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Hiking

We went hiking this weekend. I took Audrial and my friend Luz (whom I board game with, who has been interested in hiking) on a hike on Lamentation Mountain. I intended to bring them up Lamentation, back down, and then up Chauncey and back to the cars, but we didn’t make it up Chauncey. They were both pretty tuckered out after Lamentation. Plus this was the first “real” hike either of them had been on (a 2+hr hike); Audrial’s sandals created hot spots (not quite blisters) on her heels.

I hiked with my ULA Circuit packed with most of my backpacking stuff. I didn’t have a bladder; Audrial was using my Camelbak MULE and Luz was using Audrial’s Osprey Ace. Luz is maybe 5’7” or so, and we were able to adjust the pack to fit her just fine. The Ace is a very versatile back in that regard. I’m sure it would fit me well as well.

My pack performed great. It was very comfortable, and the hipbelt pockets are, as everyone mentions, awesome. The Ace has pockets there as well, but they’re not as big, and the zipper goes in the opposite direction and that makes them difficult to zip back up again. The Circuit hip pockets are nice and large (in my right one, I had my compact binoculars and my camera, and had some room to spare). They zip from the back to the front, and the zipper goes about half way down the front.

Well, I had a good visit with Audrial this Labor Day weekend. She flew in on Friday afternoon, and we went to Fratellos in Manchester, NH for dinner with my parents and brother. I wasn't particularly hungry (since I'd eaten some Chinese near the airport, which was actually better than I was expecting), I ordered the “Italian Pie”, with a view that I could always take it home and reheat it. Audrial had some staple linguine and huge meatballs.

Over the weekend we played a lot of board games, and I played outside with Audrial a fair bit. Here are some pictures.