Welcome to the August 27th edition of our Hiking Adventures in Pictures

Welcome Happy Hikers!

This past week's hike was chosen by our talented travel consultant, Deborah Greene. She'll take you with ease on a camel ride to see the great Pyramids in Egypt, and to the sprawling city of London to see the likes of Big Ben, and also to the shiny bright blue waters splashing over the white sandy beaches of the Caribbean... but she was taken by surprise this past Saturday morning. Oh, yes she was... When Deb and I arrived in Norwich to hook up with Bob and Sof, (Rob was giving Christina a ride to her horseback riding) we were informed that Deb (aka The Direction Lady) was in charge of leading us to the trail head.

Deb took charge almost as masterful as Theodore Roosevelt would have back when he was planning his famous hunting trips out on horseback in the Badlands. But what I won't tell you is.. that I saved her ass, because I always keep a few good maps in my car just for occasions like this. And Deb performed gallantly! We drove through the entire slum district of East Hartford, and finally got to our destination at the wrong end of the Metacomet Trail than what was intended. But all was not lost. We decided to hike the trail in reverse. Like it really mattered.

We finally got to our hike and immediately we started up an incline that wouldn't end. Our first picture was taken at the top of that hill. It was a pretty good view, but Sof was a little nervous being placed at a spot so close the the edge.



We hiked a bit more and then came across the Heublein Tower. We were a bit early and had to wait about 15 minutes for it to open, but we welcomed to relaxation. A little research about the tower reveals that Gilbert F. Heublein built it as his summer retreat in 1914, so that it would "never blow over." Also, in 1974 it went through a major renovation by the State of Connecticut to make it more accessible to the public.

Onward we went... And Theodore Roosevelt would have been proud of us, because we are able outdoors men and woman! Usually Rob and Bob are hiking out in front, and I am sandwiched in the middle with Sof and Deb behind me, but occasionally I stop to snap a few pictures and get behind. On this occasion, I was caught up with the girls and were walking briskly with them when I saw a baby black bear coming toward us on our left. I said, "Look, a bear!" That startled him, and he immediately turned around and headed the other way. But on that side of the trail, he didn't have very far to go before he reached the waters edge. He was pinned between us and the water. So he started running ahead of us, along the water, breaking small branches as he went. I wasn't able to snap a picture of him, but I sure wanted to. And then, a couple who was running toward us on the trail saw the bear and screamed, "a bear!" and immediately turned around and ran the other way. That's exactly what not to do! We made relatively loud noises with our walking sticks and called out cautiously to scare the bear away, which in fact, that's what happened. The bear eventually stopped somewhere in his tracts while we passed and we were out of danger. We were sure that Mommy-Bear was close by. Thanks to a pamphlet we read at the Heublein Tower, we were educated on how to react when encountering a bear in the woods. Again, TR would be proud! Maybe not as proud as if we had a gun, but I won't go there.

Lunch and Starbucks followed, as usual, and resting by the pool after that... I love Saturdays!

Well, that wraps up our hiking adventures for this week. Talk to everyone again next...
Happy Hiking,
Joe

Welcome to the August 20th edition of our Hiking Adventures in Pictures.

Welcome Happy Hikers!

A lot was going on this past Saturday. Actually, my story starts on Friday afternoon before our hike, during my lunch hour in Newport.

I was sitting in my truck at my work, Naval Station Newport, about ready to drive to the Dress Barn to buy my Mom a birthday present for her party on Saturday afternoon. Since one of Jody's stores is almost next door to the Dress Barn, I decided to call her to see if she was interested in helping me pick something out... I didn't expect her to be there, but I had to try anyway. Jody and I talked a bit and I then promised to bring my Cosmo ingredients to share with her during our famous "Take the Edge Off" later that evening at Sof and Rob's. We ended up making about 4 or 5 cosmopolitans and probably 5 or 6 Tangueray and Tonics. All of us really enjoyed a wonderful evening singing to Mark and Rob's iPods and we all were feeling very good by the end of the night. I definitely had 1 or 2 too many... I actually have movies and pictures to prove it.

Saturday morning... OHHH.... I was not feeling good at all. My alarm went off and I almost decided to call it quits. I dragged myself out of bed and eventually Deb and I got to Norwich about 10 minutes late. I was dreading a horrible walk in between my headache and my stomach pains.

Once we started out, I started feeling a little better. As we hiked, the trail was very rocky throughout. We were forced to stay alert to keep from tripping. I even caught Bob coming up from a fall in one picture. He has scrapes in his knee to prove it.

The first picture in this newsletter was taken in front of the Hartford skyline. It's barely visible in the background.



Our next picture is of Deb and Sof during one of my stops to snap some pictures... I was determined to snap a lot of pictures this hike.



Our next picture was inspired by Sof who suggested to frame us inside a bed of ferns.



We all decided that all the rocks were a great backdrop.



Bob, getting the LOVE...



Our Hiking Adventures at the summit of Lookout Mountain at 744ft. Hartford is seen much better in this picture.


See everyone next week!
Joe

Welcome to the August 13th edition of our Hiking Adventures in Pictures.

Our Summer of Saturday's!

I really have enjoyed the last few Saturdays. The last few Saturdays have been full of hiking with best of friends, hanging at the beach or by the pool, roasting march mellows and singing by the fire, steaks on the grill, planning for a trip of a lifetime, even watching Sofee sipping out her water bottle has made some of us think of the very best of times!

Last week we all were anticipating a wonderful afternoon at what we have been calling Mark's beachapalooza party at his beach cottage. Since Rocky Neck is so close to Mark's cottage, we almost decided to do that again, but we changed our minds again (to no surprise) and ended up at Cockaponset State Forest. We have been to Cockaponset in the past, so we decided to hike some of the trails that we haven't been on yet. Because our minds were scrambled thinking about other things, that also didn't happen...

We started out just fine. Everyone was getting their blood flowing, and shortly after a steady climb, we stopped for a short water break. All of us guys then noticed Sofee sipping out of her water bottle, might I say, sucking her water bottle. That was the end of all rational thinking from any guy out on the trail. But onward we went... minds scrambled. While everyone was commenting on Sof's water bottle sucking techniques, we were back at our starting point wondering how we got turned around. We were all looking at our compasses that Chet had given us, but they were of no help to a distracted hiker. Since we were only about halfway through our hike that day, we decided to venture out into the wilderness again to finish our expected 5 - 6 miles for the day. After all, we all enjoyed our workout, and ended up having lunch in Niantic before going to Mark's cottage.

Here are the pictures that I took in anticipation of more of the best of times.
Enjoy your week,
Joe

The Teckie Travelers

Wow!
We look pretty good...What a treasure this is going to be over time will all of our hikes on it...can you add the emails and photos from before?
We love Joey!!!!
sof

Welcome to the August 6th edition of our Hiking Adventures in Pictures.

Welcome Happy Hikers,

This week was a hot one. Thank God most of our hike was in the shade because WOW, was it hot! Bring your water bottles, folks (even you Bob), cause without water in this heat, your a goner. Everyone usually thinks and talks food during the hike, but not this week. We all had Sof and Rob's pool in mind. We also had Beth and Gil over visiting us, and I was really looking forward to everyone gathering and enjoying the day by the pool and eating smores by the fire.

This week we decided to stay in the hills to keep away from all those swamp bugs, and also keep somewhat close to home because Bob had to go to a wedding in the early afternoon. Bob and Rob ended up picking one of the more hilly trails we hiked back on the 29th of April, Nayantaquit Trail. Back in April, we all were complaining about all the hills, but I think we licked them without too many frowns this time around. Nickerson Hill was defiantly taken more quickly, but I for one was almost half dead when I reached the top.

During the end of the hike we noticed a small turtle who was failing in his quest for water. Most of the Debbie bridges covered dry streams, so that turtle needed our help. I picked him up and carried him not very far to the end of the trail. My little guy kept his head and feet inside his shell until he knew he was safe. We walked him over to a lake and set him free.

We ended up eating lunch at CafeNV, and we all learned all the different ways how to say (and how not to say) toilet in Greek.
The pool was cool and relaxing. What a wonderful day.

The first picture, we told Sof and Deb that we wanted pictures of their water bottles, but we were really after their behinds. :-)

Joe