We did a full day of training today with our RMI guides right under the shadow of Rainier. It was exhilarating, frightening and encouraging all at the same time. Even though these pictures may make it seem like we are just playing in the snow, it was not easy. This is brand-new territory for us. We…
After stopping in Seattle for a brief overnighter (and seeing Rainier from a distance for days and family!), we are in Ashford (with WiFi!!!) and had Day 1 of our 5-day summit climb attempt. We basically just met our guide (not Dave Hahn as we originally thought, but we did get to meet the legend)…
A lot of people have asked if J & I are still attempting to climb Mount Rainier at the end of July. Could be the fact I have not mentioned a single peep about it on the blog in a LONG time … Indeed we are! We were able to work the time in with…
We are slowly making our way west, not without a few pitstops and visiting of course!!! In June, I slept on a bed at a friend or family’s house 18 nights, 8 nights in the van, 3 nights in a hotel and only one night camping. J, on the other hand, slept 10 nights at…
So I anticipate every post my wonderful wife puts up on this blog. Even when she makes fun of the “couple” of concerts I may hit each year. And amiss this busy tour while driving hundreds miles a day I did manage to find me some shows. To be exact the one and only Telluride…
10 days since my last post, but it feels more like 20 days because of everything we packed in! Sorry folks, I can’t just blog about one thing anymore, it’s going to be a package deal for awhile. Who would have thought being a professional backpacker was this busy?? We have now given our 3rd…
We are now 2 presentations in with 6,000+ miles driven across 16 states, all in 2 weeks. To say it’s been busy is an understatement! But we are happy. I have lots of updates, but a few take precedence over others. As we mentioned, we are going to see a lot of friends as we…
We gave our very first Gear & Go presentation for BP in Minneapolis and it was a success! We had about 25 people there, which was a perfect-sized crowd for our first event. People laughed at our jokes and stories and came up to us afterwards to thank us for the information. And, of course,…
Deal is really living up to his trail name these days. What started as a joke on the AT for him showing off all his deeply discounted and free gear has now become his life. We are receiving gear in droves these days. Every day is like Christmas with a new package full of goodies.…
Steps 1-3: Dream big, live your passions and don’t ever stop believing. I am here to report that the wanderinglavignes will be wandering once again. We are leaving BD and have a new adventure awaiting, an adventure we could only dream about until recently. And I swear I am not trying to play an early…
One of our favorite things about living in NH was the SNOW!!! Our first year living there, we had record amounts of snow (somewhere around 120 inches). NoVa may not have the cumulative amount of snow all winter long like NH, but it has surprised us with its random snow events! Like today, when we…
Our kindred spirits visited us. Yes, we have our very own kindred spirits, another couple who spends as much time outdoors and reuses foil & saran wrap just like we do. Unfortunately, they live all the way up in NH, so we don’t see each other very often. Any visit with Paul/Second Nature and Kristen/Gr8ful…
Today marks the one-year anniversary of finishing our thru hike of the AT!! This time last year, we summitted Springer Mountain with heavy–yet excited–hearts. As we settled back into reality, we knew we couldn’t live without adventure. We decided to switch gears a little bit and focus on high pointing. We have done 26 high…
These days, there is a “group” for everything. Like-minded people get together and do their thing. Trekkies. Stay-at-home Moms. Stamp Collectors. The list goes on. Deal’s goes to rec director conferences, where they play whiffle ball. I go to my medical writer conferences, where we get our smart on. It’s always nice to interact with…
We have been getting out and doing more and more hiking these days. Novel concept, you know, since we live ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL. We are trying to re-hike the miles north and south of here so we are experts in our field. We get very specific questions about the trail in the area and…
We had more visitors roll through in July and now in August and they will continue through the end of the month (4 more arriving manana)! As much as I know you want me to recount every detail, I only have time to highlight our most recent visitors … of course, I probably have no…
RevKev came to visit us at the cabin (aka, paradise) this weekend and we had loads of fun. For new blog readers, RevKev married Deal & I five years ago! He was a long-time friend before that and now he lives in Colorado Springs, making yearly visits a possibility.He got here Friday evening and Saturday…
It’s good to be back in Colorado and at the cabin and we are waiting for the snow. Seriously, what a disappointing winter!! But alas, we have still gotten out as much as we can to do some XC skiing, especially with SILAdventure/Jamie & DocDoc/Rachel here with us this past weekend. We all attempted a…
Before this week, I had never been to South Dakota (4 states left on my list!!!), while Deal has been on his road trip to move out to Phoenix in 2002. But since South Dakota was a quick 7-hour road trip from CO, we figured WHY NOT? Well, folks, it was well worth it. I…
Greetings from paradise! We have been at the cabin for a 5 full days and there is no cabin fever here! We are in a semi-normal routine, which includes cooking meals in a real kitchen and lots of catching up/organizing life. Yes, we are still living out of our bags and Deal is dreaming of…