A Quick overview

Well a lot has happened since my last post. For one thing my wife and I went on a cruise with her family. It was probably the best vacation I've ever been on. And that's saying something because I've been on some really great vacations. I mean, how can you improve on a floating temple to sin and gluttony? The entertainment was great, the food was great, and the people were great. I don't know if the cruise line did extra to make this cruise better due to the rerouting but I don't know how they could have improved. Since I have so much to cover in this post I'm not going to go over this in detail, but Chelsea and her sister Ashley have both done great write-ups with pictures and those can be seen here and here.

On to the more recent adventure. Last weekend the scout outing was to go on a little backpacking trip. This one was more about making sure you had the right stuff, so we chose a short hike. It was in an area called Green Mountain out here in Kitsap County. The trail was about two miles to a little campground. We couldn't have asked for better weather. When we got there we were walking around in flip-flops and shorts all evening. It was great. Here are a couple of pics, including the maiden voyage of my new Jetboil backpacking stove.This was the little pack that could. I've never taken this one overnight before but I thought it could do it. I was right. Although, you have to be a little strategic about what you bring. It's very limiting. I thought I was doing pretty good, but in retrospect, if we had encountered any foul weather my one rain jacket and tarp wouldn't have been enough (especially because the tarp was supposed to go under the tent). The Jetboil is more bulky than most also. The idea is that you are trading compactness for efficiency, plus you don't have to carry other pots. It cooks dinner soooooooo fast. Hopefully I'll be able to get in two or three overnight or two night mini trips this summer.

Now I'm up to date. I'll keep you posted.