The National Christmas Tree

We went down to DC on Friday night to see the National Christmas Tree. The lights go off at 11 pm, and I think we made it there at 10:57. (Dinner was eaten at a relaxed pace, and then we went to the Temple Lights and THEN we made it to the National Tree.)

 Andrew and I got our photo taken.....

 And then the lights went out, so Brent got his picture in the dark. Outside the fence that keeps people away at night. Aren't we good friends?

Camping by the Ocean

We made our Fall pilgrimage to the ocean.  It was a lovely weekend. One of my favorite places with some of my favorite people. 

 Andrew sneaking some much needed shut-eye. 

 SUCH a beautiful weekend! We couldn't have asked for better October weather. We didn't even have our hot-cocoa in the morning. It wasn't that cold. 

 Andrew, true to form, working while camping. 

 Brent, aka: Atlas. 

Half the crew. There ended up being nine of us, which was really, really fun.

Camping Solo

Fact: I love the beach.
Fact: I love camping.
Fact: Andrew also likes both those things.

Sad fact: Andrew and I have never been camping together.

Fact: But this time it's his turn to camp, while I stay home.

REI and church need some attention. But I'm SO happy Andrew went anyway! He went with his two good techie friends, so I'm sure they talked about nothing but technology, and loved every minute of it. The last few times I went while he had to work, so I' glad he went and got out into nature. Camping on the beach, yummy food, kayaking, pretty driving. Just wish I was there. (He did call tonight and promise not flush any keys down the toilet, which was much more than I've done for him when I've gone camping).

Assateague Island

I went camping with some friends this weekend to this lovely beach. It's one of my favorites. Pure white sand, almost totally people-free. Only three and half hours away. Andrew couldn't come with us because he had class at Hopkins on Saturday morning, among the millions of the other things he had to get done.

We went down on Friday right after work. We're all teachers, so it's an easy drive right after school. I was planning on coming back up on Saturday night.

Until I flushed my keys down the toilet.

That's right. They were in the front of my hoodie as I leaned over to flush, and they fell out of my pocket and into the toilet at just the right time. There was no saving them. We tried.

So poor Andrew, and had to make that 3.5 hour drive to save me on Sunday after church. And then ride home alone for another 3.5 hours. He did get a good five minutes at the beach. And I'd like to think it was a good five minutes. I on the other hand had another full day here. The only food I had left (remember how I wasn't planning on staying another day....and didn't have a car) was chocolate. But I had a book and a magazine, so basically I was set: Chocolate, good book, and a beach. There are worse mistake vacations.

2400 Feet Straight Up

This will be the last post for a while, as this is the last stop with internet before we get to basecamp.

We should be back through in about 8 days. Or so.

Yesterday we climbed a straight 2,400 feet. Whoa.

We'll spend two nights at this elevation (yesterday and today) before moving up higher. Today to help aclimitize we climbed to 12,500. Without packs on it was manageable, but we've decided to drop some gear here and pick it back up on our way through.

It's beautiful. And so far the weather has really been on our side. It was in the 60's today, and cloudy. We were hoping to get our first view of Everest today, and we saw part of it for a split second as the clouds parted. But, no rain, so no complaints.

Here is where we've spent the last couple of days.

More pictures next week. :) We're off to the top of the world.

Nepal

We made it to Kathmandu!

Similar story as getting to Bangkok: Ann puked, Andrew's bag is lost. (just one this time! :)

Hopefully the bag arrives tomorrow so we can catch our flight Saturday to begin trekkin.

Brent has joined us (and he's Rabies free!) All is well, these two are funny to travel with!

Patkins Spring Break 2009

Just a few pictures from Spring Break. I know, about a month late, but Brent had the pictures and would not surrender them. I'm convinced it's out of fear. Fear that if other people found out how much fun we have on vacations that other people might start coming with us.

I promise. It's fun. And if you came, I wouldn't have to make this face anymore. This is the face of a woman who has seen nothing but Brent Watkins for five straight days as we backpacked through Zion.

But in all seriousness, it's been fantastic to have such a good friend that has the same work schedule so that we can go on Spring Break together. See here and here for a little memory jog. If anyone is interested in joining us next year, it's already in the works. Clear your calendars for Patkins 2010, March 29-April 5.

New York City Christmas

Brent and I headed north for a little Christmas celebration this weekend! We spent most of the day in Central Park, shopping on Fifth Avenue, checking out Rockefeller Center, and enjoying the first snow of the season. We have both been to New York several times, so there wasn't a need for a whole lot of touring. We finished up with a little dinner in Little Italy (Yum!) and a the Nutcracker at the Lincoln Center. Uh-mazing.

Newvember Thanksgiving

I ran in a tank top today.

Who knew North Carolina was so warm at the end of November?

On the drive down last night, I was also informed that there are certain foods that are served at all important meals in the south: greens, black-eyed peas, corn bread, deviled eggs, and creamed corn.

All of them were present today.

Newvember: Cherry Garcia

Bless Brent's heart, after a rough week at school he showed up at my house last night with a NEW late night ice cream flavor.

A little Cherry Garcia and a good talk on Federal Hill improved the week exponentially. It's amazing what a little creamy goodness can do.

Hiking in the Shenandoah

Kat braved the drive with me, starting at 6:30. We would have been slighter earlier, but as I walked out of my house at 6:15, one of our friends from up the street was just walking home from work at Hopkins (note, this is 6:15 AM!) so I gave him a lift home. It was among the funnier moments of the day when I walked out of the house and saw him walking home. I looked at me and asked me what I was doing, while the better question was what was HE doing.
Our little band of hikers at the top of some cliffs that over look the waterfall. You can't actually see the waterfall very well, but it was a beautiful hike in. We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather, especially for the first weekend of November! Another successful Patkins adventure.

September Adventure Trois: Assateague Island

No pictures for this one.

Brent and I hadn't been camping for a couple of weeks, so we headed east to the coast. We can never seem to get out of Baltimore at a reasonable time, so by the time we get down to the island it is about 10:00 and always dark. Now that we've done this a couple of times though, it's actually one of my favorite things about going. There is little to no light pollution, and the sand is so white and bright. I love hiking (by that I mean walking on the beach with no shoes on) listening to the water.

It had rained all day Friday, and most of the evening, so there were no crowds. Luckily it cleared out just in time for us to walk into the site. Saturday was a beautiful 80 degrees. A perfect weekend at the beach.

Assateague Island

Two of my favorite people: Brent and Kat

Brent and I decided to take a quick weekend vacation to one of the coastal islands of Maryland this weekend. We'd invited everyone we know for the past month, but no one could be convinced, or they already had things planned.

We drove down Friday night, and spontaneously our two other friends, Kat and Christian came and met up with us on Saturday night. We were so excited they joined us! Kat brought with her a feast of tin-foil dinners, s'mores, strawberries, trail mix, and our favorite homemade cookies!

View of the Atlantic from camp.

Brent, Digging up the Chocolate

Brent bought a candy bar on Friday on our way to camp. The idea was that we would eat it on Saturday. However, it was at least 80 degrees on Saturday, and by the time we got back to camp after exploring the island, the candy bar had melted. Don't worry, there was a simple solution. 1. Dig a 4 foot hole. 2. Tie a random peice of string we found on the beach to the candy bar. 3. Bury the candy bar. Allow it to remain burried for 30 minutes. 4. Dig up the gold and eat resolidified chocolate. Genius.

Altogether, we had an amazing time. The weather was fantastic and really, can you ever complain about two days at the beach?

Spring Break 2008

Caitlyn came to beautiful Baltimore for her Spring Break and we decided to head off to the Appilachian Trail. It started off well, but as you can see later it got just a little bit colder than we would have liked.
Some people may wonder why it took us a little longer to break camp than the other two boys we were camping with. This may be one of the reasons....
One of the vistas. The hike was stunning, but we plan to return in the fall, because the colors appear that they will be amazing.
And in the end she didn't kill me, which is incredible considering when we woke up on Easter morning EVERYTHING had frozen. By everything, I mean inside of our tents were ice, our water was blocks of ice, and even as we filtered water it froze. This picture was taken on Monday after it had snowed a good three inches at night, and continued to snow throughout the day.

Spring Break

Better late than never, right? Here are a few quick shots from my trip to North Carolina last month.