Winter and spring have nearly come and gone without much of a word from me besides some new Instagram photos automatically fed into this blog. Life has been busy. Paul and I sold our first house and bought a new one. We’ve been cleaning, showing, packing, moving, unpacking, and getting settled in over the past four months.

In the midst of everything, I did escape out into the woods for a day. I refuse to work on my birthday. In recent years, my birthday goal has been to spend the morning sleeping in, getting some kind of exercise, and then going out for a nice dinner. This year, I went for a seven-mile hike along Falls Lake in northern Wake County. The Mountains to Sea Trail skirts along the lake in this area and I’m slowly trying to see all of it.

Start of the hike along the MTS trail

Rapids at the bottom of the Falls Lake Dam

Rock hopping

Small waterfall along the hike

Despite the slow winter and early spring, this weekend kicks off a string of new adventures. 2016 Goal #1 was to explore more of the eastern North Carolina swamps and I am doing just that. Five ladies, affectionately nicknamed the Swamp Girls, are heading back to the Barred Owl Roost platform in the Devil’s Gut of the Roanoke River.

Much planning and joking has been done to prepare. Lauren and I have survived the trip before. Stacey survived the Worst. Trip. Ever. that I won’t write about. But this will be the first time Julie and Julia have joined us on an adventure. In true Hillary fashion, I’ve put together a 7-page packet of various maps, an itinerary, and packing lists. We held a pre-adventure planning meeting at Chipotle to discuss details. Weather reports are being texted on a daily basis. Bulk quantities of bug spray, sunscreen, and water have been purchased. It’s going to be a really fun trip and a great start to the summer.

2016 Goal #5 will be checked off during a beach trip the following weekend. I expect these days will be spent doing less “adventuring” and more swimming, tanning, drinking, and laughing. If the waves look good, I am going to drag out my dusty surfboard and try not to embarrass myself.

Paul and I do have one big trip on the horizon – we’re going to Colorado in early June. A good friend of ours is getting hitched in Keystone and then we’re spending 5 days exploring Rocky Mountain National Park. I’ve only seen the Rockies from a distance during a short trip to Denver for work a few years ago. I’m trying to figure out what highlights we want to see during our short trip; lakes, scenic vistas, good breweries and food…there’s a lot to choose from!

This summer is already shaping up to be a great one. Now that the stress of moving is mostly behind us, I hope to have more time to share photos and adventures.