scampering like a spidermonkey.

this past weekend was spent camping with aaron, liz and alexis out at gilson pond in jaffrey, nh by mt. monadnock.

saturday morning started with breakfast at sound bites at ball square.

mmm...coffee...

we drove up after and set up camp.

such a nice morning out!

somewhat disturbingly, we set up the tent and ended up with one odd piece that we never quite figured out where it went. womp womp.

we never figured out where this little guy went...

shortly after setting up camp, liz and alexis decided to take a walk around the pond, and aaron decided to take a nap. having recently rediscovered the joys of settling down with a good book, that's exactly what i did. i grabbed let the great world spin and sat by the awesome, warm fire and immediately plowed through a quarter of my new book. :) it was pretty much exactly what i needed after the week prior.

perfection.

i...i like fire...

liz and alexis came back. and guillotine was brought out. fun was had. :)

whiskey + apple cider + guillotine = camp fun goodness!

so pretty...

delicious dinner of hobo bundles was made. sausage, green peppers, onions, potato, salt, pepper, olive oil...so good...

delicious hobo bundles!

we topped off the night with scrumptious s'more-ness. unfortunately, it was too dark for photos. but seriously, i roast the best golden-brown marshmallows...i roast them to win.

sunday morning brought campfire coffee, pancakes and bacon!

mmm...more coffee...

campfire bacon!

post-breakfast, we drove over and hiked monadnock, or as alexis put it, scampered up it. it may have been the best hike/climb i've done to date. past the book-reading by the campfire, this was also perfect for a weekend away from the ridiculousness of real life.

scampering ahead!

more scampering!

i love scampering!

lunch break from scampering. 

hey, look! a traverse!

just like girl guides taught me. :)

at the summit - best. hike. ever.

bonus perk to the hike: seeing two deer off the side of the trail on the way down, towards the end. so. adorable. so glad i ran ahead for that. :)

i may not go camping or hiking much, but this was a great end to the season. :) 

i love fall. :)

i may or may not still smell like woodsmoke... :)

hello, fall. i'm doing it wrong.

so, recently, now that summer is over, my brain has inevitably chosen this moment in time to go on an outdoorsy kick.

and i'm loving it.

the past month's outdoorsy agenda
+ ran my first 5k race as part of the cube 3 studio team. somehow ended up with a decent time and being the fastest woman in the office. i'll take it. for now.
+ get my rickety old schwinn fixed up and good to go for bike rides to alewife/friends' houses/anywhere to minimize car usage whenever possible.

i love my crappy, old bike. :)

+ spending labor day weekend on the cape with friends and just enjoy the sun, sand and (five bajillion) snails. no really. they apparently just cover the entire bay floor. it's a little gross.

pretty...

+ going camping up at dolly copp in the white mountains, nh last weekend with liz morrison, aaron and liz' friend deb. pretty fun considering the downpour that decided to come down that night, and the bear warning for the area that weekend. we drove up saturday morning, somehow taking six hours to get there. stopped at the tilt'n diner on the way (deliciousness). got there, set up came, made camper's stew (more deliciousness) and (obviously) s'mores (even more deliciousness). i learned that hatchets are friggin' awesome. made more nommage in the morning - eggs, hash brown, coffee/hot chocolate - before packing up camp. we then hiked up to lonesome lake for a picnic lunch before heading home.

lonesome lake.

upcoming outdoorsy agenda
+ taking my fixed up, old schwinn (my bike needs a name), fixing up some lunch and biking the minuteman bike path to the end in bedford with aaron.
+ as a special birthday treat for aaron, going ziplining up in the white mountains on a canopy tour with alpine adventures. i'm super excited for this one.
+ hopefully, more biking adventures. i like having it back and functioning. it's a little sad that i don't work somewhere i can just bike back and forth from. as much as i like driving, the 40-min commute to an from work (on a good day) is just not what i pictured doing as part of my first real-person job. plus, it would just mean working closer to cambridge/somerville/home, in general.

as much as i could do without the ridiculous bug bites i got out on the cape, i really do like being outdoors.

sunset at sunken meadow beach | eastham, ma (cape cod)

so many (dead) horseshoe crabs!

walking with the birdies. :)

mmm...campfire...mmm...s'mores...

low-tide sunset with five bajillion little snails.