I Need a Vacation!

The last two weeks in California have been quite the blur. We visited my family in SF, went to a wedding in Napa, and spent one weekend with Kristin's parents and one weekend with her sister. I guided two trips for Shasta Mountain Guides and Kristin went on a three-day trek in Snow Mountain Wilderness (Mendocino County). We have been eating really well (and too much!), enjoying fine California wine, and visiting as many friends as we can.

As if that wasn't enough, our first travel article was published today. We wrote about having one small backpack with which we could see the world, what's in that backpack, and how we decided what to carry.  We wrote this article in March and April for BackpackingLight.com. Kristin is submitted a second article today: a trip report on our fantastic and challenging trek around the Huayhuash Mountains in Northern Peru. We have a third article due soon, which will analyze our backpacking setup - basically, how good were our initial gear choices and how did everything perform.

To top it all off, we bought tickets to Helsinki, where we'll jump ship to St. Petersburg and start our 10 week Russian Journey. After that, our best guess travel plan is Mongolia, China, Nepal, and India until February, when we head to Italy. We will spend the subsequent six months touring Eastern and Western Europe, Scandanavia, and maybe Northern Africa.

Our friends, now happily married. 

Summit of Shasta, 14,179 feet.

Descending with my four climbers after having summited Shasta. 

The sunset before summit day - the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen on Shasta. 

Two more happy climbers. Happy to have summited, and happy to now descend. Last trip of the season and what a good ending!