Pixels and Peaks
Within the next 4 months, I hope for everyone’s benefit, I will try to learn to talk in pixels (or at least learn to hear in pixels). Until then, I hope the scattered-quality photos in the photo albums section will do.
My fascination with Fall continues. Fall and iron-bar-laden hiking trails. These Eastern trees are merely teasing us at the moment. Perhaps they are more concerned with dodging hurricanes, though under such stressful conditions, my scientific urges lead me to believe their leaves would be changing in droves—the equivalent of blushing or turning white in fear.
Amanda and I just finished up a short jaunt through Acadia National Park in Maine. Despite the parks peculiar shape (a conjunction of privately donated lands), there were plenty of spectacular trail-like continuums to enjoy. We found a couple non-technical climbing trails to be the best of them. These were essentially teetering trails up modest granite cliffs and ledges. The trails were strung together with iron handrails and ladders where gravity would naturally get the best of the not-really-rock-climber tourists like myself.
A new toy, or should I speculatively say, life-saving piece of technology which accompanied our ascent was a handheld GPS (global positioning system). This machine, at a casual speed, tells you your current longitude and latitude amongst other neat, if not essentially unessential information. Amanda humored my intrigue with grace, yet I must boast that, on more than one occasion after a hike, the GPS helped us find our way back to the trailhead parking lot.
More humbly, I will also admit that there were numerous occasions where, while globally disoriented and locally perplexed, Amanda found the way to where we needed to go before that darn GPS even finished turning on.
Next, my sights are set on places where we will more likely get lost for more than a few minutes, where foreign language will confuse and misdirect us, where directions may come in awkward finger-point fashion: Southern Europe. I will continue to bear the GPS (maybe sometimes turning it on a little ahead of time), and amongst friends and foreign lands, I will report back on my success.
