Easter Adventure 2011

Every Easter Jason and I try to get out and enjoy the backcountry. This year we decided to venture to the Adirondacks. We have been out west a few times and seen beautiful mountains, but the ADK's hold a special place in our hearts. It is actually the place we started dating but that's another story. Friday morning we woke up at 4:45 and was out the door by 5am. Of course we had to make a few stops before we actually hit the road. We did a donut run at Dalo's and the ran to Sheetz to fill up on gas and get Jason some coffee. We finally set out on our 6 hour drive. Once in the High Peaks of the Adirondack Park we had to stop by our favorite store in Keene Valley, The Mountaineer http://mountaineer.com/. I seemed to have lost 1 glove so I had to pickup a pair. We also stopped for lunch at a place we had never visited before, ADK Cafe and Deli. We walked in and the lady said "Happy Earth Day". Didn't know it was earth day. HA HA! Jay got a grilled cheese and I got a BLT. YUM! We also sat and listened to these 2 guys talk about genomes???? We finished our drive to the ADK LOJ where we rented snowshoes. They are required this time of year, even though we never used them. I kept my microspikes on and didn't have any issues. At about 3pm we finally hit the trail.

It was a 3 mile hike to our lean to. Since it was late in the day we planned to spend some time at Marcy Dam.

On Saturday we planned on summiting Mt Colden http://www.summitpost.org/mount-colden/150556. The ranger recommended avoiding Avalanche Pass and summitting up the back of the mountain. So, that was our plan. We set up camp in the lean to, cooked dinner,

carved our initials

and then headed to bed around 7pm. Since I do not know the exact time I would guess the wind started around 9pm. It was so strong and sounded like a jet engine. At times I also thought I heard a avalanche on one of the nearby slides but I don't know. All I know is it was very loud. I do not sleep well when I camp in general. I have really good hearing and every crack and snap in the woods I think it's a bear coming to eat me. HA! I normally take IB Profin PM so I can try to get a few hours of sleep but I forgot it in the car. So I was up all night, literally. I had to listen not only to the wind and the cracks and snaps in the forest but I also had to listen to Jason and Kenzie snoring. NO FAIR! Also, since I am a nervous camper I have to go the bathroom like every hour. My guess is fear driven? It's stupid I know. Again, if I would have had my drugs I would have been fine. So, I stayed up listening to everything and fearing a tree was going to fall or a bear was going to attack us. Around 2:30am I felt some moisture coming into the tent. We had the rain fly off and our bags are down so I woke Jason up and asked that he help me put the rain fly on. When I stepped out of the tent I was shocked to see snow. It wasn't a lot of snow, just a dusting, but Jason and I wasn't expecting it. The forecast had only called for rain. Around 6am the wind was still not letting up. I told Jason that we should attempt to hike back to the car. The trail was covered in snow and the wind was snapping branches everywhere but we decided to pack up and give it a try. We knew if all else failed we would come back to the lean to and just stay another night. We had a 3 mile hike back in the wind, snow and sleet (yes it started sleeting too).

The trail was very easy to navigate and luckily we have good gear to keep us warm. It took us 1.5 hours to hike back. That included several stops to take photos and video so we made it back pretty quickly. Once we returned our snowshoes, threw Kenzies poop out (HA HA, we made her carry it!) & changed clothes we started our long journey home.

I have been telling Jason for a long time that I wanted to try winter backpacking. Even though I was fearful the entire time due to the wind it was probably one of the best backpacking trips I have ever been on. Now that we are back home I miss it already. I can't wait to go back.

Marcy Dam Before the storm

Marcy Dam during the storm. Photo taken in same direction as above. The big mountain disappeared.

Trail Name this trip: Frodo (Tonya), Sam (Jason)

Fact you probably didn't know about the DAKS: The park is the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous US, greater in size than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier & Grand Canyon National Park combined.

It sure has been a long time. November of last year???? Really???? Anyway, this is my attempt to get into blogging again. I shall begin with a blog about our most recent NFCT (Northern Forest Canoe Trail) trip. I kept a journal through the trip so I wouldn't forget anything. So, here goes.....

Tuesday Sept 14th

Jason woke me up this morning because Ed was snoring. Of course he thought it was me. (Note to everyone...I do not snore). So I didn't sleep well at all. The B & B was awesome. Sandy was so nice and he makes a mean breakfast. We didn't get on the water until 11:00am. By that time the water was rough (little did we know what was to come). It was coming up over my boat. I couldn't take that much video because of the waves. I didn't want to risk ruining my camera. The carry was easy and we stopped at a store for lunch. Jay and I ordered steam bombs. It was basically a philly cheesesteak Maine style. It sure was yummy. Mooselookmeguntic was huge. We had problems with the waves again. They were so big that they splash over my boat and again I could not video that much. Luckily we arrived at camp around 6:30 and set up. The island we stayed on had a outhouse, luckily, but it stunk. I almost threw up a few times. HA HA! On the other side of the island someone had built a shrine. I promise it was the scariest thing I have ever seen. It looks like a gremlin when you walk up to it. So, during the middle of the night my kayaking light turned on. For the longest time I just thought someone was shining their headlamp so I tried to ignore it. About an hour later the light was still on. I peaked outside my tent and about freaked out. How in the world did my light turn on? You have to twist it to activate it. Anyway, so I had stupid thoughts....did the gremlin come over and turn it on? Was someone else on the island that we didn't know about? Stupid thoughts I know, especially the gremlin one. HA HA!
Rangeley Lakes B & B

Rangeley Lake (above & below)

Scary Shrine

Loon

Wednesday Sept 15th

Today before we began paddling I prayed that we would see a bull moose. It's amazing how God answers the smallest of prayers. Jay and I were paddling ahead of everyone, just cruising along. I spotted something moving about a mile away. I zoomed in using my camera and noticed it was a bull. So Jay and I took off. We wanted some photos and video before everyone caught up and scared it away. Before we could get any closer Loud Mouth yelled at it and scared him off. No sooner did the moose run off into the woods the waves and wind began to pick up. SCARY! I'm not joking when I say that we fought 3 - 4ft waves. I have never seen anything like it. I started screaming obscenities at it. It was fun but HARD WORK! After Mooselook we had a very small portage to the Richardson Lakes. Again the wind was really strong but luckily it was moving in our favor. Jay and Ed both believe the Richardson Lake waves were bigger than Mooselook but we didn't notice them that much because they were pushing us instead of us having to paddle into them. We paddled both lakes. Our original plan was to stop at the end of Lower Richardson and stay the night. We had plenty of daylight left so we decided to throw in the carry to Umbagogg. I am so glad we pushed forward because the carry to Umbagogg was a rough one. At the end of the portage you are suppose to carry down to the Rapid River but the trail was unwheelable and a ankle twister. Jay and Ed decided to continue down the main trail to try to find another place to put in and camp. They found another non-wheelable trail but it was a lot easier on the ankles. We could not locate the campsites that were listed on the map so we decided to camp in the road. We set up our kayaks in front of our tents just in case a car came down the road. It would hit the kayaks before us. That night I went to bed freezing and sick. I woke up in the middle of the night with a temperature. I was shaking uncontrollably yet I was warm in my sleeping bag.Mooselookmeguntic Lake (above & below)

Waves on Richardson Lake

Thursday Sept 16th

Due to my fever I woke up early today not feeling very well. Everyone woke up at 6am and we started moving around 7am. I thought to myself, I am tired of carrys in the woods. This carry was about 1 mile. The guys carried my boat down while I video taped. It's nice being a female sometimes. :-) We carried through a mud bog. I accidentally stepped in the wrong place and ended up knee deep in the mud. I have no idea what was in it but it sure did stink. We paddled through a beautiful area of Umbagogg. Ed caught a small mouth. His only catch for the week. The paddle across Umbagogg was uneventful. It was a little windy but not bad at all. Once we entered the Androscoggin River we saw a few bald eagles. I have seen so many of them but it never gets old. They are so beautiful. We finished Section 8 around noon. HURRAY! We portaged 1 mile into Errol to the general store to stop for lunch. Steak bombs again. UMMM!!!!! Then we all worked up the guts to try the class 3 rapids under the Errol bridge. Of course when I got home I noticed they were probably only class 2 even though the map said class 3. Oh well. The rapids were scary but easy, surprisingly. The Androscoggin is a beautiful river. The continuous rapids, scary. I got hung up on a rock and was for sure I was going to flip over. I panicked. After a few seconds I decided to give it a go. I put my knees under my thigh braces and hopped off. I was happy when it worked. We had about 8 sections of rapids to paddle through. I was ready for them to be over. I noticed that the guys had stopped at a campsite. When I pulled up I noticed that Jason was not with them. He had paddled ahead of everyone and didn't pay attention. I was so scared. He had a tent and some food but I was still worried. So I went walking on the road. After a little bit I decided to turn around. I went back to the campsite and really thought I would have to spend the night without him. I decided to walk the road one more time. I had a set point where I was going to turn around. Once I arrived at that spot I decided to walk a little further. I was so glad I did because there was Jason. YAY! He was at the campsite we were suppose to be. So we walked back, loaded up our boats, and paddled the 1/2 mile to the site he was at. YAY! I don't have to sleep with Ed.
Umbagogg Lake (my favorite)

The group after completing Section 8 of the NFCT

Parking outside the Errol General Store. The comments we rec'd. Funny

Riding the rapids on the Androscoggin

Friday Sept 17th

Woke up early and finished paddling the Angroscoggin to the Pontook Reservoir. We decided to skip the 2 miles of continuous class 1 - 3 rapids and just hike on the road. This would add to our additional portage we had to do to West Milan. It ended up being 5.8 miles. We had about 3 - 4 hills to hike up. Pulling a 100lb boat up hills sure is a challenge. Luckly most of the portage was either on flat ground or downhill. We arrived at West Milan around 5. We planned to paddle about 1 mile of the Ammonoosuc River but the outfitter said that the river was really low with a lot of dragging. We all decided to end the trip 22 miles short. We found a guy headed toward Groveton and asked if he would drive Ed to pickup the vehicle. In the meantime we ordered pizza for dinner. That night we drove until 9 and stopped in Mass at a Hampton Inn. Oh a hot shower was fantastic.
Portaging

Our big meal for the trip home. Best pizza I have had in a LONG time.

I cannot believe May was my last post. I really need to get back into blogging. It was a great way to keep a journal. So, here goes. I'm going to catch everyone up.

June, July, & August

I'm sure we paddled almost every weekend. We didn't do anything else.

September & October

We went to Maine for vacation. We had planned on floating Section 8 of the NFCT however the weather prevented this. The fall colors were spectacular. Words and photos really couldn't catch the true color of the trees.

We also did something I had not planned on doing for a while. We purchased a new vehicle. We got a 2010 Subaru Forrester. We LOVE it. The sunroof is huge and it has heated seats. Also a CD player. Yippee. Jason's Jeep was on it's last leg and we needed to try to get as much out of it as possible.

When we returned from Maine the following weekend we had DOCNA Nationals. Chase and Tay both finished 1st in Standard on the East Coast. They did not place in Jumpers and the NAC. Maybe next year.

November

Jason and I have decided to get a couple of guns. One for him and one for me. Mainly because I don't like to share when it comes to having to take turns. I believe we have both decided to purchase a 22 rifle. Since we are planning on doing targets it's the ammo is cheaper. We are planning on purchasing them by the end of the year. That will be exciting. We will be able to walk down to the rifle range as much as we want for shooting.

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've blogged. I'm a very bad blogger. A lot has been going on lately so here goes (In no particular order)

1. We went to a friends house down near Harrisburg for our 10yr family photo. We spent about an hour as the sun was setting. It was so nice to see her again. It's been a little over a year or so. She took some really great photos, which made it very hard to choose. I'm hoping to purchase the file from her so I can use the picture and post it places.

2. We went to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia over our 10yr anniversary. We drove down on a Friday and came home on Saturday. It started pouring so I was glad we left the park before the rain hit. Overall we saw hundreds of deer (and I"m not kidding), 2 turkeys, a bobcat dragging a baby deer across the road, and 3 bear families. The scenery was amazing. This is our park #7, I think, out of 56.

3. We sold our camper. We have been talking about it for over a year now. Some friends of ours were in the market for one and asked if we wanted to sell it. After one night of discussion and prayer we decided it was the best thing to do. To replace our camper we purchased a 13' x 10' tent. We have never had a tent this large before so it was different for us. IT'S HUGE! We can fit 2 cots, 2 chairs, a table & 4 dog crates inside. It's literally the size of our bedroom.

4. Jason and I are on a mission to become debt free. This is everything, except our house. We paid off the credit card & camper. Jason's Jeep will be paid off next month, which leaves us with my Jeep and the house. Next I'm going to put all our money toward paying off my Jeep. Our house should be the only debt we have left by the end of the year. YIPPEE!

5. For a few years we have been researching canoe's & kayaks. When our canoe got a hole in it down in MS we tried our hardest to patch the darn thing. Nothing worked. So, after extensive research I am happy to announce that we have picked our boat. The funny thing is, we both want the same one (weird, that never happens). We're getting a sit-on-top kayak. We chose the sit-on-tops because of several reasons: cannot swamp if flipped, easy entry & exit, a dog can go with us & you can use it on the ocean. We placed the order today and should get them in 3 weeks, I believe. We're very excited about getting back on the water.

So it's been a while since I have blogged. I wanted to catch everyone up on what's been going on.

Our last post was our new carpet installation. We LOVE our new carpet and new flooring. It's so easy to clean. The kids don't like it much because they slide everywhere but they will get over it. :-)

We went to DC 2 weekends ago with our friends Gerald and Dori. We had such a good time. They are so easy to travel with (well besides Dori driving us crazy about her iced latte). It was quite warm but it was enjoyable. We missed most of the cherry blossoms in the mall area but we got to see some at the Arlington Cemetery. Overall we walked about 20 miles in 1-1/2 days. CRAZY!

My hospital bed is still working wonders. I have been able to get a full nights sleep ever since delivery in February. I still need my heating pad at night and I still have to sleep in an inclined position but it's wonderful. I told Jason once my bar comes out and I no longer need the hospital bed we're going to have to get an adjustable bed.

I'm leaving for B-ville on Sunday. Whoops, for those who don't know, it's Bentonville. I will be in B-ville from Sunday to Thursday. I'm excited but I always worry about how well I'm going to sleep. I will be taking my good drugs with me to help get me through the night.

Hum....so, this is a short post. I'm boring right now.

I just realized how long it has been since I blogged. So, let me catch everyone up. Let's see....where do I begin.

March - The whole month of March we spent working on our house. Jason replaced the ugly crap carpet with swiftlock flooring. It's incredible. After finishing the bedrooms and the office we pulled up the carpet in the living room planning on flooring it the same way. Low and behold when we pulled it up we had a huge bump in our floor, which ruled out placing swiftlock down. So, it was time to order carpet. We spent one whole weekend carpet shopping. On March 3rd we finally purchased our carpet. I was so excited to get it. They told us it would only take 7 - 10 days to get in, boy were they wrong.

Today we finally got the carpet installed. I was so excited. It looks so nice and it actually has padding under it. Our old carpet didn't and it was very hard on your feet. This carpet is very light with specs in it. Kind of like dirt specs, which is why we bought it. It will hide all the dog hair and muddy paws. :-) Check out our new carpet.

Twilight - Final Trailer

Yesterday was the release day for Twilight. I had never seen it before but I had heard several people say how great the movie is. So, Jason and I decided to pre-order the movie. We never do that without seeing a movie first but decided to take a risk. The movie was FABULOUS! It's a movie about vampires but it's more of a love story than anything. I liked it so much that I have watched it twice already since last night. I am seriously thinking about watching it a third time. Each time I watch it I pick up on something during the movie, which is fun for me.
Another cool thing about the movie was Jason and I went to Washington state last September. We drove through the town of Forks and even stopped at the local grocery store and Ace Hardware for camping supplies. Another reference in the movie is La Push Beach. That was the first beach we visited on the trip and we actually went through the Indian Reservation they mention on the movie. Also, during the movie (and you can even see it on the trailer), the vampires attach at a warehouse. Jason and I got lost on our way to Forks and ended up driving through that actual warehouse, which is crazy since it's on the movie. We visited Port Angeles as well.

Anyway, if you have not seen the trailer check it out. I'm going to link it to my blog from U-Tube. So, you will see it shortly. I highly recommend renting it and giving it a try.

Nothing really new here......

I figured I'd better post something or someone could get upset with me. There is nothing new to report on the McKenna home front though. Normally I only post the cool things that we are doing however right now we're just doing home renovation. BORING!!!!!

For the last 3 weeks Jason has been reflooring our bedrooms and office. We're putting down the swiftlock laminate. We also ordered new carpet for our living room and hallway. Pretty soon we're going to have a brand new house, or at least it's going to feel like it. The floors look fabulous. I would attach pictures however we have furniture shoved in all the rooms waiting on the carpet to be installed. Once that's installed I will update my blog with pictures.

Other than that, nothing new.......BORING!!!!!

Our future plans include a trip to Washington DC. We're heading out the weekend after Good Friday with our friends Dori & Gerald. Right now we're planning on staying in Arlington. Our plans are to visit the Arlington Cemetary, White House, Reflection Lake, Vietnam Memorial, Smithsonian and other cool places.

We're trying to decide which month to go to the ADK's to get our high point for the year. Jason cannot travel anywhere until after May. I, of course, can go anywhere I want. HA!

Tithe Rap

It's been a long time since I blogged....AGAIN! I have a pretty good reason for it though. Jason and I have been very busy reflooring our office. Thanks so Kim who inspired us with her recent flooring remodel.

I have been gripping for the longest time about that ugly purple carpet in our office. I have a Dyson, which is in my opinion the vet vacuum on the market. My Dyson would not pick up the dog hair and all the dirt we bring in. So, the office carpet was a mess. It was so nasty and I couldn't do anything about it. When I was home on leave I developed a runny nose. It would not stop running. I told Jason I truly believe it was the carpet in the office that was affecting my allergies. So, I finally had enough a few weeks ago. I told him to rip up the carpet and we was going to refloor the office. It started out that I was going to put down linoleum, like what's in our basement. I was going to do it temporarily until we could afford to refloor the house. We drove to Lowe's one night and started to look at the Swiftlock flooring. We calculated it out and determined it was not going to be that much more expensive. So, we went all out purchasing everything to refloor the office. It took us a total of about 8 hours to refloor the whole thing. It's amazing. My runny nose is gone as well....Yippee! So, our next step is to do the hallway. Jason and I will probably tackle that this weekend. Then the following week it's on to the living room floors. I can't wait to get rid of all this hideous carpet. Funny story with the furniture. Not to brag but I used to be pretty strong before my surgery. Our desk is about 11' long and 1/2 of it is glass (as you can see below). Before my surgery I would have been able to pick it up and carry it without any problems. I can't pickup anything. I struggle to pickup Chase, who only weighs about 30 lbs. So, Jason had to come up with a system so I could help him. We took the wheels off the desk and placed my end up on our desk chairs. He picked up the other end and I wheeled the desk right out. Anyway, it was hilarious. Check out our floors below.

Before
After

Also, check out the Christmas photo below of my aqua aerobics class. This photo includes less than 1/2 the actual size of the class. Aren't they so cute?

Jason was in Philly this weekend so I had the weekend all to myself. I spent a lot of time cleaning and regretted it on Sunday. I don't know what I did but I hurt myself. It feels like my right mountain is on fire. HA HA HA! (laughing at the mountain joke). Anyway, when I'm sore I can't go to church. The pews are so uncomfortable and they hurt my back. So, I stayed home and watched about 12 - 13 hours of Felicity. It was crazy because I would watch 4 episodes and then I would get upset because I would have to get up and change the disc again. It went by so quickly. I'm still a little sore today but I feel so much better than I did on Sunday. The littlest things hurt. Oh well, I just suck it up. I only have a little over 1 year to go. :-)

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A PROBLEM CHILD

That's right. This post is about Taylor again. Guess what I caught her doing tonight......eating Jason's retirement statement. I called Jason and was laughing so hard I couldn't tell him what happened. I had to email him. Ahh, we need to start agility soon or she's going to go crazy.

PROBLEM CHILD

That's right....Little Miss Problem Child did it again. First off, last week she was sick. She was so sick we took her to the vet because we thought something was wrong. This week.....she shattered her toenail chasing after a bunny. I picked her up after work tonight. She's still groggy after the drugs they gave her. I wonder what she will get into next week? It's always Jason's dogs. Does that tell anyone anything?????? :-)

So it's been another long time between posts. I have to say, I have become addicted to facebook so that seems to be where I spend most of my time now.

Just to catch you up. A lot has been going on. Each weekend we take the kids to the lake for a little hike. A few weeks ago we had to stop and come in early because it was a little too cold for Taylor. With Tay being a double coated Sheltie that tells you exactly how cold it was. Last weekend we went around sunset for a very short walk. It was icy out so when the kids ran up and down the hill the love I was a little nervous about broken bones. Also the ice fishermen were out so that's always very exciting to see.

Jason and I went on a hike last weekend. We went to our usual spot, Ricketts Glenn. Normally we deal with ice so we had our stablicers on. This time we needed snowshoes. We had to walk through about 4 - 5 inches of snow. That was difficult but we just kept going. I was very happy that my breathing wasn't bothering me at all. Before surgery, walking through that much snow, I would have been stopping all the time to catch my breath. Our favorite water fall was very beautiful and frozen over. I took my hiking poles and make sure the ice was thick before I started to walk over what is normally the pool from the fall. We walked right next to it. It's amazing that you can still hear it falling through all that ice.

Jason is sick this weekend so he's been home. I went grocery shopping (since another storm is coming) and had my normal breakfast at Panera Bread. I went to Lowes and just had a good time. Forgetting it was super bowl Sunday and everyone was out grocery stopping I was quite annoyed. I get in grocery shopping mode and short line mode. It's amazing to see the crowds of people standing in line waiting to check out when they should scope out all the lines for an opening. I found an opening right away with a quick cashier so I was very happy. Came home, cleaned the house a bit, played on facebook and watched movies.

This morning I went to church. Then I came home to pickup Jason and the kids for a ride. We went to BK for a Whopper. Umm, it was so good. Since we're not football fans AT ALL we'll just watch movies tonight and forget about the super bowl.

Oh yeah, probably the most important thing......On Friday I went to Johns Hopkins. When I arrived the check in lady said that they didn't have me on his schedule. More people had come in and had the same problem. Turns out Dr C. did not have clinic on Friday but he was doing a transplant. So, since I drove all that way the nurse practicioner was not very happy about my situation but was trying to get ahold of Dr. C while he was in surgery. Since I couldn't see him, I knew she could really help me with what I needed. I didn't have to see him. She told me he reviewed my X-Rays and the bar has not been displaced, which I figured. I told her that I did not want to go on any narcotics but I wanted a few things. I told her first off I wanted a hospital bed. I have been in a recliner ever since surgery and it's starting to hurt my back. I needed to be able to change positions throughout the night to eliminate all the pain in the morning that I end up with after I have been in bed. She wrote me a prescription. I cannot wait for my new bed. Finally, I can get a good nights sleep. I also asked for a prescription for botox. Botox is used for pain management. It numbs the nerves. I need to find a local doc first and then I will go for my first injection. If the hospital bed stops all my pain though, then I will not need the botox. So, I'm getting so excited about my bed. Only thing I'm worried about is how on earth anyone is going to deliver it. I have to put my jeep into 4WD before I can get up the hill. Delivery trucks cannot make it up our hill, period. Not even in the summer. If we can just get a break from this ice and snow then I can get my bed. We'll see. I'm going tomorrow to order it. Maybe they can deliver it that afternoon. Wouldn't that be exciting. It would come right before the snow storm. Woo Hoo! Today is warm too, 44 deg, so maybe the ice will melt to make it easier.