Hiked up to the Dearleap Rock overlook. One of the batteries in my GPS was bad, so it conked out about a quarter mile onto the trail. Stopped at the AT/LT parking lot on the way back and gave two through-hikers ("Kentucky" and "Pacer") a ride in to the WalMart in Rutland.

Aaron came in to work today to find that he no longer had a job (it had been coming for a while, and Aaron was using up all his remaining vacation the week before).

Hug 47: Aaron Weinstein

Got my very first ever passport in the mail today. Then drove over to Hanover, NH for the White Mountain Mixed ultimate tournament. We went 2 and 2. That's Josh and Meadow's new dog Louie.

Day 2 of the White Mountain Mixed. We lost our first 2 games, then beat Burlington in our final game, which was cool. I had some Ramunto's pizza and went home.

Nick, Wheaton, Sarah, Amy, Rick, and Meadow. the 7th player on the line was a guy we picked up named Food, but he was having no part of the team love-in.

Hug 48: Wheaton Squier

Don and his two kids Dylan (13) and Ethan (10) arrive for a visit.

Hug 49: Don Wright
Hug 50: Ethan Wright
Hug 51: Dylan Wright

Don and the kids came to the signshop and we shot a round of disc golf, then drove up to the Okemo summit and climbed to the top of the fire tower. Don was too chicken to go all the way to the top though.

While we were up there, we heard a weird screaming alarm sound and eventually tracked it down to a CO2 detector which was in the tall grass just below the Glades Peak lift shack. Weird.

We all went to ultimate and Ethan played the entire time while Don and Dylan watched. After that we had pizza at Ramunto's.

Don and the kids came to the signshop we went down to Bromley mountain's Adventure Park, stopping for lunch at the New American Grill in Londonderry on the way down.

We took an alpine slide ride then went on Bromley's "Sun Flyer" which is a 50mph downhill zip-line and is totally cool. I lost my cap about half-way down though, which bummed me out. Dylan was too scared to go on it so it was just me, Don, and Ethan.

After the Sun Flyer, we had ice cream and played miniature golf and Ethan got pouty because he came in last. Then 3 more alpine slides, the last two of which Don and i raced in parallel tracks, going way too fast and having way too much fun.

We stopped at a grocery store on the way back and got stuff for dinner, then walked the dogs up in the "top of the world" field.

We all went to play in the Ace Race at Okemo. 36 (short) holes and i got one ace, but the disc went right through the chains at least 3 other times. The winner had 6 aces.

Ethan got tired, wasn't doing well, and nearly melted down again, but it was a fun time. We all chilled at home after that.

Don cooked pancakes for breakfast, then they hit the road.

Hug 52: Don Wright
Hug 53: Ethan Wright
Hug 54: Dylan Wright

I got up for work, but drove down to Tater Hill Golf Course to take some pictures. It was a crystal clear morning with mist in the valleys and i got some good shots. We were desperately in need of some shots of Tater Hill at Okemo. I got in to work at about 8:00. Pulled into Ludlow with my boss Tim pulling in right behind me on his way in from Arlington.

I had worked on Sunday and put in some long days so that i could finish my week on Thursday and drive down to Shunk. A near-full moon was directly ahead of me as i pulled in to Ellenton, about to turn onto our driveway.

Some workers started removing the 30-year-old ceiling in our house so that they could recess all of the light fixtures. Late that evening (after some faulty GPS routing) Cara O'Flannigan arrived for a visit.

I snapped that pic of myself with my iPhone. I look drugged.

Hug 55: Cara O'Flannigan

Cara and i picked and processed a couple batches of elderberry jelly. Charlie grilled chicken for dinner.

Hug 56: Ann Henderson

Cara in the kayak. She left to drive back to Cleveland.

Hug 57: Cara O'Flannigan
Hug 58: Cara O'Flannigan

Got up early and walked the dogs along the lake, where i saw a great blue heron and then the raptor above (osprey? immature bald eagle?). Got back to the house and Charlie and i hit the road to NYC. We were approaching the GW Bridge and saw that there was a 45-minute delay, so ducked off I-80 and made our way down to the Lincoln Tunnel, which was delay-free. We got on to the West Side Highway, then crawled across Manhattan to the Brooklyn Bridge and out to Charlie's roommate's apartment. We unloaded all of Charlie's stuff into a freight elevator and then the dogs and i headed north to I-684 to NY-22 to US-7. I spent about an hour looking for a place to get a good sandwich along the way and finally drove around Bennington until i found a little pizza place that made an OK sandwich. Got home just under 12 hours after leaving the lake.

Hug 59: Ken Ford
Hug 60: Joanne Ford
Hug 61: Charlie Eisenhood