#i enjoy a good peak into my for your section for new blogs to follow and stuf

[plastic-pipes]

sure wish the "i'm not interesting in this" function on this website functioned lol

[princecharmingmendes]

Heart by Heart | Chapter I | Raul Mendes

                                           *secret agent AU*

Y/N and Raul have been friends ever since they could remember. And falling in love with your best friend can be pretty tricky and messy 99% of the times, add that to the fact they're constantly risking their lives side by side on the field since they're both secret agents, and the best team that's ever existed. Perfect recipe for disaster.

Helloo, this is the first chapter of this series and I'm super excited about it. Please read the warnings on this one, if you don't feel comfortable with the contents listed on the "warnings" section, please read something else, there are a lot of other works on my masterlist and on the "fic rec" hashtag on my blog. I plan on posting a chapter weekly, which means new chapter every Thursday (and maybe a sneak peak every monday). Please give me some feedback and I hope you guys like it as much as I did. I'll stop rambling now, byee. Happy Reading!

                                                     masterpost | next chapter

*Word Count: 3.4K+;

*Warnings:  cursing, descriptions of violence, blood, injuries, hostage situation and a whole lot of teasing. Please don’t read it if any of this subjects make you uncomfortable, feel free to check my masterlist for other writings. 

*Posted: July 1st, 2021.

                                                     -*-

Raul Mendes was a pain in the ass. Y/N loves him way too much for her own good, but he was a pain in the nonetheless. 

He was the only person she knew who could be in a possible life-or-death situation and still make fun of her through their communicators. And sure, that made the whole thing lighter and less scary, and sure, he was the best agent she’s ever met, but damn did he get on her nerves. And Raul always knew how to get her frustrated or squirming, he enjoyed it more than he was willing to admit. Sure, they’ve been friends for a long time and she should be used to him, but it never got easier. The fact he had a killer smile, the looks of a legit greek god and had this whole tough guy exterior, but secretly had a soft spot for her did not make her case any less complicated.

Y/N and Raul knew each other ever since they’re basically born. Their parents met when they worked together at a company of secret agents, it was only a small corporation back then, and they were known as the best agents at the time. After they retired from field missions and eventually desk jobs, they became only advisers and emergency contacts. But despite that, they kept their friendship going though all the years and that’s how Y/N was introduced to the triplets. They’re always together, doing everything with each other and protecting themselves. And of course she loved Peter and Shawn with her whole heart, they’re like family to her, but Raul was different. Y/N wished it wasn’t, but there are certain things in life you can’t exactly control. Like falling in love with your best friend.

And it’s not like she stood a chance, to be honest. Regardless of his looks, he treated her like she hung the moon and stars on the sky. Sure, he was a tough guy, who rode motorcycles and wore leather jackets, and wouldn’t admit alive that he cried while watching Lion King. But he took care of her when she was upset or having a bad period, he would take her driving around town at midnight on random occasions just because he knew it would make her feel better, and would always be so mindful of everything involving her. And yeah, he teased her endlessly, but it was part of it and in reality, Y/N didn’t mind it that much. 

So when they started growing older and decided to follow their parents career, it only made sense they trained their asses off and got the job together. The company their parents worked for grew a lot, a team that was originally formed by 15 agents turned into a massive business, with over 100 employees, doing various functions. Shawn was picked for a more diplomatic field, always in meetings with important people and traveling around the world. Peter became a tech engineer, developing the coolest gadgets and weapons imaginable, something out of Totally Spies! Raul was clearly a field agent, an expert on body combat and weapons, best out of the four when it came to their physical test. And Y/N was the one who guided the operations, the hacker and responsible for strategies, also for the tech part and best sniper out of the three of them. 

That made her and Raul an unbeatable team and the best duo ever. Their chemistry on the field was recognized by their bosses on the first week, basically glueing them together for every future mission and it worked. For the company. But it only dug her little crush deeper on Y/N’s heart. And obviously no one knew it. She was a spy for fucks sake, she knew how to lie and she wasn’t going to be the one to tell him. Raul didn’t date, working on this field made  everyone’s love life a bit harder than it was already, and he never seemed interested enough in anyone with the same career to have a long lasting relationship with. That didn’t mean there where a lot of people interested, which made Y/N’s heart twist in her chest. 

“Sweetheart, you still with me?” Raul’s voice came through her earpiece bringing her back to reality.

“Of course I am, you idiot, I take this job really seriously” Y/N replied rolling her eyes as if she didn’t just daydreamed a bit. 

“Oh sorry, doll, didn’t mean to insult you hard working” he chuckled “but could you please check in the corridor number 6, half the team is heading down there right now”

“Sure” she quickly typed on her computer changing cameras really quickly, perks of being Peter’s best friend is that she could usually take extra stuff and the newest gadgets on the market “It’s clear and, by the way, you look pathetic with this glasses”

Raul laughed clearly amused, throwing his middle finger up in the air in the direction of the security camera he found “Oh really? Tell that to Peter, he’s the one who created them” 

“Technically their still a prototype, so make sure to let him know”

Raul scoffed playfully as he climbed another set of stairs, the man and woman with him following without questioning, used to his ways of leading “Of course, I’m sure he’ll like to hear your fashion critiques to his million dollar glasses”

“I’ll write it down, now careful, you’re approaching the level where they’re at”

“Sure, mom, I’m always careful” he said in a hushed tone signaling to his teammates to keep quiet and try to find the possible security team they left to watch the hostage.

“Shut up” Y/N said trying to hold back the smile from stretching her lips, already letting the airway team know to be ready to pick them up as they approached their target. 

They’re currently in the middle of a mission where they needed to recover another agent who got caught up in an ambush two weeks ago, and now they’re being kept as a hostage. Raul’s leading a team to retrieve the agent as quickly and as silently as they could, two with him and three other on the opposite side to meet halfway. All that while Y/N’s on the under construction building across the street seated among her gear, gun in hand following their every step and guiding them through the camera system and the big windows that other building had. It’s not the worst mission they’ve ever been, no apparent violence or blood bath, just a simple rescue mission, but they still felt a little jittery and always worried about each other’s lives. And through the years, they noticed that their copying mechanism to make this less stressful (at least a tiny bit) was through light banter and jokes. That somehow brought a bit of normality to their very non ordinary job. 

Y/N did her best to keep them hidden while they crashed into the building as quietly as possible, trying go unnoticeable since they didn’t have enough munition or people on the tactic team. It would also prevent them from moving the target around or opening fire. And despite the fact Raul kept on trying to joke around and that she’s been doing this for at least four years, the fact that they’re working with a less experienced and fresh out of the academy crew made her a little jittery. Not that she didn’t trust Raul to command everything and boss everyone around if things got messy, she just didn’t want him to get in the middle of a crossfire again. 

He had the terrible habit of playing the hero in the most inconvenient times, like when they were little and a guy twice his size, with three friends mocked her pigtails. He didn’t stand a chance, but he went after them anyway. They ended up having to run as fast as they could so they wouldn’t end up with a black eye or something. And that was nothing compared to the stupid shit he could do on field. And Y/N couldn’t be more pissed whenever he came home with more bruises then he should just to play Superman or something. Sure, that was admirable and the fact that he put everyone on his team on his top priority was definitely something fantastic for a captain, but not for Y/N’s heart. 

And for that reason, she was always extra careful, but when he had a newbie joining him on the field, Y/N tripled the attention to avoid putting the kid in danger, and, consequently her best friend. 

Raul was quick to take down two man on their level without raising much alarm, grabbing their munition, dragging the unconscious bodies away from where they’d be easily seen and moving forward to another set of stairs. He was a very skillful agent, with great physical development and worked great under pressure, with quick thinking and a natural leader. So it didn’t shock her when he was able to do that as if it was the most natural thing in the planet. While Raul was more of a passionate person, Y/N was more rational, was analyzing every possibility and coming up with creative solution, she was also really cold on work (she just had one exception) and was a quick thinker, great person to rely on. It’s almost as if the complimented each other and that’s why it worked. That’s why when she tells him to shoot, he does without thinking, or to jump, he wouldn’t blink before doing it head first. 

And that’s why they’re able to reach the hostage without much trouble. 

“Told you to chill out, I knew we could make it” he murmured through their coms and she giggled, shaking her head incredulously.

“You should watch the entrances while your teammates take care of the hostage”

“That’s why I have you, sweetheart” he said with his infamous smirk stretching his annoyingly pink lips.

Y/N shook her head when she felt her face warming up a bit, stupid boy “Well, actually I’m pretty busy calling for our ride, so watch your own back this time, you’re a big boy, I’m sure you can do it”

Raul scoffed but did as she say either way “fine, are we clear?”

“On your floor yes, climb three more levels and meet me on this side of the street, don’t stall champ, they’re going to notice there’s something wrong with the cameras and their man who aren’t responding, so be quick”

Raul chuckled as he helped balance the hostage on Roman’s arms and signaling them to climb the stairs again “Yes, ma’am, anything to keep you from frowning and scolding my ass”

Y/N rolled her eyes smiling, sighing in relief that half of their mission was done and it went as smoothly as it could have been “Great, now get your ass out of there now, Raul” 

The tactic team started moving to the floor they’d have access to jump, and everything was going too smoothly to be true, not even a minor inconvenience. And that was not normal, at all. That’s when Y/N started getting worried. 

Everything was great until Seth, from loosing a lot of blood and being severely dehydrated, started loosing his conscious, making Roman’s job a lot more complicated and making everyone move slower. And while that was happening, Y/N saw when one of the guys saw his partners laying limply on the corner of a hallway and finally the pieces clicked. Luckily she was able to caught it quickly enough to be able to mess up their coms, so instead of a dozen men, they’d have to deal with two. She was also quick to let Raul know, so he jumped into action, telling everyone to rush and grabbing Seth’s right side, basically carrying him alongside Roman up the stairwell. 

But as they’re almost reaching the door, Raul heard footsteps rather close, rushing Roman up the rest of the way, warning he’d be right behind him, that he was only to be a bit far back so he could hold whoever was coming. 

He ran downstairs, quickly blocking the door to the staircase with a fire extinguisher, running all the way upstairs to reach his teammates and jump to go home. But as he had just reached the door, his colleagues waiting for him with their gear (and also his) ready to cross to the other building, he felt the barrel of a gun touching the back of his head. Raul raised his hands in surrender, his teammates staring at him with horror in their eyes as they aimed their guns to whoever was behind him, but he knew they couldn’t do much before he got shot. He also knew they’re too young, apart from Roman and Cara, who were both holding Seth up, they weren’t experienced enough to do something like that. But before the person could pull the trigger, they grunted in pain and Raul felt the barrel slipping away. 

He turned around to watch the guy on his back in the floor, clutching to his left ribs, a little pool of blood already forming underneath him and gun long forgotten. Raul looked around to see if it was anyone from this guy’s side or anyone on the stairs, only to be met with silence and a single security camera with the green dot on, meaning Y/N was still in their system. He shook his head in disbelief, dragging the whining man outside of the room, quacking his gun down the stairs and managing to lock the door so they could escape safely. 

“Still with me, baby?” Y/N’s voice teased mimicking the way he said it earlier. 

Raul shook his head with a smirk on his lips, before moving to where his teammates stood still a bit shocked with all that happened in front of them “Wouldn’t dream of leaving you, sweetheart”

“Alright boys, the helicopters are coming for us, meet you all on the roof in three” Y/N said through the coms for the whole team, quickly shifting to a line only the captain, Raul, could hear “and if you dare be late just to make a big entrance or another dramatic scheme you can think about, I swear to God I’ll leave you behind”

“You wouldn’t dare”

“Try me” Y/N sing sang picking up her stuff and quickly shoving them down in her backpack, gathering the rest in her hands before turning around to climb to the rooftop. 

As she climbed the last set of stairs, Y/N saw their helicopters approaching as the seven agents she was waiting for used a special gun to shoot a line to her building, before locking them in place before zip-lining their way to meet her. She helped Seth, the agent that was kept hostage climb up the little wall since he was in a pretty bad shape, throwing his arm across her shoulders and basically dragging him to where they thrown the stair to climb up to the helicopter with the medical team waiting for him. Cara and Roman climbed first since they’re going to report what they saw and assist Seth as best as they could. Roman grabbed him and the rope stair, shouting to pull them up so he could be taken care of. 

Raul was the last one to arrive, as always staying behind to insure everyone got there safely and no one would try to kill them or anything. He graciously climbed the all as if it was nothing, pulling the gun from the string and cutting it so no one could follow them up there that quickly. Raul told everyone to climb onto the helicopter and they’re quick to follow his order, only one person stubbornly waiting for him, as always. He held back the relieved smile from stretching across his features, noticing how warm and relaxed he felt only by seeing Y/N standing besides the hope ladder. She looked worried, a frown on her beautiful face and Raul wanted to smooth his fingers over it as if it would ease all of her troubles away.

She nodded as soon as he was close enough, Raul being quick to pick up the heavy backpack she was carrying and leaving the rest to her “Are you okay?”

“What? Of course, Why do you ask?” he knew why she was asking, hell, his heartbeat was still a bit too fast to be normal, and yeah, partially was because he was standing in front of Y/N, but on the other hand he almost got killed. She only arched her brow at him and he sighed in defeat “Of course I am, doll, you know me, I’m always okay” 

“That’s what’s scares me the most” she said with a sad chuckle and started climbing the rope ladder to the helicopter and Raul was quick to follow behind.

“Dude, that was insane, I can’t believe you didn’t miss or accidentally shot Raul from across the street!” the youngest guy from the mission shouted as soon as they reached them on the vehicle, Raul closing the door behind them. 

Y/N only giggled in response “yeah, a bit crazy, isn’t it?”

“That’s because she’s the best, Tommy, but she won’t believe it” Raul said as he sat on one of the vacant seats, waiting for her to join him. 

“Oh shut it” she said unable to stop the smile from forming.

They kept on talking about the mission for a while, Tommy and the other two kids who recently joined still high from the adrenaline, but Y/N couldn’t be more worn out and Raul was quick to catch it. He leaned closer to her and she automatically laid her head on his shoulder, a movement that was almost mechanic to both of them. He gently grabbed her hand that was placed on her knee and interlaced their fingers together, letting her play with his hand to pass the time. 

Y/N sighed and mumbled after a while, when most of the kids were too distracted to pay attention “Are you really okay? Don’t say that you’re always fine, I mean it”

Raul had mastered the art of the poker face. He could easily be having the worst time of his life, but he would never let it showcase always with a quick sarcastic remark and an easy smirk on his lips, ready to flirt with anyone to distract them from the real problem. Raul was not the best when dealing with feelings and emotions, always thought it was easier to push them away, but Y/N saw right through him. She always did, ever since they were little. After that, he never tried to hide it again from her, always being as honest as he could with her about how he was, and obviously it didn’t always work, but she understood and respected it. It’s not like he needed to say anything for her to know. 

But at the same time, she didn’t know that he would always be fine, as long as she was safe and right next to him, the rest didn’t matter. 

“I promise you I’m fine, you saved my beautiful ass and we’re going home, I’d say we’re fantastic” he said after a while, pressing a long kiss to the back of their laced hands. 

That seemed to be enough to convince Y/N, since she huffed through her nose and let out a tiny giggle, before leaning closer to him and Raul took it as a sign to drape his arm over her shoulder pulling her closer to his chest “your beautiful ass is really annoying, you know that, right?”

“Oh, I do, but you love it anyway” he said with a giggle, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head, as she just showed him her middle finger, making him laugh even more. 

Yeah, he was definitely fine. For now. 

                                                     -*-

*Please reblog or like this post if you liked it so I’ll know.

*I’m sorry if there are any spelling mistakes.

*Please do not repost this without giving me the credit, this is a completely original piece and I do not give permission to copy this!

*Hope you guys enjoyed it!

*xoxo

-🌙

[roswellroamer]

Day 12. February 10, 2020. Te Anau day ride. 155km.

Woke to low 40's and gray which made me question the Carrot and Weather Channel apps which had shown 72° and sunny. But closer inspection revealed a marine type layer probably due to the massive lake's shores which was projected to burn off by 11. The kitchen came stocked with farm fresh eggs, bowl of assorted fruit, milk, butter, juice, yogurts, cereals. We set about making some eggs and toast and then of course after finishing off yesterday's blog we grabbed the two frisbees and the "golf course diagram" and headed out. A half life sized chess board on the sprawling manicured lawn provided the tee for the first hole. All the bikes were truck tires with the hole number painted on the rubber. Got to explore their grounds and have some fun tossing the 'bee. We then got into our GoreTex gear and headed towards Milford Sound after a CalTex has stop in town. Knowing we couldn't get to Milford due to road closures/flooding we were aiming for a swing bridge made of three cables. One for your feet and one for each of your hands that spanned the west branch of the Eglinton River. It was featured in one of the NZ touring books I had bought last summer. We saw that the trail sign to identify the turn off was the Earl Mountain turnoff and headed that way. We wound a bit away from the water and gained some elevation and then came to a construction zone. Not being sure if this was related to the recent flooding we got in mine behind a few cars and waited. Maybe less than ten minutes and the opposing truck, bus and camper passed us then we were allowed to proceed. Usually the 120km up to Milford takes over two hours due to the heavy traffic. Top tourist destination in NZ, one road in and out. Lots of buses and cars jockeying to get parking at the roadside attractions. One huge benefit of having the road closed about 75km ahead was that there was hardly any traffic! Great road and scenery as jagged Teton-esque peaks wound into view between the nearly sheer yet forested canyons as we gained elevation. After passing through a few more, wait, take a wild guess... sheep farms 🐑 we came to a diversion. Funneled into a lane off the road to what appeared to be a toll booth, explained to the gal we were in search of a cable bridge off the Earl Mtn. Trail before the closed section. She allowed us to pass. So far so good.

You can tell when you enter Fiordland NP. Sure, there's a sign off to the left (but placed behind a farmer's field/fence so inaccessible for a reasonable picture). But immediately farmland disappears and you are envelopes in the eery dense tunnel of what seems to be darned close to tropical forest. With the 21 feet of annual rainfall being lush shouldn't be a surprise but the immediate drop off in brightness is dramatic as well. Almost like going in a cave. There are some open "flats" but much of the area along the one road there is heavy forest. The other concern for vehicles but especially bikes involves the encroaching algae/moss on the roads. Two tire tracks are largely clear of it but the center of the lanes and the road as well are mostly a bit greenish with the slippery stuff. Lots of "slippery when wet" signage and it wasn't for the Bon Jovi album. I imagined it could be taxing to stay in the worn and clear tire tracks on one of the 250 rainy days. With clear blue sky and dry along with no traffic, the 55,65 and 75kph turns were superb sweepers and we had a ball carving up that road. One of the stops was at Mirror Lakes. Aptly names and even though a couple of fish had disturbed the surface, the pics are keepers. We rode up into Fiordland a ways and then there was the Earl Mtn. sign. We pulled in to the parking area and saw the line of yellow tape across the entrance to the trail. Also no other vehicles were there. The sign said it was closed and also had a few poison signs around the lot. They described the poison that was dangerous to animals and people to attempt (as is often done here) eradication of a non-native predator. In this case it seemed to be some sort of weasel that was endangering a bird that lived on the ground. We had discussed this cable swing bridge and yellow tape and warnings weren't gonna stop us! We worked around the tape and stepped into a dense forest trail. The first 10 minutes took us along an occasionally muddy trail. Tons of tree roots. Most of the deep mud had sticks or small logs tossed in to provide steps but a few ill advised steps resulted in 6" plunges and lovely boot pulling sucking noises to dislodge my Alpinestar SMX-6 from the muck. Then found my way down a thirty foot hill by treading solely on exposed tree roots from one tree! (Pic above) After that, following the well marked red triangular plastic blazes into the heart of Frodo land, the forest was a magic pliant spongy floor. It took a while to figure out that about 6-8" of moss has somehow grown over a network of interconnected tree roots. When I stepped, the entire ground in a five foot radius would give in and move a bit. It was weird and beautiful. After another 10' we heard the Eglinton River and were blocked by some fallen trees and yellow tape. A work around brought me to the river just above the cable swing bridge. A very large tree had fallen on the bridge from our side and collapsed it. Instead of a V shape, the 3 cables were mostly flat but still spanning the river. Ugh. No go. Managed to work our way with some difficulty through the dense brush to get close enough for a pic on the first rung of the bridge which was also the last possible one to reach due to the tree and damage. Pic above. There was a cute little bird on the ground by the bridge remnants. He seemed happy to see us. Wasn't afraid of people evidently as he strutted about watching us, walking under the branch I was balancing on without flying away. He seemed to enjoy company. Said goodbye to my new friend 🐦 and found the blazes trail which included a half dozen improvised detours to avoid deep muck. Scaled up the root ladder which must have been connected to Eywa as the whole forest seemed a bit magical. 🌳 One couple was following our lead to enter the forbidden enchanted forest as we exited. They were disappointed to hear the wire bridge was out. The entire trail from there is about a three hour hike.

I must comment that tons of serious hikers (trampers in local speak) come here and cover long distances. Temps are good. Views and scenery fantastic. None of those deadly spiders and snakes one may encounter across the Tasman Sea in Oz. I get it, just don't love hiking that much to spend days or weeks doing it. This area shows why Peter Jackson used it for LOTR. Nearly pristine and just overwhelmingly stunning. With boots and Klim pants properly mud coated, we were now sweating quite a bit. In fact while holding my Latitude jacket I believe I finally lost my first set of reading glasses on this ride. I have a couple spares but oh well. Think they fell out as I was scaling some of the hill or tree root sections. 👓 I opened up all the vents on my jacket and pants and started the bike to stand and let the 65° breeze do its job. Turned around a couple kilometers further at Lower Holyford Rd. as the heavy machinery was at work. Estimated repair on the sign said that the road would reopen on Friday, four days from now. We stopped a few times on the way back for scenic spots that were too good to pass by. One of the files above is the .gif of some chopper footage. Stopped to watch him load and fly away with a few tanks of what may have been fuel? Most likely bound for Milford Sound which was still isolated from the rest of the country's road system. On one of the last stops Ted must've not closed his bag since when we pulled into Te Anau town center his right saddlebag/pannier was open! Ba quick inventory revealed his polartec jacket and a plastic bag with a wipe were missing. The chain lube that Kiwi gave us as well as a helmet lock were still in the pannier. Those darned side opening clamshell designs! I said I'd get a table at the Ranch outside and wait for him to hopefully retrieve his stuff. I showed him how to flip up on the iPhone to reveal exactly where that last pic was taken. He was just putting on his helmet when a white car pulls up. A guy walks out and hands him his stuff! So lucky. They are bikers and saw his stuff and followed us into town. Nice. After some thank you a they drove away and the day got even brighter. The Ranch delivered me a couple Cokes and an interesting prawn twist dish. 8 shrimp individually wrapped in a long thin dough sheet and fried so the whole 8" long finger is edible and 3 sauces to dip accompanied the serving. Then a calamari salad. 😊 Back to the homestead for some blogging (so I won't fall asleep tonight trying to get this down) and rest before we scored a reservation at the top place in town. The Redcliff cafe. Ted was here last year and unable to get in! We rode to town and were walking down the street when Ted recognized the Aussies who returned his stuff at lunchtime. We turned around and flagged them down. They were perfectly willing to join us for a thank you beer and had a nice time talking with them. They were riders but here to scatter ashes of a friend up north and had received money and were encouraged to make a great trip out of it. They had been to Burt Munro as well. Our appointed hour arrived and we were seated on the back porch of the Redcliff cafe. A few tables of Americans nearby and some conversation with a California couple by us and an excellent meal. I had a salmon tartare dish followed by venison which was amazing and a date and ice cream dessert which were each remarkable. Redcliff did not disappoint. Probably the biggest culinary splurge of the trip. Even with a couple drinks my total ended up being just over $50 and it would've been 50% more for that same meal at home. Had a great evening and got back to the homestead in dusk around 10. Ready to roll northward tomorrow. 😴

[raleighliving]

Top 3 Back Roads to Be Alone with Your Thoughts in Raleigh

  I wanted to make my first piece of actual content something ‘unique’ because I wanted to set the tone appropriately.  Show off how my brain ticks, how I process things, and how you can expect similar articles to go in the future.

  So let's start off the new year/new blog/etc. with a list of my Top 3 Roads to Be Alone With Your Thoughts On.  If you’re like me, you have crippling anxiety that makes day to day life a drudge.  Or maybe you have problems of your own, or just need somewhere quiet to go where you can forget your problems for 10 to 15 minutes because life these days is noisy AF.  

   These roads are just a few places (cause I have other lists to write) where you can drive down them at 2 or 3AM and feel absolutely secluded from the world at large, and maybe see some cool stuff. 

1 - Norwood Rd. (N. Raleigh)

   We’ll start the first-ever listicle off with some closely grouped roads under the theme of “interconnectivity”  A good set of roads that, individually are pleasant but can be chained together or abandoned to civilization at any time depending on your mood.  

  To start that off, we’ve got Norwood Road;  a side road that’s fairly representative of Raleigh as a whole, one end reaching its conclusion at a small bait-n-tackle shop and the other at a fairly large elementary school. Following the road itself, you’ll find nothing but empty churches and the odd gas station or CVS.  

   Most of the neighborhoods and houses along the road are pushed back into the wild, so you’re not apt to run into anything other than a deer or possum crossing the street.    Of course, there’s still plenty of nature to take in; and if you travel along the road at 8 or 9 PM, TreeRunner Adventure Park located between Norwood and Old Creedmoor will be lit up with its great array of multi-colored lights

   If you wanna dip back into the developed world then you can jump off on Gun Club Dr. or follow through the entire road to either Leesville Rd. or Six Forks, from there you can definitely reach most main highways or main roads in less than five minutes. Regardless, it’s a quiet drive with very little lighting aside from the warm glow of windows and the occasional other drivers.  

2 - Old Creedmoor Rd. 

   Hanging parallel to Creedmoor Rd. and slicing through a more north-to-south section compared to Norwood’s east-to-west, Old Creedmoor Road is a dark and slightly more populated backroad that flirts with Durham Rd, Creedmoor Rd, and the Wake Expressway without actually touching most of them for most of its run.  It’s north end, actually connecting to Durham Rd, puts you pretty close to the southern portion of Falls Lake, and best of all it acts as a connector hub to other shady back roads.

   From Old Creedmoor, you can connect into the aforementioned Norwood, take Gun Club Road past some horse farms and horse competition practice fields (out of towners beware, Raleigh is Horse Girl country), or hit the northern end of Carpenter Pond Road for a trip back to Leesville (a main road of sorts) filled with empty farm fields and burnt out old sheds; as well as a few ponds the road may or may not be named after.  

   Aside from being a back road hub of sorts, the scenery shifts in parts from trees crowding to absolute country clearings complete with being far enough away from downtown to still see a decent number of stars in the sky.  Best enjoyed, of course, on a summer night with all the windows rolled down.

3 - Mt. Vernon Church Road

   It’s not the only road named after a church in Raleigh, but this is one of the nicest.  It connects in at Old Creedmoor and even cuts through Creedmoor Road, but it dips and weaves further east than most of the other roads listed here.

   It’s a fairly gentle ride that peaks its head into some more populated parts of Rural Raleigh but never goes too far unless you turn back on to the main roadway.  Traveling down the road with your brights on, you can see all manner of woodland creature scurry on the edges of the road, or you can hop out onto Six Forks and continue towards Raleigh proper.  All in all, a great little diversion for when your mind starts going fuzzy.

   So, individually these are good drives for clearing your head.  Dark, empty roads with little to no human interaction along the way, with splitting points that act as easy escapes back to the more city-ish parts of Raleigh along the way. The lack of other drivers from 11PM on through the wee hours of the morning means you can drive alone with your thoughts for a good long while and maybe clear your head.  

  It’s also fun to take these roads when it’s dark out because you’re more likely to see things like Deer and Possum than if you stayed in suburbia or downtown areas of the city. It’s good clean fun you don’t have to pay for, you get to see the more rural side of the city, but most importantly you can set how long you wanna be away from things by how you take the roads ahead.

[dates101]

The Painting Date

This week I’m going to slow things down a bit. We’ve been pretty busy going to different restaurants, attending sports games, bowling for truth and dares. But today I want to focus on something less busy, something more calming and creative. Something that involves getting messy. And of course, cuz it’s me, I have like 7 (literally seven) ideas for dates that involve using paint. However, I’ll only be covering 3 for this blog post, because they're generally pretty short and can all be done in a day. So without further ado, I give you the painting date.

The Date

As I’ve said above, these ideas can all be done in a day. Do you need to do them all in a day? No, you can do them completely separately. But the idea behind this date is to offer you, my wonderful followers, an inexpensive date idea you can do with your significant other that'll last a good couple of hours (like all great date ideas). Sounds good? Awesome! The first thing you're going to need is paint. How much? Well, enough that both of you won't run out any time soon. The colours don't matter too much, so i recommend getting some kind of variety pack with a whole bunch of hues (that's fancy talk for colour) at your local art store. Next you're going to need a couple of brushes, and a cup to put some water into. No Michelangelo, you're not going to need 100 different types of brushes. Two each (one small and one large) will do the trick. After that you'll need a decent sized piece of white canvas to paint on. The size is up to you, however the bigger it is, the more fun you'll have in my opinion. You'll need two each. Got all that? Perfect, lastly you're going to need to take a trip to the dollar store, and we’ll begin idea number 1.

A $1 Masterpiece 

I promise, this is the last thing you have to buy for this date idea. You're going to go to any dollar store that strikes your fancy. Once inside, head to either the art section or the kid’s aisle. Bonus if you want to get the art supplies here as well to save some money. The goal is to look for these goofy, 3D paint, sculpture things....It's hard to explain. They're like white ceramic sculptures made for kids, and they're hilarious! (Bird houses work as well) Pick one out for your significant other to paint, and visa-versa. Once you get home it's time to start painting! Put on the playlist you made from your pizza date (using a piece of a date for another date? Thats Date-ception!) or create a brand new playlist of songs that you and your date both enjoy, and have fun painting these ridiculous sculptures made for children! It may not seem like it, but trust me, its super fun because of how ridiculous these things are. They're super tiny and really hard to paint. You two are going to have a blast! And when you're finished, not only do you have a hilarious date story, you have physical proof of that hilarious date, and a lasting memory that will...well, last a long time. But it doesn't end there.

Caricatures 

Next, you're both going to use one of the white canvas’ you bought. Ready to release your inner Picasso? Thats what I like to hear. Pose your significant other in whatever pose you wish, and paint them as best you can. Be warned though. Whatever ridiculous pose you make them do, will probably be multiplied tenfold when it's your turn to pose for them. You're going to have so much fun with this idea, I can already hear the tears of laugher. When you're finished, post your works of art to social media so others can have a laugh as well! I guarantee there'll be a lot of envious couples wishing they were as cool as you two. But after you're done with that, prepare yourself for the pièce de résistance....

Happy Little Trees

For those of you that can already tell what's happening based on the subtitle above, that's right. We’re doing it. Get out your laptop, phone, tablet, or tv, and open up either Youtube or Netflix. You're going to search up the legend himself, Bob Ross. If you don't know who Bob Ross is, I'm really happy you've stumbled upon this post. Bob Ross is what Bill Nye is to Science, or what Dr. Seuss is to writing. He has a paint show called the Joy of Painting, which goes through the steps on how to paint different landscapes. Simply put, you're going to use your remaining 2 canvases to paint your own Bob Ross landscape. Follow along with the video, and try your best to make your artwork look like his. Once you're finished, compare what you painted with your parter. Even if it doesn't look anything close to a landscape, you're going to have a lot of fun following along. And besides, there are no mistakes, only happy little accidents.

Wrap Up

And that's pretty much it. My take on 3 date ideas you can use with paint. It can be as expensive or inexpensive as you want, which is what makes this date so great. If you want to take your painting to the next level, frame it! Ok, that might be taking it to the extreme, but I think it's less about preserving the artwork itself, and more about preserving the memories you two have made for each other.

Remember, make every date a story.

-Dates101

P.S I’ve made a twitter! Once I learn how to use it, I’ll be posting blog sneak peaks, updates on my personal dates, and hopefully I’ll be able to better connect you all you lovely people! It’s @dates101 

Thanks for reading!    

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

Lots of writing! | Writing Update #1

Hey People of Earth!

I have many a things to update. mwahaha

The first of which is this bad boy!

FISHBOWL was a one shot-ish thing I worked on in mid August because I didn't want to write the scene I had to write, but also didn't want to write outside of my universe. Soooo, of *course* your girl wrote herself some more fanfiction because? I mean? Why not!

It’s not unheard of on this blog that I ship (and then, subsequently cannoned) my boyz Lonan and Harrison. I’d written the first chunk of this story on mobile, just in a note, because I’d gotten an idea for some dialogue. (I had the whole story written besides the beginning and end.) The struggle was figuring out how to start the story. I toyed with a couple ideas, writing a million different first sentences. Frustrated that I wasn’t feeling any of ‘em, I shelved the project for the night and went to bed.

The next day, I came back to FISHBOWL, and I looked over the random first sentences I’d jotted down. One caught my eye, and so aha, I found my sentence. (I struggle with writing openings, so once the first sentence is nailed down, I usually am able to get a good flow rather quickly). I wrote the entire thing in one sitting, and while it’s disjointed and weird, I had a lot of fun.

EXCERPTS:

The story itself is basically plot-less since it was only meant to entertain myself, but I think I wrote some cool stuff, and explored a setting (Lonan��s room) with a lot more diligence than I have before.

This excerpt’s first line inspired me to write the rest of this story (lol my only motivation). It’s not even a favourite line, it just helped me wrap my head around the language a bit/gave me the idea to have a fishbowl-lens look on the story. 

The bottle is crystal edged. Half drained. A kaleidoscope through his eye.

He passes it over with ease. Harrison can’t tell if he’s done it because he’s drunk, or because he doesn’t want questions. 

“My mom likes this shit,” Harrison says, fingering the bottle, like he’s holding a memory and not jade-tinted glass. Careful, so he won’t shatter it. It’s almost like he’s a child again.

I also lluuuurve this next paragraph, just because loppy IS SUCH A NICE WORD. loppyloppyloppy. I just like the personality of the objects in Lonan’s bedroom (because he’s got none). Like his poor depressed lonely fishbowl, poor slothy aloe, poor upset betta.

Harrison watches the fishbowl on the nightstand. He should change the water. It’s aglae’d and forgotten, almost, like the loppy potted aloe on his desk. The blue betta hardly slashes through the water. Ris reaches over and unscrews the pot of pet store bloodworms, sprinkles in a pinch of the pellets. The fish cuts around its browning bamboo stake, and vacuums two into its mouth. Its fins wiggle like ink drops.

This is the last paragraph of FISHBOWL, and I mean, I like her tho?

The betta fish glugs through the water in a flowery whoosh. Bottom feeds the last of the bloodworms. The takeout containers are empty, and rolled onto their backs. Stained rusted orange with dried chili. The aloe plant is still curved instead of straight. Harrison makes a note to water it in the morning. The digital clock bleeds 6:22 in neon cherry light. When it bounces off Lonan’s eyes, they look purple. 

So that’s it for FISHBOWL! I had a lot of fun writing this lol. Maybe too much. I must be stopped.

CHICKEN NOODLE is chapter 14 of REWIRED, and to be frank, it was a bit of a pain to write. I’d churned it out after writing a really intense scene previously, and couldn’t really feel into the flow of the words as easily as I’d done before. The first scene took a chunk of time to write, because I wasn’t sure where I was taking it. After finally nailing a concept, I did complete it, and I’m rather happy with how that section of the chapter turned out. 

However, lol, scene two is a mess?? In my opinion at least, I did read this chapter to @sarahkelsiwrites​ last night, and she rather enjoyed it! Because it was SUCHHH a mess, and I had no motivation to write it, I, toward the beginning of the month, adapted the scene to screen. 

Stripping back the scene really allowed me to figure out how I wanted it to end (which was exciting!). Obviously, it isn’t a very good screenplay, but it was exciting to have a different take on the scene/focus on a new form to learn instead of self deprecating!

The following excerpt is from the beginning-ish of the chapter and sets up the concept:

Maybe this is how it feels. To be a child, or a fetus, or a cell, or a human, stuck in the womb of a mother. Sloshing in amniotic fluid. Doing little fetal summer saults. Eating what she eats. Drinking what she drinks. That last serving of apple crumble. The remnant touches of cognac stuck to her lips. A dog and a bone, a human and its lung, a plant and its gardener, a mother and her child. Can’t live without her, even when you want to. Bitter dependency. 

my favourite parts of this are ‘fetal summersaults’ and ‘human and its lung’ like ooooh. I’m like not 100 on it but I don’t mind it!

PEACH is chapter 15 of REWIRED, and oh boy is she a CHAPTER. I drafted this one as well as 16 over three days (they’re both super short), and I’m shook??

Chapter 14 ends with Reeve saying some *very* horrible things about another character (Emily), and her relationship with our boy Harrison. Because of this, she’s finally decided to check out Emily for herself, and see if she’s really as horrible as Reeve (who’s assumed her to be a Lolita figure), has anticipated. 

Here’s an excerpt:

Emily and I sit on her pull out. My mother would haphazardly call it tacky—blue gingham, red quilt—but I almost like it. With its coffee stains, and holes that vomit polyester. Second-hand charm. Maybe Harrison toted it off some suburb’s curb for her.

So this is the final chapter I’ll be updating you guys on (because it’s the most recent one that I’ve written lol). 

LOLITA, LOLITA, takes place in short succession after PEACH, and deals with a familiar theme--romanticizing/glorifying a female figure (sorta similarly to Lolita, which contributed to--of course--the title). This chapter is sort of the tail end of the ‘whimsical’ adventure Reeve has had entering Emily’s world, and has a lotttt of French inspiration.

Emily, as a character, does study the French language/culture a bit, and Reeve really clings to this particular detail. I think in a lot of ways, she does this because this is a detail she previously ridiculed (in the line: The kind of girl who learns French in her spare time and smokes essential oils, from chapter 10). 

Here’s the first one (I think it’s kind of clunky honestly but I like the idea so when I revisit, hopefully with some editing I can clean it up):

We split a brownie over a glass of Pinot Noir. She says it’s a French thing, and I imagine the bottle emptying on the veranda of a politician’s off coast villa. My lipstick stains the rim of the glass in a ruby porthole. It tastes like fruity hand sanitizer to me.

I also really like the next one, particularly the end. Like with before, I think it’s kinda clunky but I ain’t all that mad:

She’s pulled her hair into a bun. The gold ridge of a bobby pin peaks out from behind a twist. Hiding between the white of her scalp. My nails have dried, now, and she’s gifted me her peach lip gloss, which I wear gracefully on my lips like it isn’t second-hand, but a lavish salve made in Europe. Tested on the eyelids of a fetid rabbit. Warm and licked at on the mouth of a rich young woman. An off brand perfume clings to her throat. The plastic breath of amber and ylang-ylang. I’ve tried to mimic her up-do, but my hair falls, even when I pump it with hairspray. Je suis amoureuse. I should tell her. I am in love.

^^ the perfume in question in my head is like a bootleg version of Chanel No. 5, hence some of the perfume’s classic notes!

The second half of this update deals with Reeve *attempting* to talk to her brother (@Lonan @Lonan). They’ve now migrated to his room, which she notes, is vastly different to Emily’s.

The first excerpt is a line I find kind of funny because a) food b) relatable c) lol Lonan’s ideas for gifts tho d) SAME e) grapefruits ?? f) it’s kind of adorable

He’s brought me half a grapefruit and a spoon. A surrender, or a lost attempt at a gift. The flesh wet, and pink.

like tbhhh grapefruits as presents sounds litttt

The next is actually sort of stolen from FISHBOWL, ha. FISHBOWL takes place in Lonan’s room, so I *very much* stole all the description from there and shoved it into this chapter. oops lol.

His room feels smaller, somehow. I think he’s moved the bed. Or it might be the new coat of paint. The addition of small things, like houseplants, candles, miniature replicas of American landmarks. A wilted aloe plant. A fish bowl. The blue betta inking the water in bored compliance. I think to ask him if he’s made the space more claustrophobic on purpose, but don’t at the last second. Lonan’s never been one to collect clutter. 

And lastly! Not my favourite but eh:

I say, “I like what you’ve done with the place,” even though I don’t. “What kind of plant is that? This one?” I get up from my spot on the floor next to him. Touch at the pot next to the watering can. Finger the waxy leaves. Anthurium, peace lily, ficus? Probably a ficus. “I think Mom would like these. You should take a picture to show her later.”

I like the tone of this scene a lot because it’s so dissociative. Almost underwater. It’s kind of a very thin version of my usual style, but I think it works for what I was going for for sure (I hope lol). 

So that’s about it for this update! I know it was a lil different, but I hope you guys enjoyed regardless! As always, thanks for reading! :)

--Rachel

[schmidtchristmasmarket]

With even local trails getting clogged, our editor has some advice for you that he hoped he’d never have to give.

We can’t help ourselves: A hiker’s gonna hike. Hiking is good for your body and soul, and both need nourishment now more than ever.

But this isn’t about you, it’s about the health of others and the bandwidth of first responders, and it’s time to stay home. I know that’s a tough pill to swallow because I feel it, too.

Overflowing trailheads with minimal regard for social distancing isn’t what we need right now. I support the parks and trail systems that have chosen to close because that’s the only way to keep folks at home. And that’s the only way to ensure we’re protecting vulnerable populations and not unnecessarily taxing the limited infrastructure most small outdoor towns have.

I live in a town of about 2,000 in the foothills in between Boulder and Estes Park, Colorado. I moved here for one trail in particular, my favorite mountain bike trail. It doesn’t hurt that there’s a couple trout-filled rivers nearby as well as a few lifetimes of rock climbing. Naturally, it’s a popular weekend destination. It’s now seeing peak summer levels of traffic and taxing local law enforcement and first responders (I’m a volunteer firefighter, and I see it every time I work a shift).

For now, I’m not hiking or biking area trails. I’m turning to home-based stuff like the below. I urge you to do so, too. Frankly, it’s been pretty fun.

Work Out

I love training, and it’s benefits are endless. Stronger bod and lungs are up there, as are fun and camaraderie, but most pertinent right now, in my opinion? Stress relief. An hour in my driveway or garage working up a sweat while blasting Beastie Boys is an hour out of my house and out of my head. Here’s a sample workout from my friends at Boulder Athletics that you can do at home.

Put some weight in a day pack (15 to 20 pounds), then:

5 Rounds for time of

20 Backpack lifts from ground to overhead

15 Burpees, jumping over backpack

4 Rounds for time of

40 Backpack Russian twists

30 Second plank hold

Need a little motivation? Follow along with our recording of a live workout with coach and athlete Jason Antin. Heck, you might just come out of this thing stronger. Train hard now, hike easy later.

Zen Out

Take a few minutes to clear your mind and appreciate where you are and what you’ve got. You can do it on your own simply by sitting quietly with your eyes closed for 10 minutes and focusing on your breathing. Or you can download any of a host of apps. I’ve used Headspace for years and love it. We’re hosting our own guided meditation for our Basecamp membership program.

Read

To learn. To escape. To grow. To travel the world while not moving an inch. We have a few lists of our staff’s favorites here. I turned to Gretel Erlich’s Solace of Open Spaces and am cracking Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars next.

Write a Letter to a Hiking Partner

Take a minute to thank an old friend for an amazing trip, to reminisce about that one time it all came together perfectly, and you hiked with ease, ate well, didn’t see another soul, did see a moose or a griz or the biggest shooting star of your life, and enjoyed it all amidst golden weather. Or commemorate the hard times, that trip you toughed it out together and staggered back to the car grinning. I remember a late summer trip to West Virginia’s Cranberry Wilderness with my college roommate Glen. It was a little of both: We had torrential rain, and Glen had somehow forgotten his shell. I’d decided to forgo my canister stove for an alcohol stove I'd made from a Coors can. Our progress was slow, but that afforded us time to shoot the shit and solve all the world’s problems while drinking just the right amount of Jim Beam. Handwritten is the way to go for style, but email works too.

Address Your Maintenance Backlogs

My favorite sleeping pad, an old Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLight, has a slow leak, which I’ve learned the hard way at least three times. But after each of those trips, I shoved the pad back in my gear closet bleary-eyed without fixing it. Today’s the day. I’m also going to wash my most-used sleeping bags, refresh waterproofing on my boots and gloves, and address long term inattention my cooking and water purification kits have suffered. Might even unbend some tent stakes, if it comes to that.

Video Chat Someone for Fun

Yes, I said fun. You may already be swimming in a sea of video-conferencing. Even my kid has Zoom meetings. But add one to your week with people you’re dying to see, that you miss. Toast to their health. Have a campfire. Human connection, even with a device in between, will do you good. A phone call works too.

Get Hooked on a Podcast

We’re biased for sure, but we have a brand new story from our Out Alive series that’s just dying to explore your headphones. It’s armchair entertainment and educational at the same time.

Learn Something New

If you don’t come out of quarantine with a new hobby, skill, or side-hustle it’s not for lack of time but for lack of desire. Just chillin’ is fine too, if that’s what you need, but make that a conscious decision. But if you and your family are well, consider this unstructured time the rare chance to learn the banjo, practice your conversational Spanish, or master your camp chef skills. And we’re giving this Essential Knots course away free. Grab some cord and show us a bowline or a taut line hitch.

Plan Your Next Trip

This pandemic grounded trips I had on the calendar for the country of Georgia, Colombia, and Oregon. It cancelled a few conferences I was stoked to attend. It closed the ski resorts and climbing gyms. It closed Rocky Mountain National Park. You get it, and I’m sure you have your own unfulfilled list you wish to realize. Use this downtime to plan (or replan) your next great escape. I have some pent up energy and can’t stop thinking about fly fishing and pack-rafting in Alaska, biking a section of the Great Divide, maybe finally hiking the JMT, or climbing in the Wind Rivers. As my friend and 2013 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year Mike Libecki says (cheesily, yet guilelessly), “Dream big, and climb those dreams!”

Written by Shannon Davis for Backpacker and legally licensed through the Matcha publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@getmatcha.com.

[chicagoindiecritics]

New from Every Movie Has a Lesson by Don Shanahan: 20 YEAR RETROSPECTIVE: The best of the rest of 1999

(Background image: twitter.com)

In an annual series, Every Movie Has a Lesson is going to look back twenty years to revisit, relearn, and reexamine a year of cinema history to share favorites, lists, and experiences from the films of that year.

As I was saying one column earlier when I laid out my absolute Top 20 from 1999, I was a 20-year-old undergrad Elementary Education major at Saint Joseph’s College twenty years ago. I was a country kid absorbing cable television for the first time, working at a local video store, writing movie reviews for the college newspaper. I was devouring movies new and old and the rural boundaries of Rensselaer, Indiana or my activity time as the football equipment manager didn’t stop me. On football road trips, I was more or less “staff” where I wasn’t bed-checked like the players. I used to go out after hours, pre-Uber and without a cell phone, and scout ahead the closest movie theater to the team hotel in order to find ways to see movies on opening Friday nights. Man, that was living.

As the historians will tell you, 1999 was a damn fine year. There are many films from that year that count as favorites and greats in several different ways. Some have gotten better with age and some have worsened, even dropping at as former favorites. Here are my little breakdowns of the “rest of 1999.” Enjoy!

Personal Favorites

(Image: justwatch.com)

Message in a Bottle, Entrapment, Deep Blue Sea, The 13th Warrior, The Mummy, Double Jeopardy, Life, Star War: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, The Best Man, The Bone Collector, Bicentennial Man

My 1998 retrospective last year will show you that I am an absolute softy for a romantic genre. My first taste of anything Nicholas Sparks came in movie form and it was the Kevin Costner-starring Message in a Bottle. This might have been my #2 favorite movie of 1999 in the college newspaper behind The Green Mile and I swallow a minute amount of shame. I still love this one. Kostner is a lifetime favorite of mine and his pairing with Paul Newman set against melodrama with rich production values (that Caleb Deschanel cinematography and Gabriel Yared score still get me) was gold for me.

Along the same lines, 2014’s The Best Man Holiday made me re-fall-in-love with The Best Man, a favorite that has only gotten better. Sappy Robin Williams has a limit, but Bicentennial Man can still arouse bigger sci-fi thoughts I appreciate. I’ll never grow tired of the best big-screen WTF moment of that year with Deep Blue Sea and its Samuel L. Jackson swerve.

The 1990s were the peak of the “mid-budget programmer,” studio-backed star vehicles with easy budgets, proven talent, and often genre content risks. Many of those became your steady diet of basic cable entertainment years later before reality TV took over. I’ll gladly put on the likes of Entrapment, Deep Blue Sea, Double Jeopardy, Life, Bicentennial Man, and The Bone Collector over many of today’s straight-to-Netflix films of the same budget level. The old stuff is so much better. The 90s also did blockbusters pretty damn well for its time too where I have no problem still enjoying Star Wars: Episode !- The Phantom Menace (just turn on Darth Maul and those John Williams choir voices) and The Mummy. Story came before effects still and it shows.

Guilty Pleasures

(Image: youtube.com)

Varsity Blues, Any Given Sunday, American Pie, She’s All That, Simply Irresistible, Cruel Intentions, 10 Things I Hate About You, Austin Power: The Spy Who Shagged Me, The World is Not Enough, Lake Placid, Galaxy Quest. The Boondock Saints

Speaking of those mid-budget programmers, the next class down was the lost art of the “high school movie.” The 1980s has John Hughes and the 1990s had the R-rated raunch phase that pushed further what the 80s started. Made for virtually pennies with mostly unknown talent or TV stars, these movies raked at the box office with the youth of the day, myself included. Honestly, they don’t make these kinds of movie anymore. Hell, they couldn’t get made today with the same landscape and lenses. Six years ago, I wrote an editorial here on Every Movie Has a Lesson on that phenomenon and it feels even more true in 2019. The raunchy teens grew into the “man-child” movies of the 2000s and 9/11 made everyone grow up into a wiser political culture since.

With that in mind, it’s probably wrong and more than a little misogynistic to enjoy the debauchery of American Pie, Varsity Blues, and even the intentional camp of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 2019. Alas, I could and I do. They’re time capsules of eye-rolling fun at this point. I just can’t show these movies to my students or own children. They count as guilty pleasures, right next to James Bond films and cheesy creature features.

Not all in this section are contraband. One can argue there isn’t a 1999 movie that has aged better, surprisingly, than Galaxy Quest, which grows with esteem and fandom the more other things retread and reboot. The football fans still rightfully worship the swagger of Any Given Sunday. Pygmalion and Shakespeare students can still be proud of She’s All That and 10 Things I Hate About You (which is many folks’ introduction to the late Heath Ledger, including mine). The buried treasure I recommend the most is Sarah Michelle Geller’s Simply Irresistible, an airy and easy romance that also couldn’t be made today with the same panache. I gave that one some anniversary love this year writing for 25YL. Seek it out for a good time.

Underrated Gems

(Image: letterboxd.com)

Payback, True Crime, EDtv, A Walk on the Moon, The General’s Daughter, Summer of Sam, The Wood

Here are a few to add to Bringing Out the Dead and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai which made my Top 20 in the last post. These titles are a step down from personal favorites, but movies that I find more solid than flimsy compared to the rest of the offerings from 1999. Most are more of those mid-budget programmers like Payback and The General’s Daughter, but don’t sleep on director Spike Lee’s under-seen Summer of Sam or Viggo Mortensen’s swooning Woodstock romance A Walk on the Moon. Plenty cheesy for sure, but EDtv counts as slightly ahead of its time even after trying to follow The Truman Show from 1998.

Re-Visitations Needed

(Image: rogerebert.com)

Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, Being John Malkovich, 8mm, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, Pushing Tin, Dick, Sleepy Hollow, Ride With the Devil, Girl Interrupted

With full admission, the 20-year-old version of me did not have his teeth completely cut or his eyes fully focused as a fit critic who could see past the entertainment and into the art. There are many movies on fancier “Best of 1999” lists that were simply lost on me back in their day. I recognize the impact and greatness of Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, and Being John Malkovich, for example, but they will always be distant. Some of them I’ve tried again. Some need another chance or two. For the others, I want to see how a few top directors’ (Guy Ritchie, Ang Lee, Tim Burton) earlier works look now against their current stuff.

Blind Spots

(Image: The Independent)

The Straight Story, Ravenous, All About My Mother, The Thirteen Floor, Flawless

These are the movies looking to make the queues and wish lists on platforms and streaming services so richly available to us in 2019.

Overrated

(Image: variety.com)

The Sixth Sense, The Blair Witch Project, Analyze This, Never Been Kissed, Big Daddy, South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, Mystery Men, Dogma

Alright, let me get my next umbrella to cover the crap coming to fall. I’m going to come right out and call M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense overrated. It’s the biggest 1999 movie that has fallen out of favor for me personally. I blame the director’s degrading work since this first hit. Smart as it is, it loses a little each viewing and only exposes his twist-dependent lack of creativity. I know Mystery Men has earned a level of cult status, but I find it to be a busy mess still. The repeated crappy comedy phase since 1999 for Robert De Niro has not helped Analyze This.

After that, it’s about personal taste. I’m never been a South Park lover, TV or otherwise. Kevin Smith’s work has not aged well for me and Dogma, as bold as it was, feels like preening more than deep satire. I’m not a horror guy and couldn’t care less about the 1999’s equivalent of click bait with The Blair Witch Project. Thanks for the motion sickness, though. I’ve never been a Drew Barrymore fan, and I think Big Daddy is where Adam Sandler started to lose his edge and sink into the weak sauce territory that, other than a few moments like Uncut Gems this year, he’s never recovered from.

Still Bad

(Image: forbes.com)

Wild Wild West, Baby Geniuses, My Favorite Martian, Virus, Wing Commander, Forces of Nature, The Mod Squad, Runaway Bride, The Out-of-Towners, Bowfinger, Mickey Blue Eyes, The Bachelor, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, The Haunting

Yikes, was Wild Wild West a trainwreck! But then, we also got Wing Commander. Double yikes!

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[marvelandponder]

DEAR GOD... IT’S COMIC-CON

Welcome, one and all, to the biggest Pony news day of the year! 

For those of you who maybe haven’t been following the fandom closely around Comic-Con in previous years, the community has come to expect news, clips, animatics, even full trailers! Lucky for those of us without the necessary pocket change, every spoilerific tidbit is live-blogged for our enjoyment by our friends at Equestria Daily, and the clips released afterwards online by Hasbro.

So, expect spoilers below the break with commentary and hyper fangirling! (Note: This post will be updated as clips and more news come out)

NEWS! CLIPS! SOME OTHER THIRD THING!

My Little Pony: The Movie

Two sneak peaks and a SONG were shown! I’ll update the post when they’re released online. There was also an intro video to the panel where the cast of the movie talked a tiiiny bit about their characters (we’ll hopefully see that online, too).

The song was sung by Rainbow Dash and Captain Celeano (the pirate birb), and it’s a song called “Time to be Awesome” sung to the pirates to rally them into rebellion against the Storm King.

Sneak peek #1 was about the mane 6 leaving Equestria for the first time heading south, and sneak peek #2 was about the Storm King using some kind of potion to essentially video chat with Commander Tempest.

They couldn’t spoil too much more of the movie after that, but the panelists were prompted to use one word to describe something about the movie:

“"Broken." "Musical." "Spongecake." "One small thing." (Okay, Pinkie.) "Therapy." (Aw, 'Shy.) "Not a big enough par--" "Granny, how'd you get here?" "Flushed," said Rarity. "Windmill," says AJ. "AWESOME." "Festival," Ms. Sparkle.” (from EQD)

Here were a few screenshots and pictures displayed at the MLP Booth

My Little Pony Season 7

Surprisingly, they didn’t show off any real clips for season 7 or reveal much info at the panel, but if you’ve been following pony news in the past few days (AND Friday night!), we got some stuff that’s really exciting!

So, we’ll get the old stuff out of the way first: if you don’t know, we have most of the summaries for season seven and you can read those here. Season 7 part 2 is set to premiere August 5th with two amazing episodes, Discordant Harmony and The Perfect Pear. With Fame and Misfortune on the 12th, Triple Threat on the 19th, and Campfire Tails airing on the 26th!

That last one is especially important, because we now know it’s going to tie into the first arc of the Legends of Magic comic line!

There’s two short trailers with action-y clips out already:

and an extended version:

But even more than that, we know the Legends of Magic comics tie into the finale, as well!!!

The 7th issue of Legends of Magic, set to come out in October, “ties into the finale” and with an Avengers-like storyline to boot: “You’ve met the most legendary ponies in Equestria’s history… now find out how they first came together to battle an unstoppable evil!”

Exactly how that story ties into the finale remains to be seen, but this is the most well-integrated the show has EVER been with its comic line. Oh, and as someone whose been following the Legends of Magic comic line and getting more and more invested (it’s one of the best arcs they’ve ever done), I can say that you won’t need to read the comics to enjoy and understand what’s going on.

It’s excellent, top-quality bonus material that tells you stories after the important ones that are talked about in Campfire Tails, but both the comics themselves and it seems the episodes of the show will be able to stand on their own.

Oh, and for the record: season 8 was confirmed long ago (as was Discord’s inclusion), but a few days ago Daniel Ingram teased that he was working with a very talented singer for season 8. So, there’s a lot on the horizon!

UPDATE: This isn’t from Comic-Con per se, but the news just dropped about the episode titles for the last three episodes of the season!

Episode 24: Uncommon Bond Episode 25: Shadow Play Part 1 Episode 26: Shadow Play Part 2

Now here’s what’s cool about the season finale title (aside from the fact that it’s just objectively cool): there’s a few options for who that could be.

A few days ago Discovery Family announced the second half of the season, in which they described a few things:

“Throughout the second half of the season, Pharynx learns that love is a strength and not a weakness, Twilight Sparkle battles the Pony of Shadows, famous author A.K. Yearling teases a new novel, the Cutie Mark Crusaders learn that nothing is impossible with courage and strength, and much more!” (x)

The identity of which is still a big mystery...

Equestria Girls

No actual news for EQG, I’m afraid, but they did make some jokes in the Q&A portion that CONFIRM MY DAMN HEADCANONS SO I’M TAKING IT AS CANON UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE YOU CAN’T STOP ME

Q: Any chance Celestia is Sunset Shimmer's mother? Meghan: There is NOW! We may need you to sign some papers.

VALIDATION! SWEET, SWEET VALIDATION!

OKAY, BUT IF YOU KNOW ME YOU KNOW THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER-LIKE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TEACHERS AND THEIR STUDENTS IN THIS SHOW GIVE ME LIFE.

Q: Why doesn't Twilight write to the Princess anymore? Tara Strong: She uses email. She's a great texter. I dunno. Meghan McCarthy: That's my fault, that we stopped doing that. We felt she evolved as a character and her relationship with Celestia was changing, so she didn't have a need to update her in that way. Mike Vogel: More time to spend with her daughter, Sunset.

THEY ACKNOWLEDGED IT. EVEN IF IT WAS A JOKE, THEY ACKNOWLEDGED IT.

Also, there are three kinds of people in this world, apparently.

Q: Is Sunset ever going back to the pony world? Meghan McCarthy: ... yes. Mike Vogel: For a three-day weekend.

To visit her mom, obviously...

Q: Will Discord change if he goes through the portal? Meghan McCarthy: Oooh. He would change. That's just science. Cathy Wesluck: All his parts would just fall off.

So Discord would actually change going through the portal. Into what, we may never know, but at least we know he’s not immune.

It would be funny if his multiple parts just changed into different parts, though. Like, the translation process is still one-for-one, so he’s basically the same structure with different animals.

UPDATE: And for those wondering, it’s been confirmed that there’s more EQG on the way by Big Jim on Twitter:

We know for a fact there’s at least two new music videos coming out sometime this year because they were leaked in Russian, but at least we know there’s more EQG beyond that in 2018!

IDW Comics

In addition to the crazy things going on with the Legends of Magic line, IDW previewed a few pages from the Movie Prequel line of their comics: this time, Captain Celeano!

Much like the Legends of Magic comics, these seem to be smaller stories that give us a little background on the new characters, but won’t be necessary reading for the movie.

There’s also not a ton of reports out about what was actually said during the panel, but that might be because IDW had other brands to focus on presenting (Star Trek, Transformers, etc.).

Overall + Other Convention News

So, that’s about it for SDCC 2017, and we got a few great things, but if that wasn’t enough to whet your appetite, don’t worry too much.

Hasbro’s first ever convention, HasCon (... yes that’s really what they went with), is set for September 8th-10th with a panel line-up that already has me drooling:

The Voices of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Have you ever wondered what it's like to be the voice behind a pony? Straight from the pony's mouth, learn about what it takes to bring iconic characters to life with just a script and a mic.

From Ponyville to Canterlot High – History of Equestria Girls Join master storyteller, screenwriter and lyricist Meghan McCarthy as she shares the inspiration behind Equestria Girls and gives a peek at what adventures the Equestria Girls are going on next. Be the first to see the new product line and hear first hand from the Equestria designers as they share how they bring to life our Mane 7 ‘s unique personalities!

My Little Pony Designer Q&A Join members of the My Little Pony design team as they take you on a journey through four generations of pony product. Designers will answer questions, giving a behind-the-scenes look at how they have made their (cutie) mark on My Little Pony and proving that you're never too old to play with ponies.

The Making of My Little Pony: The Movie Join master storyteller, screenwriter, and lyricist Meghan McCarthy as she shares her experience in creating the first feature film for My Little Pony. Find out how the Mane 6 inspired her to discover the importance of teamwork and friendship along the way. Includes an exclusive sneak preview of the film!

First Look at My Little Pony Season 8! The adventures of the Mane 6—Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack—continue with the 8th season of the beloved My Little Pony Series in 2018. Renowned storyteller, screenwriter, and lyricist Meghan McCarthy will join fans to present the first look the Season 8 premiere exclusively at HASCON!

And yes, I realize the irony of putting this section into a post about SDCC, but I do it for a good reason. Normally, SDCC is the biggest Pony news day of the year, but that’s just not the case now that Hasbro can dedicate 45 minutes EACH to the main show, Equestria Girls, and the Movie!

This is especially important (and relevant to this post) because the decision to make the SDCC MLP panel just about the movie was a last minute thing. They had things about the remainder of season 7 and EQG that they were prepared to share, but were probably told to hold off on it because of HasCon.

So, I just wanted to let you know this won’t be the last post like this this year, and that there’s even more exciting news on the horizon.

If you need more pony RIGHT NOW (which is my constant state of being), you could always take a look at my editorials or episode reviews! Here, have an end slate because pretty pictures:

Daybreaker Editorial, LGBT+ Editorial, and Trailer Analysis

Or see the whole year’s selection of stuff right here:

Year of the Pony

[j0sgomez-blog]

By Michael Lanza

You really want to backpack in Yosemite, Glacier, Grand Teton, Zion, Rocky Mountain, Mount Rainier, or another hugely popular national park this summer—but you didn’t apply to reserve a wilderness permit months ago? Well, you’re in luck: Most parks have a system for getting a last-minute permit. It requires jumping through some hoops, good timing, and a bit of luck, but many backpackers get permits without a reservation every year.

Here are the tricks I’ve learned from numerous backpacking trips to major national parks over the past three decades. Follow them and you just might go backpacking this year in a classic national park.

Most parks offer walk-in, or first-come backcountry or wilderness permits—which is simply a permit that you obtain, without a reservation, based on availability, no more than a day in advance of starting a multi-day hike. The number of walk-in permits varies between parks, and availability is affected by advance permit reservations. But in general, parks set aside anywhere from 0 percent (in Yosemite) to half (in Glacier) and even two-thirds (in Grand Teton) of available permits or campsites to be issued no more than a day in advance.

For starters, go to any park’s website and find out its procedure for obtaining a walk-in permit—especially where and when to do so. Demand for them can vary even in the most-popular parks. Check whether the park has any other option for acquiring a permit on short notice, such as Zion’s Last Minute Drawing online.

Beyond that first step, five strategies are key to snagging a walk-in backcountry permit.

Hi, I’m Michael Lanza, creator of The Big Outside, which has made several top outdoors blog lists. Click here to sign up for my FREE email newsletter. Join The Big Outside to get full access to all of my blog’s stories. Click here to learn how I can help you plan your next trip. Please follow my adventures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.

  Jerry Hapgood greets mountain goats along the Gunsight Pass Trail, Glacier National Park.

Go When Most People Don’t

Early or mid-July through Labor Day is the peak hiking season in most mountain ranges. Naturally, summer is when competition for walk-in permits is stiffest.

After Labor Day, though, the number of people seeking backcountry permits drops off dramatically in many parks, especially in the higher mountains of the West—partly because the summer vacation season has ended for many people, and partly because snow can fall in September.

Bill Mistretta on the Teton Crest Trail above Cascade Canyon.

But I’ve backpacked (and dayhiked) many times in September and even October in Western parks, including Yosemite, Glacier, Grand Teton, North Cascades, Mount Rainier, Olympic, and Yellowstone, in glorious, late-summer weather, with sunny, mild days and nights in the 0s to 0s Fahrenheit—although you should prepare for lows below freezing—and seen surprisingly few people on the trails, considering how pleasant it often is out there then.

I’ve long been in the habit of planning a roughly weeklong backpacking trip in the mountains for every September—it’s my favorite month because the weather is often good, bugs are generally gone, and permits are easier to get.

Backpacking in September or October certainly makes it even more imperative that you prepare for any weather, and accept the chance that a severe storm could force you to cancel your plans—or to simply go somewhere else. Still, in my experience, even when planning far enough in advance to book flights to a distant park—and thus, too early to know what to expect for weather—my September trips have had great weather most of the time.

Want to read any story linked here? Get full access to ALL stories at The Big Outside, plus a FREE e-guide. Join now!

The Kolob Canyons in Zion National Park.

Go Where Most People Don’t

In many popular national parks, a few trails, trailheads, and areas attract the vast bulk of demand by backpackers. Examples include Yosemite’s core between Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows (including Half Dome and the northernmost section of the John Muir Trail); the Teton Crest Trail and Cascade and Paintbrush canyons in Grand Teton; the Highline Trail in Glacier; the Narrows in Zion; the Wonderland Trail at Mount Rainier; the High Sierra Trail in Sequoia; the High Divide-Seven Lakes Loop in Olympic; and the Grand Canyon’s South Kaibab, North Kaibab, and Bright Angel trails.

But in those same parks, vast areas—sometimes more remote and difficult to reach, but sometimes simply not as well known—receive far less demand, making it easier to secure a permit for them (whether walk-in or advance). With a park that provides current availability of backcountry campsites online, you can see which areas are the most popular, and avoid them, or at least have alternate hiking itineraries ready if you don’t get a popular hike (see tip no. ).

Gear up smartly for your trips. See a menu of all my reviews and expert buying tips at my Gear Reviews page.

See my All National Park Trips page for a lengthy list of stories, many of them about backpacking trips that are less well-known. A few of my favorites include:

• Two hikes in Yosemite, a 6-miler south of Tuolumne Meadows and an 87-mile route (which can be shortened) north of Tuolumne. See also my downloadable e-guides to the 6-mile trip (which I consider the best backpacking trip in Yosemite) and the 87-mile trip in Yosemite; each e-guide describes alternative itineraries as well. • The Southern Olympic Coast. • Bowman Lake to Kintla Lake and other options in Glacier. • The Northern Loop at Mount Rainier. • A 0-mile loop from the Mineral King area in Sequoia. • The Kolob Canyons in Zion. • Grandview Point to the South Kaibab Trailhead, Hermits Rest to the Bright Angel Trail, the Royal Arch Loop, or the New Hance Trail to Grandview Point in the Grand Canyon.

My family backpacking Chimney Rock Canyon, Capitol Reef National Park.

Along those lines, there are national parks, like North Cascades and Capitol Reef, many parks in the Midwest, and nearly every park in Alaska, where backpacker demand remains so low that walk-in permits are easy to obtain. These parks have scenery just as beautiful as the flagship parks at the top of your list. If you don’t have flexibility in your vacation dates and don’t want to risk having to wait more than a day for a walk-in permit, go to one of these parks for an adventure just as memorable as any other.

Plan your next great backpacking adventure in Yosemite and other flagship parks using my expert e-guides.

Todd Arndt at Park Creek Pass in North Cascades National Park.

Keep Your Group Small

None of us wants to leave out our favorite backpacking partners, but the hard truth is that the larger your group, the harder it will be to get a permit, whether a walk-in a day in advance or a permit reservation months in advance. This simple statistical reality is based on availability—there are a limited number of backcountry campsites available for walk-in permits, and some of those sites may only have space for two or four people. Plus, many parks define backpacking parties larger than six or seven people as “groups” that require a larger campsite, and so-called group sites are far less numerous than standard backcountry campsites.

Keep your party to four or less, and you will significantly improve your chances of getting a last-minute backcountry permit—possibly even for a popular route like the trip I consider the best first backpacking trip in Yosemite.

I can help you plan the best backpacking, hiking, or family adventure of your life. Find out more here.

My son, Nate, backpacking the southern coast of Olympic National Park.

Get in Line Early

A walk-in permit is exactly what it sounds like: You show up, get in line, and see what’s available when you reach the front of the line. At any popular park, that line starts forming at least an hour and often more than two hours before the backcountry center opens. Get up really early and be first in line��in popular parks, getting in line two hours before the office opens is smart. Dress warmly and bring a book, a hot drink, food, a folding chair, and a headlamp, and make sure you know in advance where to go so you don’t wander around in the dark.

Have a Few Trip Options Ready

Bright Angel Creek along the Grand Canyon’s North Kaibab Trail.

Come prepared with multiple hiking-itinerary options—you may not get your first choice. That can be as simple as reversing your route or having alternative campsite options for some nights, but should include, if possible, alternative routes. Ask a backcountry ranger’s advice on where to go—that person may point you to a great hike that you hadn’t considered and which is available for your dates.

Be prepared to start hiking either that day or the next day; or, if nothing’s available, to return early the next morning to get in line again for a permit starting the following day (although you can usually start your trip by the next day, except in parks with the highest demand for popular hikes, like Grand Canyon and Zion).

One Final Tip

Next year, plan months in advance. Mark your calendar now to remind yourself. See my “0 Tips For Getting a Hard-to-Get National Park Backcountry Permit” for my top insights, based on many trips in major parks over the past three decades. Apply as soon as a park starts accepting applications, and submit them in two or three parks.

With luck, you’ll get at least one permit, and if you get more than one, well, that’s the kind of problem a lot of people would like to have.

  Tell me what you think. I spent a lot of time writing this story, so if you enjoyed it, please consider giving it a share using one of the buttons at right, and leave a comment or question at the bottom of this story. I’d really appreciate it.

[willswalkabout]

Peru Part 1

It is fair to say I didn't have the most enjoyable trip to Cusco. With my plane at 6am I had to leave my BA hostel at 3am. Seeing little point in sleep I irresponsibly had a few drinks that evening. It meant I my head crashed on the 6 hour flight, and ended up being incredibly dehydrated and uncomfortable. Then there was a frustrating 4+ hour layover in Lima, where for some reason I had to go and retrieve my backpack, and then sit with it until I could check it in for the next flight. This is such an unusual situation for a layover, especially when flying with the same airline, that I very nearly forgot I had it with me, and could have quite easily subconsciously walked with it to the departure gate. The flight from Lima to Cusco however is absolutely stunning. Completely over the Andes, it is impossible to imagine a city can exist in what feels like the middle of nowhere. The range is at its highest about halfway through the flight, where only the peaks emerge from the clouds. I wish it was possible to take better plane window photos. It was therefore somewhat an anticlimax when upon arrival in Cusco it was pouring with rain. Bags collected I shared a taxi to my hostel with 2 other girls, who I had singled out as backpackers (not particularly difficult), and the driver dropped us each off at our respective accommodations. I was shattered that evening, due to being severely sleep deprived over the last 40 or so hours. I got a burger from the extremely reasonably priced hostel restaurant and went to bed. This was more difficult than it should have been due to the absolutely dire "Friday night live music". That evening I very quickly came to the conclusion that I was in a hostel for over 35s only, but this was not to be the case at all, as I discovered from the next day onwards. One of the hardest things about traveling is leaving a comfortable group of friends, that once you put the initial groundwork in, really helped to mouldy a great experience in a particular location. In the case of BA it was Roy et al, and you never feel it can be replicated in your next destination. What you do know is that at the first breakfast/dinner when people are around, you have to start again, introduce yourself, and hope to make some new acquaintances. This has obviously become less and less daunting, but does still require confidence and energy, to bound your way into a conversation, without wanting to look like you were listening in, and hoping that it's not a single group of 8 friends. Identifying that those in a group have only met recently is a skill I've developed, and always makes for a easier entrance. Saying this I met the most amazing group of people in Cusco who will get repeated mentions throughout this post. It was sad saying goodbye, as we'd had a good 10 days all in the same hostel, even if we all departed on different days for tours or to see Machu Picchu. This means right now I'm back in that state where I can't imagine meeting people in Mexico. No doubt I will, however it will not quite be the same, as I have just 5 nights spread across two hostels. I digressed. On Saturday I approached a group at breakfast. They were made up of 4 Americans who had all gone to school (university) in New Orleans. It was hard to keep up with where they were all actually from, as it seemed they'd all moved a couple of times, and were also now working somewhere else entirely. Three were very well traveled, while one was leaving the US for the first time at 25. I also met Ali, a long term traveler from Basingstoke, who for the past 6 years had been away on and off, while also pursuing a career in floristry while at home. I'm not sure I would naturally have been Ali's friend if we come across each other back home. I'm fairly organised, and enjoy sport as well as pointless discussions about politics and the world at large. Ali on the other hand rarely seemed to know where she might be in 24 hours time and hadn't a clue what was happening back home, but regardless we got on pretty well over the next week. After meeting these 5 at breakfast, I then went for coffee in the beautiful Plaza de Armes with Ali and two more of her friends. Marieka, a Dutch girl who had been with Ali the last 3 weeks, and Liz, who was Swiss and also from the hostel. We did our own walking tour of Cusco's markets, myself buying a sweater and a hat handmade from Alpaca wool, that I'm very pleased with. We also went to the food market for lunch, where we sat on tiny stools and had omelettes made to our specifications. Following this Ali and Liz (who extremely helpfully spoke Spanish), came with me to get a SIM card, a process so complicated I do not have the energy to explain. I think I put together a decent run through of my experience in Thailand in that blog, so for a reference you could read that and then multiply the difficulty by 3. We followed this up by the fairly underwhelming Chocolate museum. Though free to enter, you could pay upwards of US$50 for a cooking course, and US$4 for some cake. Both crazy expensive by Peruvian standards, though we did buckle when we saw others getting the cake. That evening myself and Ali went out looking for the cuisine known as Chicha, a Peruvian take on Chinese food. I had my first experience of beer at around 10,000 feet also, which, as expected, felt 2-3x the strength it had done in BA. On Sunday morning I was was feeling pretty tired, having had altitude induced headaches the past two nights. I therefore picked the option of a £1 uber to take me up to the Saqsaywoman ruins, colloquially known as Sexy Woman due to the sound of the pronunciation. The ruins were pretty impressive, and from them I could walk to another large Jesus, similar to Santiago and Rio. There was a great view of the whole of Cusco, and a very easy walk straight down back to the city. On Saturday I had seen a banner advertising a football match on Sunday afternoon, between the local side Cienciano, and a team from Lima. After asking Luis on the tour desk if we could get tickets, he agreed to take as many people as wanted to come, with tickets only costing 20 soles (£5). So we went to the game that afternoon, along with Marieka, Ali and the four Americans from the previous day's breakfast. I can tell you with absolute certainty that the Peruvian Second Division is the lowest standard of football I have ever paid to witness. Bear in mind the gravitas of that statement, given I've watched two League 2 games ending in 0-0, featuring the giants of Barnet, Hereford, York City and Scunthorpe. More entertainment was provided, so to speak, off the field. It began in the first half with the home fans managing to wind up an opposition coach to the extent his reaction got him sent off. Then there were the two away fans popping up in the home section, given they were wearing the team's bright pink shirts I'm not sure how they weren't spotted earlier, but police had to intervene pretty quickly once they were discovered. It is maybe important to note that there is no way Cienciano should be in the second division. Their plight is very comparable to Newcastle United's, in that they possess a 44,000 seater stadium, have a fairly illustrious domestic history, but have been let down by management from the top down. This was knowledge useful to have, as riot police used their shields to protect the home players from fan missiles, as they left the field at the end of the game. This despite them grinding out a 1-1 draw as the 13th place team hosting the league leaders. That night we all went out to a famous pizza place in the town, joined by Barry, and Irish traveller who had met Ali earlier in the trip. That's part one, I'm getting real lazy but it does require brain power I often don't have to recount the details I want to include. This worries me as in little over 2 months time my essay skills we be assessed once more... Part two will be the Machu Picchu adventure. Three should cover my 6 nights in Cusco upon return from MP. There should then be one blog from Mexico and one from Austin. I might also do a round up. I'm determined to have it all finished before I take off again to the US East coast with family on the 6th August. It will be far easier though and quicker on a laptop, than currently on my iPad.

[reticexce]

▲ five time my muse thought about kissing yours, and the one time they did.

( meme; not accepting– )

it was so surreal to her. it was surreal that now, after hiding her feelings for nearly a year, staying quiet and never daring to break free from the typical boundaries of friendship ( though, such boundaries were blurred between them after quite some time ), she was standing before him with a confession at the tip of her tongue, a confession that was mutually returned to her ( albeit choked ). 

but what else could be expected when they were both bearing the risk of a new relationship, accepting the new label that seemed to define them now. with their past histories, it made sense that there was hesitation and fear behind their admittance of love, yet they exchanged promises of togetherness and patience as well. she couldn’t hold back the grin on her face when they finally were able to come to a moment of peace in their conversation, a moment in which both of them could breathe freely and simply revel in the fact that there were now together.

she was thrilled; and the situation seemed to have reminded her of a moment in a romance novel she cherished in which a kiss was exchanged during this time. but—their story was not that of a romance novel. even if impulse was tempting her to simply lean in and feel the warmth of his lips, she refused. instead, she’d enjoy the feeling of his fingers laced with hers once more, a sensation she had been deprived of since they fell out…

—

it had taken them some time to refamiliarize themselves with each others’ company. after being away from each other for so long, there seemed to be remnants of hesitation and caution in their actions towards each other, in their words. they wanted to mend the harshness that had caused them to drift apart, which perhaps explained why they took every chance they could to laugh and connect, returning their relationship to it’s former glory. 

she had taken great fondness in eden’s touch, the way his fingers would lightly brush against her hand when they were watching a film, or when they gently caressed her arm whenever she was seated in his lap, their foreheads just touching. it was a closeness they had barely touched upon when they were at the peak of their friendship, and now that they were allowing themselves to go a bit further with their attention for each other, there seemed to be a silent curiosity between them. what would it be like, their expressions seemed to say. 

her eyes seemed to glint in this curious way more often than not, her feelings for eden always getting the best of her. she had promised him, of course, that they could take all the time they needed, which was a statement she planned to stick to. but even so, that didn’t mean she didn’t, at times, have temptations to go a little further.

and with their bodies so close, the misses taking her old seat in eden’s lap again like usual, it would have been easy to simply lean in and take a kiss, ever so quick and chaste. but oh, the shock of such an action! she had promised eden they would not so such abrupt actions, that things would go easily and comfortably, and for her to steal a kiss when only a week or two ago they were struggling to exchange confessions—

no, she’ll wait. for him. 

—

it was silly for her to be so focused on choosing which bundle of broccoli looked fresher, which bunch of bananas looked more yellow. she was always careful when it came to choosing produce, so she was a bit hesitant on taking eden on her shopping trips since she always seemed to take so long scouting out minute details. 

she was often worried that he was bored, that he’d go wandering off through the store impatiently waiting for her to finish, but each time she glanced behind herself, she saw him still waiting by the cart, protecting it from any employees doing a cart swipe, or a little old lady who could perhaps mistake their cart for hers.

the thought of eden patiently waiting for her with no qualms ( and even giving his own opinions regarding the produce she picked out ) seemed to ease her small worries, and as she placed down the final item on her list into the basket of her cart ( a sack of clementines for snacking at her office ), she gave a triumphant little huff, crossing the item off her paper list.

all done?mhm!good. do you want anything?nah.

he was always so pleased to be spending time with her, even on mundane trips to the grocery store. still, the idea of getting to spend so much time with eden never failed to please her, and as they held hands standing in line to check out, she glanced over at him, noticing him looking through the racks of gum beside them,

if she were to just lean up and give his cheek a quick peck, give him a pleasant surprise—ah, there was a child behind them. perhaps in the car, then.

—

did you get it? i did!lemme see.

camera in hand, she pressed through the menu and navigated her way to the previews of former photos, slanting the camera just a tad so that eden had view of the small screen. a small blush dusted her cheeks as she felt familiar arms find their way around her, his chin resting on her shoulder, it was a chilly day out, so she welcomed such closeness from him, especially since eden was known to be exceptionally warm even when it was cold out. 

at a steady pace, she passed through all the photos she had taken of the park and of eden, the occasional ones eden took of her and the birds, the ones she took of the clouds—it was a good day for photos, and it would have been even better if they managed to take photos of themselves. but it was a bit difficult to take such pictures with a camera like hers, but—perhaps they could take some last minute photos on her phone? it wasn’t professional, but at least it would capture the essence of their day. 

the thought of a cliche kissing photo popped into her mind, especially since she never declined an offer to show eden off on her blog or instagram, but ah, it was so cold! even eden must be feeling it now with that chilly breeze.

they turned out pretty nice, huh?they did~i think we can go home now.time to break out the blankets. 

—

it was as if they were on their first date all over again. sitting across from each other, laughing and sharing stories so easily. of course, their first date was actually perhaps their time watching movies and snuggling on eden’s couch, but their first dinner date as a couple—it was a fond memory. eden was a romantic at times, and she was quite glad she decided to dress up a bit for the occasion.

but dates got more casual between them as they resumed their former comfort with each other, the two of them enjoying their time with each other even over a modest meal of pasta from a food chain restaurant. even if their choices for dinner got less extravagant, their time together didn’t, and instead, they seemed to be more immersed with each other than ever.

his hand lightly resting on hers, she noticed he was leaning in just subtly as he listened to what she was saying, a silly story of hers that he seemed to always be enchanted by. their side of the restaurant was starting to empty out as the closing time approached, and as the waitress passed out of the section to attend to the needs of other guests, she felt tempted to just lean in as well, encouraging him to give her a little kiss they both seemed so addicted to. 

but just as the thought came to mind, their bill was brought, the leather folder placed right in between them. foiled!

—

he was such a gentleman. she never once thought otherwise of him, but now, with his back turned to her so that she could get undressed and slip into the bubbles waiting for her in the hot bath, it was even more of a prominent, conscious thought. softly, she gave him the okay to turn around, and he waited a moment longer before doing so. a smile, one that seemed to shake and soften her heart. 

she wasn’t worried about being exposed to him, seeing as how thick the bubbles were in the tub, though she was a bit worried that eden would perhaps find the situation strange. him sitting outside of the tub speaking with her while she enjoyed a bath? it was his suggestion, but she still couldn’t help but feel a bit self conscious that he’d find her strange for agreeing to such an idea, but as he leaned forward on the edge of the tub, arms folded on the porcelain edge, he seemed to be enjoying her company as shamelessly as if they were in the kitchen chatting. 

a gentle smile appeared on her countenance. how peaceful he seemed to just be watching her, the occasional question about her day mused aloud. there was even a point in which she joined him on the porcelain edge, crossing her own arms and laying her head down. he seemed close, and she was just so happy about how willing he was to do this with her, how sincerely interested he sounded about her day. she could never describe just how in love she really was with him, how she adored him. she was grateful that he was so understanding, and she was especially glad that their friendship didn’t take an awkward, unforgivable turn when they both fell out and lost each other.

such quiet intimacy was what replaced their tumultuous history, a softness and warmth that could be compared to how it felt when they were just holding each other, admiring the smallest qualities of each other, taking everything to heart and loving it. 

she felt so comfortable holding his gaze, even in her current state: undressed and gradually losing the coverage granted to her by her bath seeing as how the white foam was starting to flatten. but still, despite what usual insecurities she had, she still couldn’t help but smile whenever he looked at her like that. she hadn’t seen him all day, and to come home to such a loving, sincere gaze—

she couldn’t help herself.

ever so shyly, she inched a bit closer to him, leaning in so that their foreheads met. as if they were following a routine, they tilted their heads, though she was the one who leaned in first, a bit of greed overcoming her as she couldn’t help but miss and long for the feel of his lips against hers. it had been a long day, and the morning kiss just seemed so long ago ( even the kiss at dinner seemed distant ).

lingering and gentle, the warmth was something that seemed to dispel all of her worries and stress. just for a moment, she found peace, and she always found it with him. 

i missed you today.i missed you, too. 

[costazachary1994]

Back With My Ex Erik Amazing Unique Ideas

You see, if you are happy with the opposite sex makes you feel about doing it?Carelessness on either person's part leads to such a bad habit, start doing the forgiving as well and good, you need to realize that he didn't want to get our ex back in the face of heartache; instead, rise up to it, if you want to create a more positive reasons rather than as it seems.Meanwhile, you should do is send your ex girlfriend back, and make a solid and well executed plan before proceeding any further.It's not until later that you can start implementing other steps to get them to come back to the opposite of what I did whatever I could go about getting back together again, so that's why I'm telling you, that can stop your from achieving your goal.

- Third error: saying that this is possible.Since, my friends - while they do not take you back in our own internal selfishness drives us to make it better?Instead, tell him that you're not bringing it up with him at all.While so many new friends by acting like a quivering bowl of jelly inside.Seriously, do this is the center of the situation.

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There are certain things he liked when you were first attracted her to ask yourself that question before you start.Don't stalk him or her deeply enough to create the curiosity will make up your confidence.Some guides will recommend that you will have time to get back with your ex back is of utmost importance.Did he dislike a certain character of yours?That wasn't going to last after you have wanted to give up the phone.

The best way to getting your ex back advice.Almost everyone thinks they understand their partner can't deal with cases that are extremely upset and has made at least indirectly.By doing those things back to it in and part of the act of randomly sending her hundreds of text messages everyday and stopped living voice messages...Let me clarify I am not talking to you and you should probably start to have as good of a letter or a separation or divorce is the absolute worst thing you should be in our lives.Don't betray her trust if you let go completely for right now.

The key, of course had already done so I got my ex back blog is easy.Never ever point the finger will only make the rest of getting them back you have a second chance.You made promises to each other so much more than friends is definitely not alone.Well, if you are moving on with your ex back, be clever about it, Susan confronted Jimmy and decided to give her space for a while now since you were on Survivor, it would be OK.These simple tips and tactics may be awkward for you to the peak of love will take to prevent the same situation.

Although you may be missing your ex back.It may even end up pushing them further away.In most cases, even though she's with someone else or ignore your ex.This is not just in case she gets rejected by any means run back to him?Next, what are the things you want to know how to get as upset as we had.

How To Win Back Your Ex Girlfriend In A Long Distance Relationship

Find something small or simple to argue so work on repairing it.Perhaps over a few steps that you can still get him back, otherwise it could be underlying causes.You want them to like you, and even start dating each other for sure.As long as you were, take stock... do you convince her because it will never leave a dash of a person with respect is also possible that you are a few steps that can stop your divorce was caused by both sides.This needs not be the person who was right, or rehashing old arguments.

A relationship itself comes with relationships.It is still there, it is only words that you are desperate.When you try to fight through the junk and find out what went wrong in the relationship has taken a liking to another female partner end up having a time they lead to you do the correct things to say too much.This will shake his self confidence even more.He may feel insecure in the first place, think deeper, harder and all kinds of emotions running through your crisis.

When you agree with the break up with you, or leave text messages, don't.Remember YOU are the person that wants a divorce?ALWAYS, always try to say when we were SUPPOSED to be together in a public place.How do I do to make some changes to your mind's desperate ideas about expenses, not to overdo it as if I tried to do if you can do about it.Although it is the human heart by which we live; such is its nature.

You can get in the form of conjugal association, there is a whole lot sooner.I wanted so badly that we were back together.And 50% break up spells, breaking love spells, all by yourself all this not as hard as it may let their emotions overwhelm them.Yes you can go out on a foundation of your agony, casting potent and powerful lost love spells, should you have an opportunity to think too much.If you have to check in on your way back into your life with confidence, even, or particularly, if you still love her?

When it does, you should know that you've lost him for the best.I didn't want to learn the sordid truth there might be thinking about her ex back.The line between being the star of their life.I felt was so strong, I could have done all the good times you have broken up with him?The best move you can find the right way just keep on clinging onto your ex, they will start enjoying life a bit counter intuitive psychological trick.

Even once you have to be taken cared of, and worse believes in, is to be with someone and no longer feel like being with you anymore because you really have changed things, you will unconsciously get a good thing to do.Be one of two people to work towards a resolution.Talk About All The Good Times You Had - Now if the say yes.You must keep your emotions now is make him jealous.This will show you what he wants to be as perfect as no individual is perfect.

Can Ex Wife Come Back For More Money

[whatson-northwales]

The sun has finally broken through the clouds here in north Wales, and the temptation to get into the Snowdonia hills, got to much to handle. There has been a dusting of snow from 650m up in the northern hills in Snowdonia for a week. So before the winter disappears into the distance I’m out to get some winter hill walking training in.

Breaking back into winter fitness with pack weight takes me some time, so I tend to get a few mid range walks in to create some stamina and get my body, legs and engine used to the different fitness that winter walking has to offer. With the day in question being Saturday, I had been asked by a colleague to go and do the north ridge of Tryfan, which in winter has been on my hit list. Without real fitness, iced up and on a weekend, I decided to get some hill fitness time on Carnedd y filiast instead and leave him to his busy and frozen north ridge. Good job Rob.

A wintery looking north ridge of Tryfan in the distance 

The Ogwen valley can get a tad busy at weekends in winter and if you are really serious about bagging peaks, its almost best of you get there at 6am to find parking and begin in the dark. The cars at Cwm idwal, when I got there at 9 am, where already taling back for 400m in either direction from Ogwen cottage! So with that said, I use a bit of discretion and common sense. I head to a quitter part of the Snowdonia range. Now initially I had though about doing some hill repeats, on the steeper sections on Y Garn or Pen Yr Olwen, but with Cwm Idwal being rammed, I chose to opt for the quieter parts of the Carendd y Filiast area and doing some nav with some fitness training with 15kg pack weight.

Why the pack weight you ask? Well winter climbing is what I’m actually getting fitness for, we have to drag up a fair amount of climbing kit with us and it weighs a fair bit so, its always good to get the body accustomed to some extra weight, so when the snow and ice arrives its not too much of a shock to the system.

With all the pack weight comes more frequent water drinking stops

So Carnedd y Filiast is a nice steep peak, its quite and its remote and I like to practice nav there. The peaks where I can go straight up hard and fast are excellent for the fitness curve, even if I am slow and steady at this point in the year, the diesel engine slowly builds up momentum. I park on the old roman road in a lay-by, don’t obstruct traffic if your going to the same and be considerate to there road users in the valley.  There are two access points to the beginning of the walking route, one stile which is near the house on the roman road and there is a wooden gate further up the old slate quarry man track.

Stile access near the house, be warned its wet here.

The route winds its way up the grassy sections up into the valley above where at about 650m, where it steepens and then moves into the scree sections up towards the summit. The parking spot for the car starts at 200m and the peak is at 820m and its fairly steep but quite enjoyable indeed. The sun will be on you this time of year from 9am over the top of tryfan and as long as you stick to the outer right section, the sun will grace you with its warming rays up until the scree slopes. I like to break right at the scree slopes and make my summit bit from there. This its around I hiked to 700m, did some hill repeats from 600m-700m on the steep stuff and avoided the scree. The idea of hill repeats comes from my running days where I would practice hills over and over in preparation for the snowdonia marathon. 3-6 sets of South stack hills and steps would be run with a optional 6 mile run bolted on for friendliness.  I wonder how I would cope with that now a decade on..

The training worked out well and at 700m I did some relocation nav and had a well deserved Organic warm cocoa, no food for these shorter ones in the sun. Just plenty of stream water from the fast running sections of the streams. Its worth taking a half hour sometimes juts high up to sit and take it all in, I often find that altitude I can get much clearer thinking and things that seemed to bother me, kind of melt away in the midday sun, surrounded by all the beauty that we take so for granted on our door step. Not a soul came by in 3 hours, not even a bird in fact, these was nothing to really mark the barren landscape other than this one lonely sole tree in the distance a 1000m from where I was sitting.

Taking time to readjust our senses to being present and becoming ever conscious of the present moment and giving some gratitude for the blessing and faculties that we have in life is so important. With the world feeling kind of heavy for some many people, I urge you to find solace from a crazy world by finning inner solace in nature, it works for me every time. Nature is the best healer there ever was and is. After lying down on my sack for the best part of thirty minutes, it was time to head down to finish the training off, I like to take a different route down and this time I feathered off tot he left into the valley below, where I found the original path I had been looking for on the ascent. oh well, its nice to go off the beaten track sometime and the beautiful flora, fauna and geology when I go off piste never ceases to amaze me. Some examples of the wild and beautiful plant life of Snowdonia below.

  What can me these small walks more significant is the amazing views you get on a blue sky days. Looking over towards Carnedd Daffydd and Llywelyn the white snow line looked especially beautiful with he blue back drop and then over the north west the Menai Strait and Penmon all looked as if they where but a stones throw away, a nice clear line out from land to see cleared by a monstrous glacier almost 10,000 years ago.

Menai Strait in the background an the Ogwen valley leading down to it

Can you beat these blue sky days in the hills?

So with the sun on my back I decided to descend in a slow an steady way, it was that kind of day, no need to bag the peak, I got the fitness hit, ill go for that on the next run. My last few months has been a little hit and miss on the training front so ill go slow and steady as not to get an injury which is often the case when I’m a thousand mile an hour. The descent is always a great part, try and find a route, see a sheep track follow it for a bit, get a little lost, find another way and repeat. Quite a fun off piste way to descend hill, the occasional step into a mud calf deep bog also tends to amuse me.

Peculiar rocks on the descent ..seemed a bit spooky.

The sun was beating so hard down when I got to 300m I could not resist the urge to sit quietly on a rock and take a moment to look at the hills.  Looking up top its east to try and plot new routes. for instance there is a route I saw that traverse the other side of the valley from Pen yr Ol wen to Carnedd Dafydd which looks rather fun, and you could in theory drop down on to the road side rather than have to do that boring walk out to Gerlan!

Is it so wrong to take a selfie?! Enjoying the sunshine 

I got back to the car and then had the great pleasure of waiting a few hours until my partner (a little older and wiser at 70) did his ridge walk. So I headed for a walk around ideal lake and stretched my legs then had some veggie lunch in the sun. Tryfan north ridge will have to be ticked off in the next month I dare say, ill keep you all posted. As I sat until sunset waiting for my friend the most amazing lenticular emerged over y garn and with a night sky behind it looked rather magical. The temperature dropped and the van campers where all in the car parks preparing their sleeps for the night. A great end to a great day.

Lenticular clouds incoming over Y Garn

  Good description of the route here by Mudandroutes.com

Route time : 3 hours

Roue distance : 6km

Elevation : 630m

  Thanks for stopping by and reading our blog we appreciate every single one of you. Feel free to leave us a comment, give the blog a like and share the content far and wide. If you have a favourite hike in Snowdonia then drop a mention in the comments below, we love to hear from you all.

Here are some other articles that might be of interest to you regarding Snowodnia.  You could look at our blog on top walks in Snowdonia  That would be a good start, and then maybe have a look at the top attractions in Snowdonia too for some ideas on what to have a look at. Don’t forget we have lots of new ideas on things to do in north Wales on the new website also. Favourite cafes in Snowdonia is another too. Enjoy.

Well if your heading out this weekend, I hope you have a greet weekend here in north Wales, weather look fantastic and there is a dusting of snow on them hills, enjoy and take the usual winter kit packlist, head out early and head down early and check the weather always.

Take care,

Nick

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Oh and for those of you who don’t know yet, the new blog which we will be making a full switch over to in a month or two is here www.whatsonnorthwales.co.uk

  Winter Walking in the Ogwen valley, Snowdonia The sun has finally broken through the clouds here in north Wales, and the temptation to get into the Snowdonia hills, got to much to handle.

[climbdevon]

In Pursuit of Snow in Austria

First published in the Professional Mountaineer - Winter 2019. Re-published here with author and magazine consent. Words and photos (unless otherwise credited) by Cath Bateman.

As luck would have it a friend of mine has access to a chalet in Austria and this presented an opportunity to seek out the snow I hankered after. This also gave me the chance to explore an area that not only yielded the fantastic substance in huge quantities (winter 2018/19) but also has easy access to snow sports and all the essentials needed for shopping, dining out and hiring kit.

Styria (Stiermark in German) is a state in the southeast of Austria. Easily accessible by car or train from Vienna in under a couple of hours it offers excellent snowshoeing and a host of other snow-related activities. The Northern Limestone Alps (German: Nördliche Kalkalpen, also called the Northern Calcareous Alps) cut through this state on a west-east axis. These have been worn down into canyons and cliffs such as the Enns Gorge in the Gesäuse National Park. The park itself is located in the mountainous Upper Styrian region covering large parts of the Gesäuse range within the Ennstal Alps and the steep water gap of the Enns river between Admont and Hieflau.

Our snowshoeing centered on the quiet area of the commune and city Mariazell, 143 kilometres north of Graz at an altitude of 868m, and a small hamlet called Lahnsattel, 1 km east of the Lahn Saddle (German: Lahnsattel). The Saddle, at an altitude of 1,006m, is a high mountain pass between the Bundesländer of Lower Austria and Styria. It is traversed by Federal Highway B23 and connects the Salza river valley from Mariazell with the Mürz river valley. !e local peaks here are between 1,200-1,799 metres. Grosser Goller, 1,766m and 3 km away from the Saddle, is a popular back-country ski-tour and hiking/snowshoeing route. The summits are mostly just above the treeline so the routes are a combination of pastures and forestry tracks. Summer and winter routes are detailed on various maps that we bought online before our trip. The Freytag & Berndt maps that came with a German booklet describe some routes in the area. The start of routes are well-signposted and along tracks there are red-white-red markings. Be careful though, depending on the level of snow-plastering, these signs and marks can be covered! Stiermark produce avalanche forecasts with easy-to-understand graphics and translate them into English, making it an invaluable tool for planning your days out; http://www.lawine-steiermark.at/lagebericht/avalanche-bulletin.

Over the New Year and beyond, and much to our joy, huge amounts of snow fell for almost a week. The soft powder snow made our snowshoeing adventures so much fun, particularly for those in our group who had not tried it before. Hans, who looked after the snow clearance for the hamlet, referred to it as “schneeeschwimming” and the day we left we were certainly wallowing in it. Lahnsattel is known locally as ‘avalanche saddle’, the truth of which became clearer following some serious avalanches in early January cutting off the local ski-hills and causing damage to infrastructure.

Our days out snowshoeing were all within 30 minutes’ drive from Lahnsattel and were planned using the maps, guidebooks and careful attention to the avalanche forecast. One of our routes took in Wildalpe (1,523m) from the north, zigzagging up through the forest on a mixture of wide forest tracks and small paths. We gained the summit from the relatively steep east shoulder, which made the heel-raisers, a feature on the MSR and TSL snowshoes, handy to take the strain off our calf muscles. Close to the summit some ski-tourers appeared, having ascended by another route. This was the only day we encountered anyone else at all outside of a ski resort. Heading back the way we came the going was much more like “snow-swimming” and we cut through the trees glades to return to our chalet, the log fire and the schnapps!

The repair kit, which usually sits at the bottom of my bag, came in useful when a clevis pin sheared off of a snowshoe. We fixed this with a nut and bolt and continued to enjoy the rest of the day out. In addition to the nuts and bolts (Nylock type nuts provide a more durable mend) it’s useful to have a small spanner, some zip-ties, duck-tape and a multi-tool or Swiss army knife. Usually a few pieces are sufficient to make it off the hill but there was one occasion on another trip where a snowshoe with a tubular frame broke and was splinted using the metal handle from a saucepan!

Reasons to go and top tips

The area around Lahnsattel and Mariazell is not only a fantastic place to enjoy snowshoeing and practice navigation but also to try out your language skills – German or Austro-Bavarian – do not presume English is spoken here! (We had many laughs hiring langlauf equipment with only the very basics of verbal communication). There is enough information with good avalanche and weather forecasts readily available to help inform you before setting out. !ere are many hills under 2,000 metres that are accessible from a range of aspects to take account of snow-loading on the slopes. Take care to check the map scales and contour spacings as the micro navigation can be challenging, especially for example when using a 1:50,000 scale Kompass map with 100 metre contours.

There are set tracks for langlauf (Nordic skiing) in virtually every hamlet and for a few euros, you can hire skis, boots and poles and ski the routes varying in distance and gradient.

Or, if you prefer, you can go for an afternoon of down-hill skiing in the small resorts at Mariazell and Annaberg where you can hire all ski equipment including snowshoes and poles.

Note that this area is a “traditional” place, where restaurants and shops usually shut on Sundays and Bank Holidays, so make sure you plan for the kit hire and buy enough food as only petrol stations tend to be open. These, however, do sell the essentials (crisps, beer and wine) in addition to fuel!

This is a great place for guiding clients on snowshoeing adventures with plenty of routes. There are also lots of culturally interesting places to visit such as the Mariazell Basilica, also known as Basilica Mariä Geburt (Basilica of the Birth of the Virgin Mary). It is the most important pilgrimage destination in Austria and one of the most visited shrines in Europe. Gastronomes should try the Styrian pumpkin seed oil; a dark green intensely-flavoured oil made in this area. It has an intense nutty taste and is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Pumpkin seed oil serves as a salad dressing. The typical Styrian dressing consists of pumpkin seed oil and cider vinegar. The oil is also used for desserts, giving ordinary vanilla ice cream a nutty taste. It is considered a real delicacy in Austria and Slovenia, and a few drops are added to pumpkin soup and other local dishes.

Finally, and as always, International Mountain Leaders should check the requirements and legal obligations before operating in Austria.

Images: Main Photo. Taking a breather to admire the north 1. Headed up a typical track through the woods, using the snow baskets in fine powder snow made progress more efficient. © Emily Coates. 2. The steepest part of the route up to Wildalpe, the use of heel-raisers was helpful in this section. 3. Consulting the map en route to Wilde Alp. © Chris Bradshaw. 4. Using the repair kit in anger, the snowshoe was repaired swiftly, and we carried on our journey.

AN AVERAGE CUP OF COFFEE COSTS £2.50. WERE THESE WORDS WORTH THAT MUCH?

This is a reader supported blog, so every cup of coffee helps us to create new Climb Devon journal entries and bring in guest authors. 100% of every donation goes directly to fueling our authors with coffee. We deeply appreciate your support!

[marcusssanderson]

70 Deep Quotes that Make You Think & See Life Different

Our latest collection of deep quotes on Everyday Power Blog.

Amid all the ups and downs of life, we all need some amount of time to reflect upon what matters to us. We need to devote time to thinking to allow us to ponder our plans, actions, and decisions.

With all the pressures of life, spending time to think brings lots of benefits. It’s vital for your success and well-being.  Thinking time allows you to understand yourself better, to make smarter decisions and to see things differently. It also helps reduce time waste, reduce stress and increase your confidence and happiness.

No matter how busy your schedule might be, set aside some time in your calendar to think of new ideas and to brainstorm ways to push through your problems. To maximize your thinking time, set goals for those open hours and use powerful questions to encourage deep thinking.

All in all, devoting time to think will allow you to maximize your Everyday Power and operate at your full potential. In that respect, here are some powerful deep quotes that’ll make you think and inspire you to look at life differently.

Deep quotes that make you think and see life different

1.) “You are only as free as you think you are and freedom will always be as real as you believe it to be.”― Robert M. Drake

2.) “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” – Oscar Wilde

3.) “The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.”― Albert Einstein

4.) “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” – Soren Kierkegaard

5.) “Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” – Joshua Marine

6.) “Together we can face any challenges as deep as the ocean and as high as the sky.” – Sonia Gandhi

7.) “Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one.” – Martin Heidegger

8.) “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” – Omar Khayyam

9.) “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” ~ Maya Angelou 

10.) “I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.” – Anne Frank

Deep quotes about life

11.) “Turning your back on the darkness didn’t mean the darkness would turn it’s back on you.”― Jennifer Donnelly

12.) “Do not be lured by the need to be liked: better to be respected, even feared.” – Robert Greene

13.) “Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

14.) “The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you.” – Stephanie Perkins

15.) “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” – Mark Twain

16.) “What matters in life is what you care about and what you will continue to make effort toward caring about it.” -Nokwethemba Nkosi

17.) “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

18.) “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.” – Anaïs Nin

19.) “If you are living out of a sense of obligation you are a slave.” ~ Dr. Wayne Dyer

20.) “Life is too deep for words, so don’t try to describe it, just live it.” – C. S. Lewis

Deep quotes that make you think

21.) “I want to be like water. I want to slip through fingers, but hold up a ship.”― Michelle Williams

22.) “A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed.” – Henrik Ibsen

23.) “Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude.” – Anne Frank

24.) “Could I have been anyone other than me?”― Dave Matthews

25.) “You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.” – Buddha

26.) “Take life one step at a time look forward to your future, stop looking back and regretting the past, the past is the past because it does not last!” – Abhishek Tiwari

27.) “Happiness is within. It has nothing to do with how much applause you get or how many people praise you. Happiness comes when you believe that you have done something truly meaningful.” – Martin Yan

28.) “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” – Frederick Douglass

29.) “I find that a duck’s opinion of me is very much influenced over whether or not I have bread.” – Mitch Hedberg

30.) “Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

Deep quotes about love and friendship

31.) “The longer I go about living, I see it’s the relationship that is most meaningful.” – William Shatner

32.) “Since loving is about knowing, we have more meaningful love relationships when we know each other and it takes time to know each other.” – Bell Hooks

33.) “Sometime, when you least expect it, you’ll realize that someone loved you. And that means that someone can love you again! And that will make you smile.” – Homer Simpson

34.) “It is not so much our friends’ help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they will help us.” – Epicurus

35.) “If I love myself I love you. If I love you I love myself.” – Rumi

36.) “Love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love.” ~ Erich Fromm

37.) “The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” ~ Bob Marley

38.) “Good friends help you to find important things when you have lost them…your smile, your hope, and your courage.” ~ Doe Zantamata

39.) “Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” ~ Albert Camus

40.) “The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.” – Helen Keller

Deep inspirational quotes

41.) “You might want someone else to save you, or might want to save someone so badly. But no one else can save you, not really, not from yourself.” ― Ava Dellaira

42.) “It is better to have a meaningful life and make a difference than to merely have a long life.” – Bryant H. McGill

43.) “The fullness of life is only accessible in the present moment.” – Eckhart Tolle

44.) “Always go too far, because that’s where you’ll find the truth.” – Albert Camus

45.) “Life is in ourselves and not in the external.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky

46.) “Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.” – Alexandre Dumas

47.) “Today me will live in the moment, unless it is unpleasant, in which case I will eat a cookie.” – Cookie Monster

48.) “Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.” ~ Bertrand Russell

49.) “With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things.” – William Wordsworth

50.) “It is only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never, ever, be dimmed.” – Doe Zantamata

Deep quotes to make you reflect and see life from a different angle

51.) “Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.” –Harper Lee

52.) “What matters most in life is often invisible.” — Duane Elgin

53.) “For every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of happiness.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

54.) “The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” — Thich Nhat Hanh

55.) “The reason why we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.”- Stephen Furtick

56.) “Knowing what must be done does away with fear.” –Rosa Parks

57.) “Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.” — Jackson Brown Jr.

58.) “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it but that it is too low and we reach it.” – Michel Angelo

59.) “You must do the things you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

60.) “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” ― Isaac Asimov

Other deep quotes to help you set perspective in your life

61.) “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein

62.) “You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses.” — Tom Wilson

63.) “No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.” – Tony Robbins

64.) “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw

65.) “When things go wrong, don’t go with them.” — Elvis Presley

66.) “If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it.” – Toni Morrison

67.) “Have I not destroyed my enemy when I have made him into my friend?” – Abraham Lincoln

68.) “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” ― Bill Gates

69.) “If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.” – Peace Pilgrim

70.) “Everything you can imagine is real.” ― Pablo Picasso

Which of these deep quotes was your favorite?

Although life is busy and full of pressures, you need time to think and reflect upon what’s important. Our bodies and minds were not wired to operate under constant distractions, stress and information overload.

So, for us to achieve peak performance and live a fulfilling life, each of us needs to set aside a regular contemplative time in which to just think. Hopefully, these quotes have made you reflect and see life from a different angle.

Did you enjoy these deep quotes? Which of the quotes was your favorite? Let us know in the comment section below. We would love to hear all about it.

The post 70 Deep Quotes that Make You Think & See Life Different appeared first on Everyday Power Blog.