My Great Adventure!

So I went on another fly-fishing, overnight trip again this weekend. It was an opportunity to try out some new gear and get out into the wild:) It was a great 23 hours. Here are the trip highs and lows, combined with some outdoor gear comments:
Highs:

• Beautiful weather
• New rubberized trout net worked really well; flies and hooks didn't get caught in the net!
• Coleman Peak 1 Single-Burner micro stove worked very well. Heated up food and water in a hurry and was super compact and packable!
• Had some good snow this morning while I was fishing. Made for a beautiful view and was a pretty awesome moment. Nobody was around this morning while I fished; just me, the river, the snow and palisades.
• I stayed on the camping spot on the island near the beginning of the Dix River. It was difficult to find a place for my tent, but there was fire wood galore! I practically had a bonfire going for four hours and a fire in the morning for breakfast. Nothing like free firewood that requires no cutting!
• Caught quite a few fish! I caught my limit both days; nothing huge but most were decent.
  

Lows:

• There was a beastly wind at my face on my way home this morning. I'm pretty sore from rowing my rear off because of the wind.
• My new 0 degree, feather lite, Ledge sleeping bag was kind of a bust. It was very tight, and I could probably use an extra-long bag. However, the worse part was when the zipper broke in the middle of the night. I got up to take the rain fly off the tarp (it was windy, but no clouds). When I got back in the zipper snagged as I was zipping it up so that it didn't zip as it went up. While I was pulling it the zipper piece broke off. I finally got the seems to match up and managed to zip it up using the inside zipper piece. I was a little bit cold when I woke up at 3am. It's supposed to be a 0 degree bag, but at 23 degrees I'd be afraid to take it any lower.
• I didn't sleep as well as I would have liked: wind on the rain-fly, took the rain-fly off, zipper broke, woke up a little cold, etc.
  
• Had to leave for work. I really wanted to stay a couple more days! It was a great trip, despite the zipper issue!

Did I mention it was a solo trip? It was fun, but solo trips always make me a twinge nervous. Nothing like hanging out in the woods of Kentucky by yourself to live on the edge. I might go to the Smoky Mountains with some friends in a few weeks. That will be another adventure to share later:)

Filling your cup

I'm looking back on the last three or four months and feeling pretty blessed to have taken as many 1-2 day camping/fishing trips as I did. This is something I haven't had the opportunity to do for a while. Heck, having two days off in a row was something foreign to me for four years until I moved to Kentucky. I learned that these trips fill my cup! They give me energy, joy- they give me something to look forward to outside of the everyday plan (I want to use the word rut- but life has been pretty good lately so I don't think rut applies). I've learned that I love adventure, nature, silence and simple living. It's not what I want all the time, but its what I need from time to time. I now realize it's a part of who I am and something I need to function well. When I knew a trip was coming I focused on getting homework done so I wouldn't have to worry about it while I was out. When I don't have something on the calendar I get bored and waste my time with video games and facebook applications that really distract me more than they pour into me. So, do you know what fills your cup? What excites you, helps you focus, gives you something to look forward to? I'm glad I know (for this season of life anyway) and I hope you can know too!

Camping at Cumberland Falls, Kentucky

Alexis and I took a trip to Cumberland Falls, Kentucky last week. We went three days and two nights to a beautiful area. The camp site was decent, but for being a major state park it could have been a little nicer. It makes me appreciate Missouri camping areas all the more. There were a ton of great hikes in the area. We did one to Eagle Falls and it was the best. A lot of rock climbing, hills and scenic opportunities. We attempted to get to Dog Slaughter Falls but we got on the path too early. We jumped on the 4.4 mile path which ended at the 1.5 mile path. Alexis and I turned around at about mile 3 and headed back to the car. We saw several snakes and Alexis even spotted the first one right off of the trail. She thought they were pretty cool! We found an awesome cove on Lake Laurel that we hung floated on for a few hours and that was the extent of the trip. If you want to check out our pictures on Facebook follow this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=120976&l=0a4c6&id=527555092
I went on a fly fishing float trip last week as well and caught a ton of fish. You can see some of those pictures at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=119952&l=d1637&id=527555092
There will definitely be more trips in the future!

Job Transition

Kim starts a new job this week. She resigned from "Kid's Place" a couple of weeks ago and worked her last day on Friday. On Tuesday she will start with UPS. The "Kid's Place" job was difficult for a lot of reasons; she was expected to work four different areas by herself, she was away from Alexis all day, she occasionally had to work weekends, and the list goes on and on. She will work from around 4am-9am, Monday through Friday at UPS. It's a tough time commitment but it will allow her to be home most of the time with Alexis which means we can cut out paid childcare from the mornings. She is going to also pick up a few more hours at the gym that she coaches at on a very slim basis right now. So, she will work less hours but we will save money. Did I also mention that UPS offers full and incredible benefits after 60 days? Theirs are actually better than Starbucks! So, that's what's up. As a side note, I went on my first Kentucky trout fishing trip last week. Someone at church was nice enough to let a friend and I borrow his canoe on a short term basis. We canoed all the way up the Dix River for about two hours and fished for trout. It was an awesome trip and fish were caught. You can check out some of my trip pictures at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112655&l=2fc8d&id=527555092