Happy 234th USA

Emily, Maggie, Kai, Marisa, Tom, Julia, and I sat on the Eastern Promenade from 3:30 to 10:30 to watch the 4th of July fireworks.

It was nice at 3:30 but it seemed to get hotter as time went by. And then the people showed up.

The sun went down and we began to get excited. We had been sitting and sweating for about 4 hours.

Oliver brought sparklers and met up with us around 8:00. He was the only one to bring sparklers. 4 or 5 of us brought lighters, assuming others would bring some.

The sun finally went down. A moderately cheesy voice started chanting about America from a stage about 150 yards away.

And then the band started playing, we knew it was about to start any minute.

As I watched a disturbing feeling grew in my chest, I could not identify that I felt.

I began to enjoy it a little bit, but the feeling did not leave. Tom began to sing along with anthem in his most obnoxious voice, sure it was disrespectful but it was worth hearing other people yell at him to shut up.

The fireworks are set off from a barge close to shore. When it was part way through the finally it caught fire. The fireworks began to explode lower and lower and then to the point when they had no order at all. When it seemed as if we were at the end of the show, the announcer pretended nothing was wrong. He began reading lottery ticket numbers as part of a fundraiser for fireworks next 4th or July.

People began to leave, black smoke billowed from where the barge was. Some jumped the temporary plastic fence to go look at the barge, fireworks continue to go off randomly about ever minute or so. A dim glow of flames reflected off the black smoke. No one knew what to do, some ignored it and walked home, others got as close as possible (pretty stupid).

As I stood in the crowds flowing away from the area I watched the glow of the fire get brighter. Fireworks began to go off less frequently, but they were still going off only a hundred feet or so from the ground. I could feel the explosions in my chest. Simply, this was so damn strange, for a brief moment after each explosion you can see directly into a strangers personality through their reaction.

Uh, House Party?

We sort of burnt the house down....

Just kidding, but that looks like a cartoon hand reaching out of the fire, creepy. Mark and Liz held a "house party" which is recently defined by David M. as a tempeh rubin sandwich dinner for a bunch of people. But, it is only truly verified as a "house party", when he is also doing his laundry.

We had a fire after dinner, it was really nice. Something both primitive and comforting is given off by these flames.

Believe it or not, these men (+Zoe), are cooking an egg.

Jumbled

I am finishing up my last weekend at dad's tomorrow. We tried to by the last of my supplies for my trip today but failed because the store is missing anything in size from 10-12 for the kind of shoe I need. 

"The trip" coming up has always felt real, for me there is no "oh shit I am going through with this". It's going to be really hard leaving home. Really hard. I know I can do it. Maybe I should have picked easier places to go to....

I am actually leaving 3 "families". Trust me, they are all different. The only thing they share in common is they helped me so much. Point is, it is 3x harder to leave my situation than what would be normally, maybe.

I had my last "first friday art" walk for a while. I am already looking forward to the next one, which isn't too far away.

Okay, a happier part. Today Zoe, Mark, and I climbed Pleasant Mountain. I believe it was my 3rd summit on that mountain, and the most pleasant of all the hikes.

These mushrooms were almost in the trail, I am surprised they were not flat.

This is where I would like to live if I ever grow up. Or maybe just have the front of my house look like this.

At the top of the mountain there is a fire tower left over from the days of fire.

The whole hike was about 4 hours. It may have been less, but there were a lot of wild blueberries.

Toads, Mushrooms, & Rainbows

My brother, dad, and I hiked the Baldface Circle Trail, an extensive 9.8 mile hike with a 3600 foot elevation gain. It was a fairly rigorous hike, a lot of fun, and absolutely worth every step. We left the house at 7:30 and got to the trail head at 10:30.

There were many streams, brooks, and rivers, all lined with moss and other plant life. We ran into our first of many toads only 0.9 miles in, we saw at least 5 or 6 today.

We continued up the trail listening to the birds.

I began to notice some mushrooms, definitely not the kind you want to eat. Magical only in looks.

Once we began to break tree line, nearing our first peak, delicious low bush blueberries emerged from hiding.

Once we could see over the trees we discovered the reasoning behind the naming process of Baldface, lots of exposed ledge.

As we continued the wind wind picked up and it would rain or mist off and on again.

Little did we know there is a holy man at the top of the mountain.

We got past the first peak and head to the second (of three) for lunch. Oliver claimed the wind was so fast that when he would jump vertically he would land somewhere new. We ate lunch and met another hiker from Bath. I picked up a 9 lbs. rock and carried it to the car- evidence at the end of the post.

We eventually got to the third peak, and then headed down the most exposed part of the trail.

There are massive slabs of rock that are breaking away and sliding down the hill, often sliding over each other, creating tunnels and caves. Oliver and I found a cave 35+ feet deep, at least thats how far we got, it kept going, some areas we squeezed through were less 5 inches wide.

We continued down, but I like climbing up much more.

All of the sudden a massive rainbow in the valley below formed.

The last 3 miles are always the hardest, but we got back. My backpack gave birth to my healthy 9 lbs. baby.

And on the way home, I slept, hard. Thanks dad.