(A)musings of a bro you know: Weekly Adventures

So I'm severely lagging on my timing, but I hit up Burlington (B-town) the other weekend to move my sister Kori into college (still can't believe that) and visit some friends up at UVM. Per usual it was an awesome time up in the north country. Burlington is gorgeous for those who haven't visited with arguably the best sunset on the east coast over Lake Champlain and plenty of awesome restaurants, funky shops and bars to keep you busy for weeks. On top of that you're surrounded by mountains, lakes, rivers and all of nature's bounty, not a bad deal at all. Pretty jealous my sister gets four years to explore up there.
Regardless, I took the four days I had and made the most of them. A couple of buds and I hiked the tallest mountain in Vermont, Mt. Mansfield. It wasn't an easy hike, but the top views were unreal and well worth all of the physical strain. I was a little disheartened when a little girl ran by me on the final ridge with her puppy, but later found out there was a road up to the final ridge that people were parking at and walking the last few hundred feet. Don't really see the accomplishment in that, but hey, to each their own. Found a wild cave on the way up that apparently holds snow up until mid-August, and I could see how, the cave entrance saw a 30 degree temperature drop. Also found this section of the climb called 'the Subway'. I really thought some guy was messing with me when he told me to take the subway at the top of the mountain, but turns out there is this trail that drops into a narrow rock channel and under a bunch of natural rock bridges, ere go the subway title. Very cool, definitely an experience worth repeating. Glad I got to do it with some guys from home, even though one of them might not share the sentiments after we iced him on top of the mountain ("Hey Dave I didn't know that there was ice up here in August").
B-town nights are always pretty eventful, some of the highlights included a huge three mattress street fire on our walk back from the bar, a dude running around in an Elmo costume and some guy who kept trying to convince us his name was Storm.
The trip also took us to Huntington Gorge for some cliff jumping on a great hot day. The sign leading into the gorge listed about 15 people that had died there over the years, which was a little much for me, considering me and heights haven't been that tight over the years. Thankfully peer pressure can be a powerful drug and after all my friends jumped into the river off of a 20 footer I had to follow. Little did I know that the 20 footer was just a stop to get to the 50 footer that loomed high above the river bank. On top of 50 feet you also had to clear at least 15 feet of rock face below it before landing in a small, but thankfully deep, pool. I took a quick look at my landing and just went for it. Such a free-ing feeling to leap off that edge and know it's just you and the water. First cliff of my very short summer, but I got on the board at the last second, so the streak is salvaged. After jumping we got to explore this unbelievable river canyon that had been carved out by the violent spring currents of hundreds of years. All of the walls had been rounded out and stretched up and over us so there was very little light, creating a very surreal but incredibly peaceful atmosphere. It really gave some perspective on how powerful the river really was. Unfortunately all of the video we shot is on my friend's camera hopefully I can upload it soon.
All in all though, a great weekend exploring and taking in B-town. I'm excited to go back later this year, and visiting the sis is a great excuse. Anyways hope my ramblings weren't too painful for you guys, I included some pics so you can see what I was trying to get at. B EZ.