Plans

Here is a rough draft of our plans for the summer.  We're always looking for company so give us a shout if we're going to be in your area.

• July 1 - start driving to CO
• July 4 - Stephanie's wedding in Castle Rock, CO
• July 6 - back to MT - spend time in Great Falls and Missoula
• July 13 - bike the Hiawatha Trail
• July 14 - Wes's wedding in Spokane
• July 15 - Deer Lake, WA

Teton Crest Trail, WY

• July 17-21 - backpacking the Teton Crest Trail with the Bibler boys
• July 21-24 - in Big Sky
• July 25 - backpacking in the Wind River Range in Wyoming?
• July 30 - fly from Denver to Anchorage!
• early August - backpacking on the Kenai Peninsula, taking a short AK cruise, camping/fishing
• August 6 - Ryan takes Internal Medicine boards in Anchorage .. booo
• August 7 - fly to Fairbanks

Arrigetch Peaks, AK

• August 8-19 - our Gates of the Arctic trip!
• August 21-25 - camping in Denali
• August 27 - return to Denver for a week or so

Marooon Bells, CO

• early September - backpacking around the Maroon Bells, then see Garry and Stacey in Eagle, CO
• mid September - southern CO - maybe Buena Vista or Sand Dunes?
• October - Utah National Parks - Canyonlands, Zion and Bryce (and probably do fellowship interviews at some point)
• November - Arizona/New Mexico?
• December - southern California to visit brother Nathan in sunny San Diego!
• Christmastime - back to MT, spend time with our families and ski like crazy

After that... who knows?  Ryan is thinking about getting a season's pass to Big Sky, but Lisa will only agree to that if she gets to go to Hawaii with her girlfriends.  Guess we all have to make compromises...

Things We Learned in New England

-  you can hike to the top of a mountain and still be in the trees - you will have to climb a fire tower to get any sort of view


- on hiking trails there are no such things as switchbacks; you go up and up and up then down and down and down


- you can hike and hike and swear you were seeing the same green tree over and over again

- there are more colors to "fall colors" than just yellow


- you can drive for 6 hours south and go through 6 states (Lisa loved every minute of her trips to visit family in New Jersey)


- the state speed limit of 55 in NY is just a suggestion...and Lisa never wants to drive around Manhattan and over the George Washington Bridge at 11:30 at night alone again!

- we learned we could actually grow veggies in a garden; we'll see how that goes out West


- there are 5 seasons in the year...winter, spring, MUD season, summer and fall

- PYO means "pick your own" ... strawberries, blueberries, apples and pumpkins and is a fabulous concept

- to ski out here you need ice skate blades on the bottom of your skis and be ready for the bone chilling cold...yes we'll take skiing in the West any day, sorry VT


- cheddar cheese should be white, not orange


- what real maple syrup is, and we'll never go back!

- Lisa can become part of the Guinness Book of World Records (briefly- the record was broken the next year) for the most Superheroes in one place

- Ryan can run a half marathon without complaining (too much)


- Lisa can learn how to cook


- the word "Wicked" can be used in just about any sentence

- there can be blue skies at the top of Mount Washington (famous for dangerously erratic weather)

- we discovered Yaktrax and they are very handy when the sidewalks are covered in ice after one of the infamous ice storms


- you can still travel and have fun while being an internal medicine resident

- driving 1 1/2 hours to the airport and 2 airline connecions just to get to Montana is way too far... so WE ARE COMING HOME!