I Ain't Goin' Nowhere!

We got busy last week and started gathering supplies for our vacation to the Adirondacks next month.  We decided it was time to change the way we hydrate on our hikes and purchased two new hydration packs for Gina and Abby.  We have been sharing two Camelbaks for a long time - one is a waistpack and the other is a backpack.  We noticed last year that it was getting kind of gross slurping water out of the same mouthpieces.  When the girls were little it seemed fine and dandy, but there was something strange about it last year.  I found some last week at REI-outlet and ordered two.  Stylish, built for a woman's frame - everyone will be much happier being boss of their own water from now on!  No more stopping on the trail to ask for a drink of water from somebody else's pack.
 

We then moved onto the task of buying new hiking boots for both girls.  I inherited the pair we bought in Lake Placid for Gina a couple years ago.  She has been wanting more ankle support and now her feet should be done growing so we are pretty comfortable spending the money on "good" boots.  I expect Abby to keep growing so she still had to shop on a budget!  We spent a fair amount of time looking online and then took a trip to Gander Mountain for sizing.  Abby found a pair of North Face there that we bought.  We ended up ordering a pair of Merrell boots for Gina and another pair of North Face shoes for Abby just to be sure.  They arrived and the fashion show soon followed.

Adirondack hiking trails can pretty much be described in one word:  ROCKS!  Little rocks, big rocks, mammoth giant scare-the-beejeezus out of me rocks.  If I think about it too much I get terrified because one small slip on a big giant hard rock could be devastating.  So when we shop for hiking shoes I am constantly flipping them over to look at the treads.  I want the "grippiest" shoes I can find!  Apparently the girls have caught on to this because as soon as Gina took her boots out of the box, she flipped them over and said "I ain't goin' nowhere in these!"   That's right, Gina, nowhere but up Algonquin Mountain - supposedly one of the hardest hikes in NY state.  Hopefully there will be no slipping and sliding (except on our butts when we are too scared to stand up going down some of the huge rocky sections!).

Abby made her selection for the shoes we ordered (the blue ones) so I will just need to return the other ones to Gander Mountain.  It's going to be a great vacation!  We're on the countdown - bring on the mountains!