Weekend #2
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.
I have the cinch cords on the shoulder straps for water bottles, and those worked pretty well. We’d filled my MULE with about a liter and a half of water, and them put some ice in it before leaving. The water was ice cold for about 3 hours, so Audrial was a little spoiled =)
After the hike, we went to Lidos for some pasta.
Games
Around 6pm we got together with Paul, Ethan, and Luz to play some games over at Luz’s house. We started with a game of For Sale, since everyone knew that one and it was fairly quick. Then we played a game of I’m the Boss, which Paul and I enjoyed, though Luz and Audrial didn’t seem to like it. Luz won that one. I think I may have come in last =p
We also played Bohnanza, the bean trading game. I had a good time with this one. I think with repeated plays it will get even better. This was also Audrial’s favorite. I think either Paul or I won this one. The end came “too soon”; I was making preparations, and had a good line up, but simply didn’t have the time left to put them into play.
Church
On Sunday, Audrial had requested that we go to the small church. We were planning on going to church at 11, but this bumped out schedule up by an hour. She’d left her hairbrush at Melissa’s, so we went to get her a new one, came home and washed her hair and then headed off to church. She liked the singing but didn’t like the talking =)
I met up with Nelson and found out that I missed their youngest daughter’s graduation party (which I had intended to attend) on Saturday, pretty much because I zoned it and didn’t realise what day it was. Nelson invited us over to his place that evening to help gobble up some leftovers.
Nelson’s
We went to Dorene and Nelson’s place at around 5. Audrial brought a bathing suit and we spent some time in the pool after hanging out and eating in their gazebo. The Robles’ youngest is 9 years old (also named Nelson), so he and Audrial and his cousin Dylan and I were all in the pool. I’d take the Audrial and Nelson on my shoulders, lift them up in the air and randomly drop them or spin around until I fell. The kids had contests to see who could hold their breath under water the longest, and I gave them some pointers. Jasmine Taylor joined us when Paul and his wife Renee arrived.
We left around 7:30 with leftovers and an invitation for Audrial to come back and play with Nelson soon.
We finished off the night watching some more Kyle XY, and me finishing a chapter of a book I kept by my bedside (“This Present Darkness”, the first in a series I’ve been meaning to read).