Planet Tampa

 

Well, we are finally starting to settle in here in Tampa so I thought I'd check in and catch you up on our first couple of weeks here. While we are here working for the winter (and not traveling & exploring) I likely will only post blog entries occasionally, but I did want to share some details from our first two weeks in Tampa Bay and assure folks that we haven't dropped off the face of the earth!

No, we haven't become Tampa Bay Bucs fans yet (or Ray's for that matter), and are not likely to do so - but it has been rather neat to work right across from the Buc's stadium and right near the Yankee's Spring Training Camp. Should be interesting when Feb/March roll around. For now, we are getting acclimated to being in a City again, a warm climate in November, and yet another new existence. We are getting good at new experiences and flying by the seat of our pants, but it does come with an elevated level of stress while all of the logistics are being worked out.

Just last Friday we finally moved out of the extended stay hotel where we had been staying for the first few weeks, and into a short term condo rental that feels more like an actual home.

It's only about 5 miles from my new workplace and is right on the bus line. Yes, I said bus. One of the challenges for us here right from the start has been not having a commuter vehicle to zip around in.  As our schedules grow more complex, we often find ourselves heading in opposite directions with just one vehicle - and a vehicle that is not particularly fond of all the idling in traffic. Got my bus pass today and hopefully we'll be able to give the van a much-needed break from daily commuting.

We have managed to have some fun here in Florida while working out the logistics of our temporary foray onto planet Tampa. The first weekend we were here, we spent some time checking out St. Petersburg, including a downtown arts and music festival and a quick re-visit to Tropicana Field, where we'd been once before with the boys and our nephew Bo to see a Red Sox/Devil Ray's game many many years ago. And this past Friday night, we snuck off to historic Ybor City to see one our favorite bands, American Aquarium, playing at the Old World Brewery.

American Aquarium put on a fantastic show!

 

Not the Red Sox - but hey, these folks seem to like their Rays too!

A new adventure about to begin...

Well, we're finally on our way to Tampa to begin our new adventure; a "winter" in a warm climate and a return to the workforce (in a seasonal capacity) in a new and different place.  After doing another round of visiting in Rhode Island and a few last trips to our storage unit to put away our camping and hiking gear and switch it up for what we will need in Florida (including actual work clothes!), we packed up the van and headed south toward Tampa and my seasonal job with PwC that begins on November 4th.

On our way we had a great stopover in DC for a few days to visit Andre's sister Rose and her family. As always, their hospitality was fantastic and the accommodations in their beautiful home superb! We had a great visit, enjoying the city during the day and watching the Capital's hockey and of course, Red Sox baseball in the evenings.  Their home is only a short walk from the National Zoo, so we spent he first afternoon walking around the zoo, enjoying the exhibits (especially the big cats and the playful otters) and reminiscing about all the previous visits to the zoo when our kids were very small.



Cheetah Pacing

 Quite an impressive Lion

Otters Playing

The next day, we rode our bikes down to the White House and the National Mall and enjoyed many of the monuments and museums before heading back to Rose & Terry's for a nice dinner and Game 1 of the World Series.

Andre in front of the White House

The Lincoln Memorial - one of my favorites

After a great couple of days with the Audette-Lynch's in DC, we packed it up once more and continued south into the Carolina's, stopping at the Duck-Rabbit Brewery tasting room in North Carolina for some free sampling of their high quality dark beers, before continuing on to Myrtle Beach where we stayed for two nights before finally making our way into Florida, where we spent a night in Jacksonville, Florida.

Duck-Rabbit Brewery Tasting Room

Lots of Great Choices

 

Today we are in the van heading to Tampa to do some early "scouting" of the area we will be temporarily relocating to and then we will head to New Port Richey to visit Mom for a few days before heading back to down-town Tampa for the weekend and the start of my work week next week.

 

We are excited about being in a new place for a while and I am excited about starting a new job and enjoying some of the benefits of being in the workforce again, albeit temporarily. There are some aspects of work that I have missed and I will enjoy revisiting them for a short while. Of course the money doesn't hurt either.  Not sure how I will feel once I am working steadily without much free time, but it will be a good test for determining if this makes sense for us to do every winter or every few winters.

 

Whatever the outcome, I love new experiences, so this will be one more under my belt. And then in the Spring it will be time to figure out what's next on this adventure... 



Enjoying New England - but off the Trail

Well, Andre and I have spent the last few days enjoying Fall in Southern Vermont and Western Massachusetts, but are not on the trail anymore. About two weeks into the Long Trail hike, I felt that I just couldn't do it physically anymore and we ended our thru-hike.  Andre could have and certainly would have completed the journey, had I not encountered such difficulty with the physical demands of the terrain, but as we got on together, we got off together and settled for two weeks of Long Trail memories rather than four.

Since then, we have spent the time unpacking and re-organizing, camping at a variety of places, and driving around the beautiful Berkshires and surrounding area, as well as starting to make plans for our winter in Florida. We spent a few nights in Brattleboro, VT at a hotel, giving us the opportunity to revisit one of our favorite old haunts, McNeill's Brewery. We also spent a few nights at a wonderful old campground in Savoy Mountain State Forest in Western Massachusetts. The campground was full of apple trees - it was obviously an orchard at one time - so we have been eating fresh apples to our hearts content as we contemplate our next steps.

So although all did not go exactly as planned, we are doing fine as always and finding interesting things to do each day.  This afternoon we are going to a Music, Barbecue and Brews outdoor festival in Greenfield, MA and we will also enjoy listening to the Red Sox game and hanging out tomorrow watching the Patriot's game. We will enjoy our remaining time in New England, appreciating all it has to offer before we leave these parts once more. And although I am sad that I was not able to complete the trail (and in not doing so, prevented Andre from doing so either), we did come away with many wonderful memories from the two weeks we did spend hiking over 90 miles from the Canadian Border through beautiful Vermont. 

More Long Trail Photos

Classic Autumn in Vermont

The Power of Water....

A few more "Homes for the Night"

Mount Mansfield (5 photos)

 

Crossing another Beaver Pond

 A Friend on the Trail...

 

Getting Started & Week One

Well, we made it through week one and are just packing back up from our first night off the trail at a beautiful bed and breakfast close to the trail in Jeffersonville, VT. I will say that for me, the first week was both enjoyable and also grueling and at times very very physically challenging. The night off the trail was extremely recuperative (showers, clean sheets, pizza & lounging around) and I'm hoping to carry that "good will" into the next few days as we go over some pretty challenging terrain, including Mt Mansfield and Camel's Hump. Here are those promised photos from the first week.

Final Pack up of our Packs before being picked up by the shuttle

 

Our Home for the first night (Journey's End Camp) at the Canadian Border

 

 

The U.S. Canadian Border (A cleared, mowed line in the

woods) 

 

International Border Marker (at the Northern Terminus of the Long Trail)

 

 

 Climbing Jay Peak (The LT goes up the ski slopes!)

Posing for a photo in the TramWay Building & Snack Bar at the top of Jay Peak

(We had a great lunch, dried out, and charged our phone and laptop)

Lunch Stop atop Mt Belvidere

(Also drying out our sweaty hiking clothes)

A gorgeous day to hang the clothes!

 

 A Stunning Beaver Pond in the Early Morning

Climbing Through Devil's Gulch

Looking down at VT-15 and the Towns of Johnson & Jefferson  

 

A Last Rest on Prospect Rock before heading down into Town

 

Crossing the Lamoille River via Suspension Bridge

 

 

After crossing the bridge it was just another .4 mile to get to the road crossing at Vermont Route 15, where the innkeeper from the Bed & Breakfast (Nye's) in Jeffersonville was picking us up from the trail. With the first 50 miles behind us, we are taking a much deserved break!

On Top of Jay Peak

Well - we  are finally on the trail. Today is our second full day of hiking. On Tuesday morning we drove to North Adams, MA and parked the van. We won't see it again until we walk off the final steps of the southern end of the trail in about a month. We got a late start on the ride north because the shuttle driver was late due to a communication mishap, but we were on our way by 12:40 and got dropped off at the Journey's End parking lot on the Canadian Border by around 5pm. Then it was a short hike in (less than a mile) to the Journey's end cabin where we camped for the night.

Yesterday morning we woke early and began the day's hike, about 9 miles. It was our first time with full packs on in a number of years and the morning didn't feel too bad. It was exciting to see the actual northern point on the trail (that was about 1.3 miles from where we slept - as we weren't officially on the trail yet). We took photos at the border marking, the same place we have photos of the boys from 13 years ago when they finished their own northbound hike.

The afternoon was tougher on us. We had a quick lunch at the Shooting Star shelter then set out for a grueling 3 hours of ups and downs and turns as we made our way up around and over Doll Peak. The trail was very wet, rocky and slippery but we made it to our next camp, Laura Woodward Shelter by 3:20. We were pretty damp and cold and I spent quite a while in my sleeping bag just trying to get the chill off. Andre made a great fire and a good meal and we got to bed by 7pm!

Had a great warm night of sleep in our sleeping bags then up and out by 8 AM this morning. It was a steep mile and a half up the ski slopes to Jay Peak where we are right now, warming up and drying out again from the dampness and also charging our phone, computer & kindle. As we've had no sun yet, it seems doubtful we'll get much use out of our solar panel for charging.  All is well, as we are sitting in the tram restaurant at the top of the slopes, waiting for the restaurant to open at 11:00. Haven't been able to upload photos yet, so those will come along with the next posting.

Until then...

Ready, Set, HIKE...

Today's the day! Just finished packing up and checking out where we will be parking the van during the trip. We are sitting in McDonald's posting and having a last healthy (haha) lunch before we get picked up by the taxi service that will shuttle us to the Northern Terminus of the trail at the Canadian border. Will post photos the first chance I get.

Love to all and Cheers!

Pre-packing for the Long Trail

Well, after a great couple of days with the entire Audette clan, including our boys, celebrating our niece Emma's wedding, we got down to business doing a "pre-packing" for our month-long backpacking trip that begins on Tuesday. We've been in a hotel for the last three nights for the family festivities, so this morning we brought in all of our camping gear, food & supplies from the van and spread it out all over the room to sort, organize, and generate the various lists of items we'll need to pick up, things we need to test to make sure they are still charged or working, things we'll need to add in at the last minute, etc.

As I write this, we are charging our computers, phone, kindle, and the new battery packs that go with the new solar charging system we will be using for the first time on this trip. Tomorrow we will do a last trip to the grocery store, work through our lists, pack our re-supply box and bring it to the post office to send ahead to the post office in Waitsfield, VT where we will pick it up half-way through the trip.  I plan to post one last blog entry tomorrow and then will post as I'm able from the trail, every 5-6 days or so when we have Internet (when we pass through a town, on top of a mountain, etc.).  Until tomorrow....

Winding down in Rhode Island

Well, we are coming up on our last week here in Rhode Island and have begun to prepare for our next adventure, thru-hiking Vermont's Long Trail. We pulled the trigger on a mode of transportation to get from the Massachusetts state line (North Adams), where we will be leaving the van, to the northern terminus of the trail at the Vermont/Canada border. After much research and a few tentative plans that would have involved a number of different legs, including Amtrak train and then a series of buses and/or private shuttle, we decided to go with just one shuttle from Mass all the way to the Journey's-end trail in northern Vermont. We have made reservations with a private shuttle service for pick up in Massachusetts at mid-day on Tuesday, Sept 24th and should be dropped off at the actual trail head in Northern Vermont by dinner time.

On Monday of this week, after a visit with my brother Scott and his family in central New Hampshire I had the opportunity to try out my new hiking boots when Andre & I hiked Mt. Monadnock.  The day started out a little chilly but blossomed into a perfect fall hiking day.

 

 

The boots worked well, with very little rubbing and no blisters - not bad for a brand new pair - so they should be good to go the 273 miles over the mountains of Vermont in a few weeks. Over the last week or two we have been picking up random items we needed to purchase before the hike and we will get down to some preliminary packing and organizing in the next few days.

Between these mini shopping expeditions for miscellaneous hiking stuff, we also made a number of repairs to the van that have been piling up including the re-positioning of our Satellite radio antennae, re-stringing one of the day-nite window shades, repairs to window screens, and getting a new remote van key for me for the van, as I accidentally flushed mine down the toilet a few months ago (don't ask!).

We also fit in a brief trip to the Rhode Island beaches this week when we were driving around visiting some old haunts. These photos are from Galilee and also Sand Hill Cove, where we spent many summer days with the kids over the years.

 

 

 

 

We are looking forward to the upcoming week when we will enjoy reunions with a number of relatives who are coming into town for a family wedding on Saturday (one of the reasons for our visit home). Also traveling to Rhode Island for the wedding are our boys, from Delaware and Pittsburgh, respectively, so we are very excited about getting in an extra visit with them before we disappear into the woods for a month. It should be a great last week in Rhode Island.