my bike, and wanted to attack trails and ride new ones. It was just one of those days where I remember how awesome mountain biking can be, even though it's pretty much the most painful thing I do.

I made it to my post-franklin-falls-riding spot, Webster Lake, without the sky exploding yet, so I jumped in and washed the stink off. I was in the water for only a few minutes before it started to rain though, and I ended up changing right on the beach since everyone was getting out of there so fast. I got in my car right as it truly exploded. I guess this was the rain that was supposed to be happening all weekend.

I took a long exposure shot in my car of the road- it was poooourrring. 

And then 15 minutes later, the sky was beautiful again with a double rainbow.

I hadn't seen one this good in a long time, and I was psyched to be able to get an HDR of it/them. While I wished I had been able to swim more, the experience of lying in the road for as long as I did and taking in the sky was more than worth it. I got to experience quite the show.

I then headed north to make the day even better with a calzone. My bad luck continued when AHOP didn't have power (of course telling me AFTER I ordered- why wouldn't you answer the phone with that? morons), so I headed all the way back to Plymouth to get Manny's Downtown Pizzeria (formerly Toms Brothers). Never question my commitment to getting a calzone or pizza when I really want one. Also, never doubt my commitment to making a day be as awesome as possible, no matter how much driving is involved.

I stopped in at the PE Center at Plymouth for my thousandth shot of the sky that afternoon. It was quite the changing sky.

Manny's delivered. Not as good as AHOP, but these guys know what's up, and this thing was absolutely humungous.

I then drove back to my place, half unloaded my car, unloaded the sandwich I ate earlier, and hopped right back in the car to Newington to go see a movie. Rich and Josh were doing a double feature of Total Recall and The Campaign, and it turned out that I would be just in time for The Campaign. It wasn't good (actually quite bad at times), but it was still quite the way to end the day. In less than 24 hours I had driven to Vermont, partied with friends, camped out, swam in the most beautiful lake ever, ate lunch at a sweet little country store, rode my bike more than I had yet this summer, swam again in a different lake, sat and watched an insane thunderstorm, took in ridiculous skies, ate a delicious calzone, and seen a movie with separate friends. LOTS of driving, and not everything turned out how I wanted it, but I seized the hell out of this weekend (once it stopped raining :))

currently listening to: Man Overboard- Self Titled