Blue Hills

This weekend was going to be epic. First, we were going to go up to Portland Maine on Friday and sea kayak out to an island to spend the night. But then work got really busy and none of us could get off early enough. So.......

Plan B: Climb Mt. Washington. It's the tallest mountain in the northeast, and extremely dangerous. About 150 people have died climbing it. It's 3.5 hours away, 8 miles round trip, 4000 feet of elevation gain, and up to 200 mph winds at the summit. That's not a typo. We would leave at 6:30, arrive at 10, hike until 5, get home at 8:30.

Friday at midnight I realized I was utterly exhausted from my week and didn't want to kill myself. I sent out a few texts, and we moved on to Plan C.

After a great breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and ham, we left at 9 AM, drove 30 minutes to the Blue Hills Reservation, and embarked on a leisurely hike. Not so epic, but better than nothing. Highlight? Impromptu swim in a beautiful pond.

Another highlight was the group - one old friend and three new friends - one of the most well-traveled (India, Ukrane, Sierra Leone, Morocco, Cairo, London, etc) and well-read (classic literature) groups I've ever spent time with. I've realized that I'm woefully behind on my reading of the classics.