Mt. Holyoke

Hello everyone,

Have you ever done winter hiking?  It's a completely different animal than just good old hiking, let me tell you. David and I didn't know this though, so off we went to Mt. Holyoke to escape the hustle and bustle of the city life, quite content with our rain/snow boots, and expecting to have a nice little jaunt in the mountains.

To be sure, it was incredibly beautiful.  The photos don't really do it justice, but something about the snow and the ice and the overall quiet mingled with a faint murmur of the brook created an ideal setting for two city dwellers looking to escape and recharge.

I've always found that I need more frequent contact with nature than perhaps some others.  And this is probably why my favorite city is Seattle. As you've seen, our backyard park is a giant forest haha. (don't worry, Boston, you are my second favorite  ;)  haha)  I'm not sure if David feels the need as much as I do, but he also enjoys being outdoors, so it works out for us.  I mean, deep down, I think everyone feels the rejuvenating effects of being out in nature...  don't you think? 

But going back to the whole winter hiking thing...  

It became increasingly clear as we started our climb that we didn't have the necessary equipments.  

Though neither of us actually fell..........  we got as close to that as humanly possible, multiple times.

and while we didn't see many others attempting the climb, everyone else who did had what looked like ski poles and really intense boots.  At one point, we saw this man coming down the now-very-steep trail leaning heavily on his poles and still slipping, and we decided to turn around.  He caught up to us a bit later, and showed us the gear he recommended.  He had on hiking boots, and on top of that, he had little metal claw looking things strapped to the shoes so that he wouldn't slip.  We were definitely VERY unprepared for this icy hike.  He said that he saw us turning around as he was coming down. We must have looked pretty pathetic to him  =p  haha   

Despite the unpreparedness on our part for the climb, we still thoroughly enjoyed ourselves just roaming around the mountain talking, enjoying the smells, catching each other from falling, taking photos, and laughing.

It was the perfect little half day getaway from the city, and I can't wait to go back and finish the hike once we have the equipment (or once the snow melts!)  =)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful rest of the day!
--Janny

Acadia National Park :: Hiking

Hello everyone!

Whenever I see this photo, I feel like I can breathe in the fresh, crisp, mountain air through the picture.  ahhhh...  

Hiking does a soul good  =) and we did plenty of it while we were at Acadia National Park!

We hike quite a bit around the Seattle area, but hiking here was a totally different experience.

Firstly, the vegetation was quite different, and it was fascinating to see such different species while hiking.

Also, the hike here was much rockier than the hikes I used to do in Seattle.

During one of the hikes (Beech Cliff Trail), we had to climb this rock face.

I'm not kidding..  we climbed this rock face. 

I was a little shocked at first when I saw that the 'trail' was a ladder -seemingly- precariously fastened to the cliff, but once David started up the ladder, I didn't have much of a choice but to climb as well haha

the 'trails' here consisted of ladders, boulders, and rocky staircases.  Sometimes, it was kind of scary, but looking back, it was really fun! 

at the top!

Look at this view guys...  

there's Echo Lake!

At the top, there was a trail looping around the whole top section of the cliff, which was pretty incredible to hike.  A 360 degree viewing experience!

The pictures just don't do the scenery justice, and we hardly even scratched the surface of the hiking trails there, but I hope you can still kind of see just how beautiful the hikes are in Acadia  =)

We finished the hike at the Echo Lake, which is one of the very few lakes (maybe the only?) where you can swim in Acadia.  Swimming would have been the perfect end to the hike, but the water was around 40 degrees, so we decided that we weren't actually that into swimming  haha

We had such a great time hiking around and exploring a little bit of the trails at Acadia, and we can't wait to go back sometime soon!!  =)

Thanks for stopping by!

--Janny

Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary

Hello everyone!

Last weekend, we took a break from the hustle and bustle of Boston and the Allston Christmas to visit Ipswich River Wildlife Santuary!  

I thought it would be a 'hike' so I donned my tennis shoes and really comfy hiking clothes, but it really is more of a stroll... so that was completely unnecessary haha.  a pair of normal walking shoes like what Daon is wearing would have been just fine!

Our 'hiking' partners =) 

These two are wonderful, and graciously let David and I crash with them before I could move into my new place, and we had a really great time!  by the way, they just got engaged, and they are just the cutest!  aren't they?!  we're so happy for them  =)

There are miles and miles of trails to be explored, and we explored for about... 2 hours?  and we only covered a fraction of the trails, so we're excited to go back to explore some more  =)

on one of the trails, we found this cute little bridge, so we took some time to snap a few photos of the engaged couple  ;)

and one of us  =p

and look at this dragonfly just chillin! can you spot him? (he's near the flower)  We thought he would fly away quickly, so we got down on our hands and knees and started photographing it. In the end, it turned out to be a pretty accommodating dragonfly, and it stuck around for the entire duration of its photo shoot  ;) 

a few more couply shots  =)

such cutie pies

I never thought somewhere so serene and beautifully 'wild' would be so close to Boston!  but I sure am glad to have found it!

It was just what we needed in the middle of the chaos that was move-in time in Boston, and I can't wait to go back again soon!

have a wonderful start of the week, and thanks for stopping by!

--Janny