is this real?

that's where i am. i can't even believe that we're here. we're engaged. we're going to get married.

i just keep looking down at my left hand to confirm that this has happened. i think i'm still in shock. i obviously was hoping this was going to happen, but i was just going about my business enjoying time in the outdoors with my then-boyfriend/now-fiance.

for REAL!?

so far, we've decided on the poconos--the area that we met (and just across the river from where andy proposed!). we would like to get married next year, but a big part of that depends on if we can get a place we want when we want (e.g., i do not want to get married in Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb or any spring month). So my mom is actually calling around to some places today to see if they have any space open for August/Sept/early Oct, and if so, I guess we're taking a trip up there this weekend.

i know time might be tight to make things work, but i really don't want a 2 year engagement. we've made it this far, let's do this. i don't think i can contain my excitement and wait until 2013. Andy also noted he would be pushing his 7 year limit. Early on in our relationship, we were watching a movie/tv show/interview/something and a woman said she was with a guy for 7 years and he hadn't committed. i looked at him and said "i can't wait 7 years, so you better make a move before then." i can't believe he really took that seriously. i mean, i meant it at the time, but when things changed and he moved out here to be with me and emptied his savings and barely ate any food, how was i supposed to expect a ring at the same time? i told him he was off the hook now, but i don't think he believes me.

man, this thing sparkles. sorry, got distracted again! 

happy thursday!

just can't contain myself!

so, yesterday, andy and i had plans to go for a hike at one of our favorite places and hopefully catch some of the fall colors turning. we've been crossing paths a lot recently with work and other commitments, so i'm glad we had set aside the day to do something for ourselves, and enjoy the outdoors. and it ended out being a beautiful summer-like day.

so the day started off with sleeping in and some chocolate chip pancakes. we got our stuff together for the hike and headed up to the Delaware Water Gap. we were doing my favorite hike, a place that andy and i had hiked on our first unofficial date back in June 2006, as i call it (which was in the rains that led to the 2006 flood of the Delaware River).

about halfway up

so the hike up Mt. Tammany is really steep on the way up, and its been ages since we've hiked there (especially when we were well conditioned to hiking all summer). we made it to the top for the spectacular view, which is also a great lunch spot. unfortunately there were stink bugs all over the place that were attacking, so we got up to head down the mountain. Andy asked me if there was another higher spot that we could get another view from the top, and I said i didn't think so, but i climbed on top of a rock that put me higher than anything else. Andy noticed that my shoes were untied, and said he would tie them for me.

Once he finished tying, he reached into his left pocket, got down on one knee, and said, "Well, I think this is a good time to propose... that I would like to spend the rest of my life hiking with you."

And I think that I was just so shocked and speechless that I don't even know what happened next, and we were sitting on the rock and he was putting this GORGEOUS rock on my finger.

and then this:

 

so i wore the ring down the mountain, holding andy's hand nearly the whole way. it just seems so surreal! i can't believe this really happened! this has just been a special place for andy and i. and as he pointed out that the Delaware River is really something that has joined us for multiple reasons, even being the border line separating the two states that we've come from and we meet in the middle.

i love this ring!! (almost as much as i love andy!)

so, no we don't have a date yet, we've got a lot to figure out, so we're just enjoying being really happy right now.

still can't even believe this is real!!

our trip to America's Dairyland

So, now that we've been back for just under 1 MONTH, I'm making this post happen...

in mid-August, Andy and I headed out to Wisconsin. Why Wisconsin? you might ask. Well, way back in 2006, when I was studying abroad in Ecuador, two of my fellow classmates met on the trip and started dating. Since our whole group was there when they got together, we were all invited to their wedding in Wisconsin. Although it would have been wonderful to have the whole group together again, only myself and one other from the group of 14 were able to make it.

We left the house very early on Thursday morning, got to the airport, boarded our plane from the tarmac, and then it started POURING. and we were delayed. and we missed our connection in Cleveland. So we were re-booked from Cleveland to Milwaukee to Madison instead of just Cleveland to Madison. We hung around the Cleveland airport for a while, lugging our bags around, eventually made it to Milwaukee, and only about 4 hours behind schedule we made it to Madison. (In my personal opinion, Milwaukee was a crappy airport--we had to leave the 'secured' area to get our tickets for the third flight, which was from a different airline, and then had to go through security again. And dump out the water bottle I had purchased at the Philly airport--UGH).

Anyway, we arrived, exhausted and cranky--and eventually went to find some food. Now, I really wanted to explore and visit the quintessential local fare. So we went to The Old Fashioned, and I had one of the most ridiculously delicious sandwiches ever. Grilled Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese with bacon and roasted red pepper, with a huge pile of onion strings (I read they were the best in Madison!), complemented by a local hard cider. YUM.

After consuming half of it (and saving the rest for later), we went for a walk to get a feel for Mad-Town. We walked over to Monona Terrace (this is our 2nd Frank Lloyd Wright building we've visited--the first was Fallingwater out in southwestern PA way back in 2008). The sun was setting, and they had just lit up the capitol building, and it was beautiful! We sat on the Terrace just looking out over Lake Monona, watching the boats drive around.

The next day, we ate breakfast at the Marigold Kitchen (delicious) and I had planned for us to walk out to Picnic Point, through the UW-Madison campus. It was probably about a 6-7 mile round trip walk. It was a beautiful preserve along Lake Mendota that then went past some beautiful campus buildings, and eventually back into preserve again on this very thin peninusla that provided wonderful views of Madison. On our walk back, we stopped and had lunch at the famous Memorial Union (which came highly recommended from a wonderful friend, Dr. Mookie).

We met up with the bride and groom to be on the eve of their wedding at the Great Dane Pub, and we consumed a couple beers and the cheese and artichoke dip (another recommendation from the fabulous Dr. Mookie). More yum. (I was eyeing up the cheddar mac that some other people got, though!)

The following day, we had breakfast at the Sunprint Cafe (mmm bacon egg and cheese sandwich), we met up with Noah and Rachael (Noah was from the Ecuador group), and Rachael is his wife. They were on the last leg of their 5 week long honeymoon, and heading back to their new home in Boulder. ADORABLE couple. I bought some cheese to take home at Fromagination on the Square, and we enjoyed the Dane County Farmer's Market (which was HUGE, and kept people shuffling along in a counterclockwise fashion around the capitol square). I tried some cheese curds, DELICIOUS cheesecake, fresh sliced tomatoes, and so much more. 

We had some leftovers at the hotel for lunch, had some ice cream at the Chocolate Shoppe on State Street. (It's America's Dairyland--now that I've had lots of cheese, I had to have ice cream). I got their signature Zanzibar Chocolate with peanut butter topping, peanut butter cups, etc.Andy got something green (maybe pistachio?) I don't know. I was too engrossed in my sundae.

We took a nap after all that and then it was time for the wedding. Held at the lovely Orpheum Theater on State Street, it was a beautiful ceremony. Something I really liked that they did was they passed around the rings for the entire group to touch and send their blessing, as everyone had touched their lives in some way.

 

Nicole & Alex (her dress was handmade by her aunt!)

the adorable Rachael and Noah (quite the dancers!)

we partied and danced until I was about to pass out (around 11:30, I think), went back to our hotel room and slept until it was time to go to brunch in the AM. After saying goodbye to Noah/Rachael, and Alex/Nicole, we headed off on our next adventure. We walked through the other side of the UW-Madison campus towards the Henry Vilas Zoo. We passed the Orpheum, which still had the message for Alex & Nicole (So far so good)--since they were officially married last year, and then wanted to have the wedding ceremony/party for friends and family.

The zoo was pretty awesome for being a free zoo! It was about a 3 mile walk to get there, but I need to work off all of the cheese that I had consumed so far. We saw some really cool animals like a badger (of course, the UW mascot), capybaras, an alligator snapping turtle, etc.

We decided to call a cab to get ourselves some food, since we were hungry, and I really wanted that cheddar mac at the Great Dane, so that's where we went. It was DELICIOUS.


It was our last night, and I had also been keeping an eye on the grasshopper ice cream at The Old Fashioned, so we got some of that for dessert (it's got creme de menthe in it, so I got carded to get ice cream), over a brownie, to go, and took it to Monona Terrace. It was a great last night in Madison, a city I really enjoyed. 

(The trip home went off without a hitch--we did have to take a propeller plane from Madison to Cleveland! It was pretty crazy!)


Hopefully I'll be better about posting for my next vacation!! :)

just doin' my job on the river patrol...

(Andy keeps saying that, so it seemed like a good title)

After our visit to Big Pocono State Park (the 14th PA State Park that we've visited together), we continued on up to set up camp for the night to get out on river patrol the following morning. The last time we attempted to go out on patrol, the river was high, so we went on a powerboat ride-along with one of the park rangers. This was our first time staying at the campsite, which we had to ourselves!

all these truck, kayak, and campsite pictures look the same, don't they?

This is our first year on the river patrol, so we're newbies. Our schedules (and the weather) allowed us to head up this past weekend, which coincided with a skills drill--combat swimming and throw bags. We belly-flopped into the water (sadly, i have no pictures), swam hard perpendicular to the current, slid in behind a rock, waited, swam back towards shore where other National Park Service seasonal staff and river patrol volunteers were waiting with throw bags (if you're wondering what I'm talking about, this is not us, but check out this page here). I had two PERFECT throw bag tosses and was able to catch the person on the first try each time (which I was later complimented on, yay!).

Once we had the practice time, it was about time we headed out on the river with an experienced member of the river patrol. With a little shuttling around, we were finally on the water just after 11:30am. We had about a 7 mile stretch with a couple of Class II rapids. We told people to make sure life jackets were on the kids and warned them of the rapids coming up. The only rescue of the day was a paddle and a life jacket (thank goodness!).

beautiful views!

waterfall into the Delaware

It was overall a beautiful day. By the time we packed up, got on the road, stopped and ate dinner, and got back home it was 8:30pm, and we had to clean off our gear, unpack the truck, shower, etc. It was a late night, and I'm still very tired (oh yeah, and summer hours started at work, which means that I'm at work at 7am now!).

me in my boat!

 Looking forward to another exciting weekend! Do you have any plans?

#14 Big Pocono State Park

Our plans for this weekend kept changing. We had planned to spend the weekend with the safety patrol, but changed our minds with the horrible thunderstorm rolling in Friday afternoon/evening. We did not feel like driving 3 hours, setting a tent up in a thunderstorm, and enduring a night of pouring rain (again) to find out the river would be higher than we would have liked. 

So, we stayed home Friday night and planned for our alternate weekend--knocking some more PA State Parks off our list. To make a long story short, our alternate weekend plan changed since it didn't rain up river, so we decided to stop at a new State Park on Saturday on the way up and go on river patrol on Sunday. 

Big Pocono State Park didn't require a full day because it's main attraction is the view. You're on top of Camelback Mountain (yes, of the famed Camelback Ski Area & CamelBeach)--which interestingly enough, the facilities of Big Pocono are maintained by the Camelback company.  Who knew that was possible? 


The pictures don't do it justice. It was beautiful. We could see for miles -- even all the way to the Delaware Water Gap. Andy likes how the clouds shade the world below. It definitely makes you feel so small!

view!

the Delaware Water Gap from Camelback Mountain

We then went on a 2.5 mile hike, looked at some more vistas and ate some wild blueberries. It was a good choice for the amount of time we had and where we were headed. We did pass by (within 5 miles!) of two other state parks. I was tempted, but knew we didn't have the time.  

mmm. wild blueberries!

 hope you had a good weekend!

#13 Promised Land State Park

It's been almost a YEAR since we added a new PA State Park to our list. I know, ridiculous. We really like camping on the 4th of July weekend, and it gives us a good excuse to check out a new park each year. 

We had chosen #13 as Promised Land SP (Greentown, PA, in the Poconos) as we had planned to camp with two other couples. We wanted to visit a park that was close to the other couples and that had activities that everybody would enjoy: hiking, boating, fishing. Well, the plan fizzled out (partially over the course of the weekend, due to work commitments and illness). So Andy and I camped on our own. 

there's our spaceship tent!

On Friday, we set up, got organized, and drove around the park to check out the different areas (day use beach, boat launches, trailheads, etc). It's a big park, so there was a lot to see just by car!

On Saturday, we went for a 3-4 mile hike in the AM. The first part was a mountain bike/hiking trail, and was VERY muddy. The next section of the hike was a horse/hiking trail (watch out for road apples!), which apparently is not used very often. We were essentially bushwhacking through trees, shrubs, ferns, and the occasional raspberry bush (read: thorns). There were a couple small stream crossings (less than 5 feet across), and then we reached this:

We had to cross this stream--no bridge, nothing. Good thing we were wearing our Chacos! Once we crossed the stream here, we were in the home stretch, and going past the waterfalls! I had carried my DSLR & tripod for 3 miles in anticipation and hadn't take it out once. Unfortuantely, the light was not good, so I didn't get any good pictures. It was beautiful though!


We headed back to our site, had some lunch, and was near ready to pass out. We decided to head to the day use area and lay down under the sun for a bit. Andy wanted to go fishing, so that was going to push dinner later, so we stopped at the unofficial camp store and got some ice cream! We got out our kayaks and fishing poles, and headed to the Lower Lake (that was where our campground was too--there are nearly 500 camping sites at this park!). We weren't catching any fish, so we decided to just paddle around. Yay kayaks!

We had a late dinner and headed to bed. Andy woke me up at 4:30am saying a storm was coming in and we should pack some things up. So we did, went to the bathroom (modern facilities just a little walk away! the tent sites were a little too close for comfort for me to use the great outdoors), and put our camp chairs in the car, and put a garbage bag around the stove. On the way back from the bathroom, I realized it was officially my BIRTHDAY!

The storm hit at around 6am and was one of the most intense thunder/lightning/rain storms I have ever been in [it did rival some good storms from my time at summer camp where we turned the picnic tables over to act as barricades from the rain]. I couldn't sleep because the rain was deafening. About two hours later the rain stopped. It drizzled on and off, but not stopping for enough time for me to decide to take my pj pants off. It started pouring again around 10:30am = time for nap. When we woke up around 12noon, the rain had stopped, and most of the campers around us had packed up and left!


We were meeting my parents for dinner at 5:30, but decided we should get ready early and find something to do indoors (like shopping!). We knew one of our favorite Poconos camping stores (Alice's Wonderland) was semi-near the park, somewhat out of the way of where we were going for dinner, but well worth a trip.

Unfortunately Alice's closed 30 minutes after we got there. Still some time to peruse the store. Luckily my parents were arriving early, so we met up with them at the Apple Valley Restaurant in Milford, PA and did some shopping around there. We had a delicious meal, and several hours together to enjoy each other's company. [My dad kept saying that he traveled over 1500 miles to be with me on my birthday] I think they were just happy to see me.

We headed back to our campsite, and the sun was out (finally!), but I wasn't yet ready to take my camera out to the waterfalls for fear another storm would start up. Even though the light was perfect. We had eaten too much food, so Andy and I walked nearly the entire campground, scoping out the RVs, pop-ups, and mansions tents.

across from our tent site

On Monday morning, I woke Andy up early because I needed to get my waterfall pictures. I think it was worth it!

We packed up our stuff, said goodbye to our site and headed home. We had a lot of washing & drying of gear to do. I thought vacations were supposed to be restful? :)

Hope you had a fabulous 4th of July weekend!

family, kayaking, more kayaking...

so, in my last post, i hinted in what i might be up to in the next few weeks. [family, kayaks, tents, pa state parks, friends, more family, and hopefully lots of use of my camera (since it's been hiding for a while...)]

so family: my parents were BOTH up from texas this past weekend, and i got to see my sister, A., and bro-in-law, C. A was playing in a exhibition/surprise softball game that was to commemorate 30 years of coaching by our high school softball coach (he's still going strong!). they had players from across the years, including several that my sister played with, and that i played with (i only played softball in HS for two years, and never made varsity). [my sister's senior year they were the state champs, A. was the pitcher and hit in the winning run.]

C. likes my DSLR. Well, likes is an understatement. Nearly 150 photos later, we got some shots of the game. Here are some photos that I took (C still has some things to learn about using a DSLR...):

surprise!

A. playing 1st base

After the game, A & C were off on some other adventure, so Andy and I had dinner with my parents at Charlie Brown's (a delicious regional steakhouse chain).

on sunday, andy and i attended a meetup. if you haven't heard of meetup, check it out. you find a group of people in your area that do things you like to do, and you do those things. like hiking, or kayaking, or photography, or moms that love to run with their babies in strollers, etc. you get the point. so we attended a kayaking meetup event. the river was high (which didn't make me happy), and there were some really difficult incidents (everyone is okay), and i can definitely say that my rescue instincts kicked in. Andy was able to paddle upstream (in a high flowing river) and reach people that needed help, i was just able to maintain my position while paddling upstream. Aside from being exhausting and draining, we did get to paddle 19 miles on the delaware.

andy in his kayak [i think i was tilting when i took this-also, the river is not this ugly brown normally]

me, in my kayak. [photo credit r. pace]

work monday, then onto the gym for some pilates and bodypump (maybe not a good idea after the day on the river, but oh well). then work on tuesday, which this was my office for the day:

surveying the canal by kayak

anyway, that's the update so far! hope you have a great 4th of july weekend! :)

the horizon.

while i have very little right now to post about, as i feel my life is still consumed with just work, cleaning, being exhausted, etc, i have a few things on the horizon that i'm looking forward to sharing with you. i'm very excited that after this weekend, andy is off for the next FOUR weekends! which means we've got quality time planned together, even if it's with other people too.

so, stay tuned for things that involve family, kayaks, tents, pa state parks, friends, more family, and hopefully lots of use of my camera (since it's been hiding for a while...) so stay tuned!

 

i did take my camera out yesterday at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, and managed to capture this "angry bird!" 

tree swallow baby looking for some food!

hey life, can you wait a minute?

things have been super super busy for me over the past few weeks.

i'm finally over my sinus infection (it took over 3 weeks). we had some rain, which means i had some field work for work, which was fun, just exhausting. nice that i didn't have to drive all the way to the office, not nice that i had to collect samples in the rain, but i at least got to wear my knee boots. my field locations for this project are only about a half hour from my house, rather than the hour that my office is. things are picking up for the season work-wise, other field work (in-kayak surveys of the canal), events, etc. work is just crazy. 


in life, we headed up to the river for a weekend of swiftwater rescue a couple of weeks ago. the river was high, but we went out on patrol with a park ranger in a power boat (which i got to drive, which was CRAAAAZY). luckily, we didn't have to rescue anyone, even though it looked a little hairy at times. we stayed at a super sketchy cabin (which was free, i guess why it was sketchy). i consider myself a girl that can rough it. if it hadn't been pouring, i would have rather pitched a tent than stay in the cabin. made me miss the counselor cabins from my summer camp days...


andy just sent me an article that someone drowned this past weekend in our river that we've joined the patrol for (in a section that we would patrol). He wasn't wearing a life jacket. pretty scary to think about it. 95% of the people that have drowned in that section of the river in the past 31 years were not wearing a life jacket. The others? not wearing their life jackets correctly.


anyway, i volunteered for andy at work yesterday, and we've been out fishing a couple times. other than that i feel like i've been in a blogging slump... my life doesn't seem nearly interesting enough to even write about, especially since i feel like my days off are taken over by laundry and cleaning the house. 


hopefully i'll have something interesting for you, and some pictures! soon!

5 years ago: the story of us.

5 years ago today, i met the love of my life. i've decided to share with you the story of how we met:


i was studying abroad in the spring of 2006. i had tried desperately to get an job lined up for the summer prior to departing for ecuador, and even arranged for an interview at the place that sparked my interest in the outdoors. the short version: lack of communication on their part and other things falling through and then it was the end of April and i had no job for my return to the US in mid-May.


my mom and i began a frantic internet search for job opportunities. i emailed several places, most of which didn't respond, one of which offered me a job for summer '07 (which i ended out taking), and one who responded right away. the one who responded right away is where i ended up. 


andy's side of things: andy was required to complete two internships as part of his bachelor's degree in environmental ed. his cousin had worked at this environmental ed center years ago and recommended it. andy didn't have any other ideas lined up, so he went with this option.


training started while i was still abroad, so i was late coming in. most everyone else arrived on saturday or sunday with training starting on monday. i was just returning to the US after 4.5 months on sunday, so i shipped out on wednesday morning.


i joined the group (andy and the other 2 interns) who was learning how to teach "canoeing" classes. i had extensive experience with teaching canoeing and andy had extensive boating classes during his associate's degree program, so when our boss began asking us questions, andy and i were the only two answering the questions. (i thought he was 16 when i first saw him. he was actually 21).


it must have been fate. it's possible we could have never met, or our paths could have crossed (the original job i interviewed for that year would have put me within the same park boundaries as the env. ed center, and i could have gone through team building training with andy).

i'm so happy that things worked out for us, even though i fought the idea of us being a couple. i had just come out of a rough break-up (from a long-distance relationship), and i knew that andy and i would be long distance once the summer finished. but for some reason, i just couldn't let him go. and 5 years later, here we are :)

here are some photos to take you down the memory lane of us.

(if you read my previous blog, many of these are the same, but they just represent us so well!)

(something i just noticed, the progression of andy's hair!)

2006

July 2006 - my 21st birthday. i think this is our first picture together...

July 2006 - our first picture as an official couple

October 2006 - Boston Harbor, Boston, MA

December 2006 - New Years Eve, PA

2007

January 2007 - me learning how to use a .22, PA

December 2007 - New Years Eve, PA

2008

April 2008 - Fallingwater, Mill Run, PA

May 2008 - my graduation, Boston, MA

June 2008 - Siesta Key, FL

July 2008 - Mt. Tammany, NJ

2009

July 2009 - my sister's wedding rehearsal dinner, NJ

October 2009 - Halloween, Siesta Key, FL

2010

July 2010 - Allegheny National Forest, PA

August 2010 - Dingmans Ferry, PA

September 2010 - Watkins Glen, NY

 2011

January 2011 - The Alamo, San Antonio, TX