Mt. Jackson and Mt. Pierce

Gianni and I had a most incredible weekend in the Presidential Mountains of New Hampshire. The plan was to spend Saturday and Sunday with the AMC New Hampshire Chapter Family Group on our annual Mizpah Hut hike. We decided to take Friday off from school and head up early. We started on the Crawford Path around noon and made it to the hut by 2:30. We left most of our gear on our bunks, ate lunch and then headed out on a ridge traverse over to Mt. Jackson. This 3.5 mile hike proved to be most challenging. The conditions were a difficult mixture of mud, ice and collapsing snow bridges. As with any challenge, our effort proved quite rewarding (photo above is us on top of Mt. Jackson, with Mt. Washington in the background). Gianni cooked and cleaned for us and we slept well. We woke up early the next morning and went back down to the parking lot to meet our group. We loaded our empty packs with much of the group food and headed back to the hut. After lunch and plenty of play time with his mates, Gianni and I joined a group that summitted Mt. Pierce. We had more spectacular views of the whole Presidential Range and made it back to the hut before the rain started. Again, Gianni, now with his friends, cooked, served and cleaned up for us. The rain stopped in the morning and we had a pleasant hike down, listening to the kids sign and play most of the way. These were Gianni's third and fourth 4,000 footers. He is eager to climb more. The whole weekend was one of our more enjoyable experiences hiking, particularly Friday. I think Gianni would agree with me when I say our experience climbing in perfect weather together on Friday, just father and son, was simply the best, bliss.

Check out my Flickr Photostream for more photos.

Rock Climbing in Quincy Quarries

Gianni and I went rock climbing in Quincy Quarries last Sunday with Paul, Julie, Helen and Sam. It was an AMC family day in the gorge so there were many kids. We setup and had our kids take a couple of trips up the wall. Then, several kids stopped by for a turn. It was a great day. We were there for over three hours, but it seemed like just one. Helen rocked, reaching the top of the most difficult section. All the kids want to do it again soon.

April Break in Floida

Gianni and I had a very relaxing week in Florida. We did less than usual and it felt great. We did get over to Disney for Gianni's first experience with Cirque du Soleil, which was amazing, of course. For some reason there were no crowds in the morning. We were walking on rides all morning in the Magic Kingdom. We spent the afternoon at Epcot, the highlights being Soar and a show in Germany. This trip was different than most, as we biked and surfed little (no swell). However, we did have our best luck fishing ever. A friend of my mom's showed us a new lure and technique. Gianni went out to try it and in 10 minutes caught a trout and jack. A couple of days later we went again, catching jack and 4 sea trout to 22 inches in just a half hour! As usual, we raced on Sleighride (J/30) with Jan and Jerry in heavy air. The last weekend we were chase boat for the Melbourne Yacht Cub Spring Regatta. This was really fun for Gianni as he was in charge of the VHF radio and setting the marks. It was a relaxing, good time.