Visiting Mom in Vermont

New England in September, always a good idea.  Even better, a visit with Mom, yay!

We flew into Albany and drove over to Vermont.  I managed to capture a screenshot on my phone as we crossed the border - hello, maple syrup man:

The #1 project entailed painting Mom's bedroom.  John was in his happy place wandering around Home Depot picking up supplies:

The Master Planner, pondering his next move:

Mom was very pleased with the result!  Thank you John!

Looking through some old photos, take a guess at who these people are... (Hi Dad!!)

Kip was into trains back then:

The rest of this post is about another FKT run, because of course it is.

It was a good one - I got to run from the lowest spot to the highest point in Vermont!  Such a fun idea and I was super lucky to have the opportunity.

We started at Lake Champlain in Burlington, with a "good luck" hug from Mom:

Checking my route notes for the first part through the city:

Group shot with my awesome crew before starting my watch:

The FKT page with additional pictures and writeup:

https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/marcy-beard-vermont-lowest-highest-vt-2024-09-21

And we're off!  Walking up the first little hill...  I remember my legs feeling good once I started running on the sidewalks, and the grade stayed reasonable much of the time.

Admiring a pretty yard:

I almost went to UVM for college, and I imagine my life would have been very different if I had:

Crossing the Winooski River (we started saying "WINOOSKI!" whenever we went over it because it's fun to exclaim out loud):

Historical plaque about the Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Ethan Allen:

This appears to be some kind of agrisolar:

One of several helpful crew spots along the way, so I didn't have to carry much beyond a water bottle:

Early fall foliage, a special treat:

An iconic spot along this route, the Old Red Mill in Jericho:

Mom and John had walked down to the mill, and they were hustling back up to the car when John snapped this picture:

I don't think they minded this as one of our crew locations:

John's picture from inside - lots of choices!

I wonder what's on this pizza...

A view of Mount Mansfield as I'm slowly getting closer:

In the sections with plenty of cars, there was almost always a sidewalk or good shoulder.  The shoulder went away later, but at least it was a lot quieter there (just a bit of hopping off the road for the occasional car).  It's convenient that a direct line from the lake to the top of the mountain works out so well.

A resupply at the library before heading toward a more rural area:

A pole-er bear!

Beautiful butterfly mural:

The start of the dirt road where the slope turned decidedly more "up", and the second-to-last crew stop (thumbs up for excellent support!)

Into the woods, hiking next to a creek, enjoying the shade:

John and Mom found a place to park along the road below the surprisingly-crowded trailhead.  I changed into trail shoes and got a quick snack.  Mom was game for driving the car around the mountain so John could hike to the summit with me - thank you both!

OK, now we're going uphill for real.  STEEPLY uphill.  From my writeup, "Big steps, large rocks, straight up the side of the mountain."  A worthy finishing section for a unique adventure.

Taking a little break to eat a bar, at least there were plenty of places to sit:

It's not always easy to capture trail steepness in a photo but I think John did pretty well:

Another excellent picture from John's phone, including 3 barely-visible people on the edge of the mountain:

Finally the steep part was over and we had a few boardwalks to traverse (and people to dodge) to reach the top:

Hitting "Done!" on the various timers and trackers:

The summit survey marker, and I'm happy to see I had only one hole in my shoes:

Pacer extraordinaire:

Despite the random clouds, we could see Lake Champlain in one direction and down to the bottom of the ski area in the other:

The adventure wasn't quite finished... we had to descend the Cliff Trail to reach the gondola station.  Nothing about this mountain is easy:

The "slow slide" method of getting off this big rock:

John is of course a mountain goat, with plenty of time to take pictures as I picked my way down:

At last, the chalet - reminds me of Europe:

A free ride down the mountain!

Mom was waiting at the bottom, and we had only one last little hill to climb to reach the car:

Thank you Mom and John for a wonderful and memorable day!

Tucson Comic-Con and other things

We made it back to Tucson at the end of last summer in time for Comic-Con.  It's a small-scale version of the San Diego conference and a nice way to experience the geekiness without quite as much craziness.  There were plenty of costumes and booths and a few famous people.

And a captain's chair, along with its science officer Spock Bear:

We got to see Doug Jones give a talk!  He's always great for telling stories, answering fan questions, and making us laugh.  I apologize, Doug, for not getting a better photo:

Someone we had not seen in person before - John Ratzenberger!  He has voiced many characters in animated movies, and of course it was great to meet someone from the cast of Cheers:

A view down onto the convention floor - lots going on!

Mario characters on the Star Wars set:

Spiderman and (... ?) up on the balcony:

A new version of a game I've played in person and online many times over the years:

Hey, it's CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow!

Who you gonna call?

It was John's turn to command the ship:

An assortment of superheroes (Deadpool was particularly "in character"):

If you ignore the rope sitting on the floor, the rest of this photo is believable:

Hi BB8!  It even moved authentically, quite impressive:

Well that was fun!  Also a good indoor activity, as it was early September and still plenty warm in southern Arizona.

But we did get outside several times.  Here's a roadrunner welcoming me back to town:

John and I did a fun hike to both of the Twin Peaks (Safford and Panther) one morning:

Saguaros also welcoming us back:

On top of the world!  Or... Safford Peak:

The view to the other Twin:

This is back when the ocotillos had green leaves but no red flowers:

Hello from the top of Panther Peak!

Vibrant flowers on the barrel cactus:

John could use new shoes, but I don't think this one fits:

Thank you John Muir, always good for an excellent nature quote:

A very careful flower inspection:

I believe this Rivian meeting happened up in the Catalina Mountains when we were there for an orienteering event (escaping the heat for a few hours):

Don't touch these teddy bears, no matter how soft and cuddly they might appear!

Another thing in the "don't touch" category, and it's a good thing I don't see tarantulas very often:

I'd been wanting to attempt to climb Cat Mountain (not far from our home) and John was game for helping me up the one challenging section.  Thank you for the belay, very handy.  I like the view from the top and didn't know that there's a radio repeater (shaped like a rock) up there:

Tucson Mountain Park hills, with the city and then the Catalinas in the background:

One last indoor activity, a visit to the DeGrazia Gallery.  It's a neat and rather quirky little place, highly recommend.  

Lots of stone and well-insulated walls:

My favorite piece on display at the time:

Driving up I-10 on our way to Phoenix to fly to our next destination... and they fixed the Buc-ees sign!  It originally pointed ahead toward a non-existent Buc-ees location in California.  I love the correction:

Up next, the last part of our 2024 summer vacation.