Summer is a JOURNEY

Last night my summer pal and I were reading at bed time, and it occurred to me that once again, we were going to be partners for the day on Friday.  We made a plan, slept on it

and crossed the border.

Destination: Mount Monadnock.

From the parking lot to the summit there were about two and a half miles to cover.

Two-and-a-half INTENSE miles

straight UP.

 So we climbed.

And rested.

And whittled.

We also made some new friends.

There were three women making the climb together.

They were encouraging each other and I noticed that one of the women was VERY afraid of heights.

 They inspired me.

 And I told them so.

We enjoyed a rest together, learned a little bit about each other

and shared an amazing view.

 Complete with a hawk sighting.

New friends!

Meet Ro, Pat and Paula.

 Oh yeah: the Boston skyline.

We climbed past the treeline.

MB left a stone on every cairn along the way.

(you can see we're getting closer to the summit, but there was a LOT of U-P still to go)

It's a good thing there was whittling to be done, because I needed a few more breaks before we made it to the top. 

(Yikes! This is a crazy workout.)

 We found the summit in just under two hours.

We hung out at the top, had lunch together, and stayed until the wind made me chilly

We bumped into our lady friends on the way down.

 They were getting close!

So we paused for a photo and said our good-byes.

 I hope I'm still climbing mountains in the next decade.

 We stopped in Jaffrey on the way home for a celebratory ice cream.

With a view of the mountain we conquered.

A-W-E-S-O-M-E.