Fiery wedding!

Not mine! My good friend Shauna got married today to her perfect guy, Dustin, in one of the most beautiful ceremonies ever. Beautiful because, well, you will see the pics, and it was also a great reunion of old friends. The Pines Lake, NJ clan, all friends from when we were months old, hung out all day, danced the night away, talked and had a grand time.

Oh yeah, and I performed double staves in the barn as the party heated up. Literally!

Memory lane

‘Stuck’ in Burlington, Vermont, I stayed with my dad’s old UVM college roommate, Greg. During dinner, I shared stories of college life, and Greg shared with me stories of my dad’s college life. I would say that it was definitely a fair exchange! After all the grief the my dad gave me a year ago for moving off campus, Greg showed me where my dad lived, and I think that my place is nicer. Can I get any second opinions out there?

In search for double days

I was invited to the first of my friend’s weddings this year (woah!), and en route to the bachelorette party, my flight was cancelled. Bummed was an understatement, but I decided to try to make the most of being stuck. I was stuck in Burlington, Vermont after all, so I rented a SUP from the Gear Exchange (best shop ever), and proceeded to paddle along Lake Champlain. Lake Champlain itself is beautiful, but the cliff bands that line it are breath taking. They are most definitely climbable, and I can see a double day of climbing and paddling this summer. Anyone want to join me?

Graduation

The 13’s. It’s funny because I don’t see myself ever lumping a group of people together and generalizing. Usually it isn’t possible. Usually it isn’t true. But the 13’s. They have been some of my best friends at Dartmouth, great mentors and as a group, just straight up amazing people. I really look forward to seeing all of them bring their infectious energy into the ‘real’ world, and as much as I will miss having them around, I know that they are itching for the next big adventure.

Bike Nats!

It is a Dartmouth spring tradition for biking and nording – Beer Nats. There are three events, and all end in hilarity. The particular one you are looking at is the criterion – three laps of the organizer’s choice with two catches. The first requirement is that the rider needs to drink a beer by the time they finish, and the second is that the last lap is naked. Don’t worry! It is all in the name of good fun!

Senior week bbq

Senior week is here and I am tagging along with the seniors for fun. Tonight we went up to Emmi’s family place in Vermont. Vermont is just straight up beautiful, and after chasing some cows for a while (and getting chased), we went to make some grub. We all laughed over the gender separation that naturally happened in the process - boys at the grill, girls in the kitchen -  but enjoyed the handmade burgers nonetheless!

Bonk

Today I biked at one of the coolest places: the Northeast Kingdom near Burke Mountain in Vermont. Kingdom developed because mountain bikers were cutting illegal trails on the farmland surrounding Burke for years, and the trails were rumored to be awesome. The landowners got together and decided that it would be beneficial to make biking at Kingdom a legit thing. With tons of trails, and maintenance, Kingdom has a bike following that goes from day-trips to weddings.

Rob and I with two of our Nordic skiing friends, Leif and Russ rode the trails. Trying to keep up with Rob and the Nordies, I was worked, full out sprinting to keep them within a sight line. After two hours, I bonked. With three energy bars, I pushed on. To be honest, the riding was too good to stop. By the fourth hour, my legs had enough lactic acid to make bonking look like a piece of cake. When we got back we were rewarded with the best banana splits ever. I would call that a win!

Family portrait

The culdesac where I live has transcended itself. It is no longer just where I live; it has truly become a home. We now call it the cool-de-sac, and I don’t know if I’ll ever live in as cool a community again. We have family dinners every Sunday night, starting the meals with our highs and lows of the week (or an arbitrary time period), and an intro question, varying from the funniest thing you know about Sam Streeter (one of the cool-de-sac members), to your favorite superhero. On almost any other night, someone is cooking up a big pot of something, with enough for everyone and anyone. On a cold afternoon, there is usually a fire going either inside or out, with a large group of friends, and you never know when an impromptu dance party is going to start up. With the term coming to a close and most everyone graduating from the cool-de-sac and entering the ‘real’ world, we decided to get a family photo. From L to R: Rob,Wylie, Rosemary, Hilary(bottom), Ellen, Sam, Hannah, Me!

Final Circus performance

With the term almost to a close, it was time to show off what our young circus club could do with a final showcase. Here are some of the videos! I did a double staff performance:

And a single staff spin:

Hannah and Jacob did acrobalance:

And Jacob did a single staff spin:

Women in the wilderness bike trip!

Today, we had our first full day women in the wilderness bike trip of the term. Since there were four of us going and a mountain bike club event going we decided to join forces. With four guys and four girls, it was definitely the most gender balanced mountain bike ride I had ever been on!

With such a large group and varying skills, there was a lot of potential for an extremely boring day for some and a hard day for others. Somehow, this didn’t even happen. Everyone was pretty stoked on the speed and the riding was just straight up fun! It looks like there might even be a contingent interested in a spring break bike trip next year!

Bike Croo team building

For this coming fall, I was selected to be on Bike Croo, a support group that helps with Dartmouth Freshman Orientation outdoor trips. As Trips Croo, we help teach the technical skills for the freshman mountain bike and ropes course trips. Today, as one of our team-building events, we learned how to run the low ropes course. Turned out to be a pretty good time!

BIKES!

East coast mountain biking is very different from cycling on the western slope of the Rockies. As you know, I’m from Colorado. In the west, the trails are smooth, fast and sunny. The biggest challenge is holding your breakfast in on the way up and holding on for dear life on the way down. Not so for the east coast. Here, you need to make sure that pieces of the bike don’t rattle loose as you bounce your way down the trail. And by trail, I mean a swath of roots and rocks that somehow a bunch of bikers all decided to ride down. How they came to that decision I don’t know. When it is dry, it is a challenge just making out the terrain features as you fly in and out from shade to complete darkness. When it is wet, or gasp, humid, it is a whole other ballgame – you have to fight the fog, roots, mud, leaves, and rocks for purchase. I can tell you how that fight usually goes.

But beyond all of the differences, there is something really incredible about nailing your first technical uphill and pinning your first tight, flat corner. There is also nothing better than figuring out the quick rhythm of eastern biking, where you can either connect loop after loop for an all-day ride filled with rope swing stops, or catch one of those loops for an hour study break. Once I switched to a lighter pair of Ryder sunglass lenses and could differentiate between forest and trail, the world of east coast biking has been the best type of study break rush ever.

DOC Formal!

The first ever DOC formal was this week! With all of my good friends hanging out, eating delicious food then dancing in formal attire, it was a sight to behold. Especially when I usually only see this crowd in Carhartts.

fire pt2!

And this time it isn’t me! It's Rob! No better way to relieve school stress than throwing around fire!