Turkey Day!

Turkey Day 2008 began with a train ride into town for the 10 am Thanksgiving parade! Boo and I found a great spot along a wall that we could sit on and view the colorful floats, bands, clowns, and just people watch. After about three hours, Santa finally brought up the rear and the parade was over. By then we were famished! Off to find a quick bite for lunch, but nothing to heavy because we had a feast planned at 6:30pm. After walking thru some of the buildings and discovering them already decorated for Christmas, we sort of got into the holiday spirit. We spot our lunch spot, a corner hotdog stand claiming they are "real" NY beef hotdogs. We'll see. Having been to NYC for Thanksgiving back in 04, I think we'll be able to tell if the hot dogs are truly NY hotdogs or not. :) Boo swears it tastes like the dogs we had in Central Park. I on the other hand don't... but I could be comparing it to my favorite Grays Papaya hotdogs in the west village, near Washington Square instead of the regular NYC street hot dogs vendors. Either way, it was a good call for a quick lunch. Boo and I each get a dog and split a diet coke. We continue walking the city, catching the sites, enjoying the distractions. After an hour, we venture back to the train station to hop back on the train and back to our suburban lives. We barely have enough time to change clothes to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner. This year we opted to enjoy the holidays with about 20 friends at one of their lake houses. Everyone is bringing something to share. I've elected to bring green beans in a butter sauce and asparagus, Boo is bringing a pumpkin and a cherry pie. We head on over to the party and arrived just in time to miss the boat. Literally! We missed the afternoon boat ride around the lake. :( So we just sit on the deck and relax, taking in the views and enjoying the beautiful day. In a short while, the rest of the party arrives and the boat pulls back in. After rounds of drinks, we decide to go on a little hike to rev up our appetites. Nothing major, just a lovely rolling 2 mile stroll through the woods. About 10 of us, with fresh drinks in hand, and two golden retrievers, venture out and make it back just in time for the sun to set over the lake. While we were gone, the others decided to get everything ready for dinner. We came back to candle lit tables, and a buffet that could feed an army! We refreshed our drinks, gave a prayer in thanks, and began loading our plates up with turkey, ham, two types of stuffing, salad, green beans, asparagus, rolls, cranberry sauce, gravy.... and the list goes on and on... Don't get me started on the dessert! I think there was more dessert than dinner! hahhaa! We took our seat along the LOOOOOONG table and as I looked around, I couldn't help but notice what a diverse group we were. We were Irish, Mexican, Chinese, Persian, Indian, South African, and American. In a strange way, it reminded me of what the Pilgrims and Indians so long ago must of felt like. Different cultures enjoying each others company while sharing a dinner. Of course I am not comparing the two events, but it was very nice to see how far, we as a country, have come, and what a melting pot America really is. It was probably the most stress free Thanksgiving I have ever spent. It was nice take in the parade, sit on a deck overlooking the serene lake, taking a nice stroll in the woods, and to just sit back and relax with friends.

Bossa Nova

Bossa Nova: According to Wikipedia "is a style of Brazilian music that evolved from samba but is more complex harmonically and is less percussive. The influence on bossa nova is jazz styles such as cool jazz " (Think.... Girl from Ipanema.)

So you are probably wondering why I am bringing up Bossa Nova. Well, it's not quite an outdoor adventure, but I enjoyed it so much I'm going to talk about it. :) I've always loved the soft sounds of Bossa Nova. So imagine my excitement when reading our local paper online about a FREE Bossa Nova music event featuring two guitarists straight from Brazil. I put my hiking plans to the side and decided to make it a date with my boo. We grabbed some brunch from a healthy-organic-free range-sustainable produce type place before taking in our mini concert at the cool-little-worldly-arty-coffee shop type place. And to be honest, my french toast was awesome! Had a nice slight orange taste that went perfectly with the crunchy toasted almonds. Boo had a yummy southwestern omelet with black beans. After we brunched, we had an hour to wait so we decided to venture in some of the funky little shops. The reggae store, which was supposed to be opened, was not. (Later on we saw them opening up about 1 hour late. Typical Jamaican time. Hahaha! I miss Jamaica) We went into this small antique shop and I found some great vintage glass cocktail swizzle sticks that would go perfect with our bar set at home. So I got them. :) We saunter into the little bakery, but don't have any cash on hand to walk out with some fresh scones. Finally make it back to the little arty shop in time for the afternoon show. We walk all the way to the back and thru beaded doorway curtain that separates the art shop from the coffee lounge side of the store. I see a few comfy looking couches, lots of chairs, and a bar area with stools. We decide to "lounge" on a comfy couch for the show. When the performance began, we were the only two people there, which was a bit uncomfortable, then later on we would hear the clackity clack of the beaded curtain, letting us know others were sliding in Jamaican time. :) The performance was great. Soft, sultry, jazzy voice singing in Portuguese with fast moving fingers on the guitar made for a nice, romantic, relaxing Sunday afternoon date. I felt like the 2 hours flew by. Thanks for trying a new adventure with me Boo. I Love you.

Georgia on my mind (3)

Day 3: After a cold, rainy night sleep. I woke up around 6am, watered the leaves, and then snuggle back into my warm, 15 degree, down sleeping bag. I love my bag. I just lied there, dozing in and out of sleep for an hour. Finally got up around 8:30am and start deflating my thermarest sleeping pad, rolled up my sleeping bag, and packed up my pack. I dreaded putting on my cold wet hiking clothes. I knew today would be a tough day. We were climbing the highest peak in Georgia today, Blood Mountain (4,461), and it was a freaking 27 degrees outside, (see my gloved hand checking out my thermometer). But on the bright side, it was not raining, just cloudy. I climbed out my warm tent and see that most people are out and about making breakfast. I chit chat for a bit, eat a cliff bar, drink 1/2 liter of water and finally changed into my cold clothes and pack my tent. I leave my fleece b/c its just too cold to hike without it on. It's 9:30am and Leslie is ready to go too, so we start our ascend from Jarrads Gap (3,250) towards Blood Mountain (4,461). We start up Gaddis Mt. (3,540) descend down to Horsebone Gap (3,450), climb up Turkey Stamp Mt. (3,770), and down to Bird Gap (3,650) all within 2 miles. We ascend the western side of Blood Mt. and reach Slaughter Gap (3,800). I look to the right, and that's when I see them. Stairs, stairs, and more rock stairs going up, up, and more up. I take a small break and eat some gorp at the bottom of the stairs, b/c I know what's in store for me. The next mile will be a steep climb to the top of Blood Mt. (4,461). I start the ascent and it's switch back, after switch back of stone stairs and steep graded trail. All of the sudden it starts to rain. I have to decide, do I take off my warm fleece to keep it dry or leave it on and stay warm til its soaked? Well, I take it off and the wind is whipping thru me like crazy,(remember my clothes are still wet from yesterdays hike in the rain.) I decide to just hike faster uphill to warm myself up. THEN it starts to hail!!! NO JOKE. I'm in short sleeves, my arms are freezing, and hail the size of bb's are start beating down from the sky and stinging my arms. I am physically shaking from the cold, I am in pain from the hail, and I am about to loose it when I see the little stone structure on top of Blood Mt. I made it! I run inside, pull out my fleece and try to get warm. I wait out the hail for 35 minutes, knowing I need to keep moving in order to stay warm. Once it has stopped, I venture back out onto the AT. NO VIEW on top of Blood Mt. Oh well.... it just wasn't meant to be. My only goal is to get down the mountain, and back to Neels Gap and the hiker hostel as fast as possible so i can get warm. Fantasies of hot chocolate propel my feet forward. The backside of Blood Mt. is no joke. It is 2 miles of steep, bald rock with narrow stone stairs, that are hazardous when wet. Thank goodness for my trek poles, b/c I almost ate it like 4 times. My foot would slide on the slick rock surface and I would loose my balance for a quick second until my poles steadied me. Well, it started to hail again! I didn't care, I left my fleece on and just decided to deal with a wet fleece later on. I make it down the Mt. so fast that I didn't realize I was so out of breath until I came to Flatrock Gap (3,452). I check my little trail description data and see I have just 1 mile left to get to the hostel. So I stop to eat a quick snack. I pull out a wheat tortilla, a single serving of cream cheese and smear it on, layer it with pepperoni, roll it up and munch away. I also pull out a single serving of cheddar cheese and eat that as well. I had no idea how hungry I was! It's still really cold (thermometer says 37 degrees) so I hurry. As I pack up my food bag I notice a cool looking rock. I check my trail data again and see that I'm at "Balanced Rock" in Flatrock Gap (3,452). I snap a cool picture and continue fantasizing about that hot chocolate. I get back on the AT towards Neels Gap (3,125). I was there in record time, I think it took me like 15 minutes to do that last mile. As I rounded the last bit of trail, I could see the hiker hostel. I almost started crying with anticipation. I have never been so glad to see a building in my life. Then it hit me. This is what it must feel like for northbound thru-hikers to come to this exact point on the trail and see the first hiker hostel on the AT after hiking the first 30 miles of the AT. Wow, I totally get it. I entered the warm hostel where Pirate greeted me with a huge smile a fresh pot of hot coffee. I threw down my bag, quickly changed into a dry shirt and my warm down vest. I pulled out raspberry hot chocolate and took up Pirate on his offer of a hot cup of coffee. Once I got the mug, I just poured my cocoa powder into the coffee and wow, it was the best tasting cup of coffee/hot chocolate ever! I was the second person to make it to the hiker hostel. Leslie got here about 20 minutes ago. It's only 1:30, but I feel like I've been hiking all day! At this point I have decided that two days on the cold, wet, rainy AT were enough for me. I would wait for the others to arrive and see what they wanted to do, but I knew I had had enough. Well, I had to wait 4 hours for the rest of the group to show up. Seems as if a group 6 of them never even made it up Blood Mountain. The hail made it too treacherous and scary for them so they opted for the bail out trail. They were at the base of Blood Mountain when it started to hail on them and decided it was just to much. Well, everyone had pretty much the same idea as I did. The consensus was a good cheeseburger and our own warm beds tonight. So we all packed up, drove down the mountain to Turners Cafe, had an awesome cheeseburger and fries and I drove my happy warm self back home to boo and my dogs. :) All in all it was a great trip. Even the rain, cold, and hail were good learning experiences for me. It gave me a taste of what the AT could really be like. I was glad I had a chance to live like a thru hiker for a brief time. It was so surreal to meet some real southbound thru-hikers and lastly, I realized that I COULD do it. I made it over that mountain thru rain, hail, cold temps, (and someone said snow flurries.) Til my next adventure, GET OUTDOORS!

Georgia on my mind (2)

Day 2: Woke up after an o.k. nights sleep at the Walasi-Yi hiker hostel. I went and showered at the communal showers, packed up my pack one last time, and waited for Survivor Dave (our shuttle guide) to pick us up and take us to our starting point, Woody Gap. Pirate had a nice spread out for breakfast. He fixed us blueberry pancakes, an assortment of muffins, (that he baked), assorted bagels, and coffee. I toasted a bagel, snagged a cranberry muffin, drank some coffee and finished just in time to load up in the shuttle at 8:30am. Seven of us pile into the shuttle with our packs on our laps, what a hilarious sight, none of us could see anything with our packs in the way. We made it to Woodys Gap(3,150) around 9:15am, checked our packs one last time and at 9:30am we started our hike. Leslie led the way with me second, followed by, hiker nut, nutty buddy, north star, sherpette, and s.h.o.e. We climb up to Big Cedar Mt. (3,737) and came upon an overlook. Too bad the fog was so thick that we didn't get to see a view at all. Shortly after our first climb, it started to rain. Both Leslie and I stopped to put on our rain jackets. When we got to Dans Gap we stopped to wait for hiker nut and nutty buddy so we could take a quick break, and consult the maps (which they had.) I pull out my gorp with dried fruit and munch away in the rain. About 10 mins. later, hiker nutt and nutty buddy strolled in, dropped their packs, and took a snack break. After looking over the maps and we decided we had about 3 miles til camp. So we motivated ourselves to put on our packs and continue ascending up both Granny Top Mt. and Baker Mt., only to descend back down into Henrys Gap (3,100). (Told you it was a bunch of pointless ups and downs, oh.... and remember, it's still raining like crazy). Then, we climb out of Henrys gap and up Burnette Field Mountain(3,478) and descend down to Jarrads Gap (3,250), (where we camped for the night) Leslie, hiker nut, and nutty buddy needed to get water, so they headed down to the water source. I had plenty so I started putting up my tent as fast as possible to change into some warm DRY clothes. As soon as the tent was up and I was in dry clothes, I crawled into my sleeping bag to warm up. I called boo to check in and let him know where I was. I got so warm and comfortable that I fell asleep and the next thing I know I woke up to the sound of chattering women making dinner. I peeped out my tent and everyone had made it to camp. I checked my watch and realized I'd been asleep for 2 hours!! It was still raining, and I knew I needed to make dinner and socialize a bit, so I forced my self out of my warm cocoon, put on my cold wet clothes and grabbed my food bag. I stepped out of the comforts of my little home, and braved the cold rain (my thermometer says its 42 degrees out.) I joined the circle and started piecing together my Jetboil. Within 2 minutes I had two cups of boiling water for my Mountain house Lasagna meal. I waited the required 10 minutes for the lasagna to be hydrated and then tore into it, enjoying every hot bite. By this point, a few of the girls' pots just started to a low rumbling boil. I love my jetboil. :) I am done eating by the time every ones water is hot. I went to bearbag my food then rejoined the group for another 1/2 hour. After dinner, everyone rushes camp chores to climb into their warm tents and sleeping bags. Since all my chores are done, I say goodnight (at an early but dark 6:30 pm). Climbed back into my tent, stripped off my soaking wet clothes, slid into my dry warm clothes, added a down vest for extra warmth (its going to drop down to 25 degrees tonight), and crawled into my sleeping bag. I called Boo one last time to say goodnight and then by 7:30pm, I was asleep. I only woke up a couple of times during the night, but that was only because I heard howling winds and torrential rains falling. I did get up to water the leaves when I heard the rain lull a bit, then I fell back to sleep to the sounds of rain drops pelting my rain fly. I just shrunk deeper in my sleeping bag and drifted off, grateful for the warmth and comfort that my little tent and bag give me. Til tomorrow.

Georgia on my mind (1)

Day 1: I took Friday off and bolted down to Blairsville GA to meet up with the "Trail Dames", who are are a bunch of nice ladies from the ATL (Atlanta) area of GA. They had formed an all womens hiking group, which I found on whiteblaze.net. The organizer, Mudd Butt, was really great in making me feel welcomed to join their hike. We had planned on hiking around 17-18 miles from Woody Gap to Hog Pen Gap on the Appalachian trail and I could not wait to get my feet back on the AT!

I acutally left work Thurs. evening around 4:30pm to make it to the famous Moutain Crossing at Walasi-Yi hiker hostel in Neels Gap. It is notable as the only place where the 2,175-mile-long Appalachian Trail passes through a man-made structure. It is currently the first mail-drop available to northbound thru-hikers that does not require them to leave the trail. It's a modern outfitter store in a rustic setting. Very charming building and hostel (in the daytime).

For the last 2 miles, I flicked on the fog lights and slowly twisted my way up the curvy mountain. I finally pulled up to the outfitters around 9pm and let me tell you, what a spooky sight. It was pitch black and the fog had rolled in as thick as pea soup! I could barely see 10 ft. in front of me. It was eerily dark and quiet when I got out the car and I could barely make out the stone builiding. There was only one street light on and thick fog floating all around. I was a bit creeped out b/c I was the only person there and visions of some Harry Potter movie scene of the creepy dark forest flashed through my over active imagination. I ran up the stone stairs only to find out what I had already knew, (but still had hope for), the outfitter was closed. I walked down a bit and saw a glow from a coke machine. I went up to investigate where it was coming from and nearly tripped over some more stairs that took me to the communal bathrooms, showers, and laundry room. After finding no one, I felt my way along the wall back down the dark hall and stairs. I started to get really paranoid when I saw a small light with a door. I didn't care who answered, as long as SOMEONE opened the door. I pounded on the door and a young good looking guy answered. I stammered out an apology for it knocking on his door so late, but that I was looking for the trail dames and I thought they were staying here. He politely tells me the hostel is right around the corner and down a flight of stairs. I thank him, (secretly wishing he would of been a gentleman and escorted me) and re-enter the fog filled, dark hallway. I find the steep, stone stairs, descend and come face to face with a big wooden door. I knock hard, creek open the door, and peer in. I am greeted with 9 smiles and big hellos. YAY!!! I made it. Pirate is the caretaker of the hostel, and offers me smothered pork chops, potatos, and chocolate cake! (YUM!) I take a look around the hostel and see an eclectic style that can only be called "hiker chic" hahaha! There were purple string lights hanging from the ceiling, apropo pirate flags, skull and bone motifs, books about hiking, and photos of several 2008 Thru-hikers that stayed here during their hike. After taking it all in, I finally make introductions with the trail dames. I also met 6 southbound hikers! It was so surreal to have been reading so many AT journals, then to come face to face with a real life AT thru-hiker. I felt like I was in a dream. I met a husband and wife team, by the name of "Crackers" and "Silver Potatos". Two young guys from VA, one by the name of "Big John" for his height, he had to be over 6 and a half feet tall, (and I forgot the other ones name), and a father and son team. How cool is that! To hike the trail with your dad!! They were so gracious, and even excited to answer my many, many questions. I definitely took advantage and picked their brains about the trail, their favorite spots, the least fav, what they ate, drank, what they missed the most etc... But the best part of meeting these thru-hikers, was knowing that they had hiked over 2100 miles to get to this point and they were only 30 miles away from their goal, 30 miles from Springer Mt., 30 miles from finishing a major accomplishment, 30 miles til they have to assimilate back into the "real world." I totally admire these guys for making it this far. After living a life outdoors for 4 to 6 months with their only concern is "what am I eating today?, do I have enough water?, where am I sleeping tonight?, and how many miles do I want to hike?" I can't help but wonder if they are ready to just stop hiking. They are literally, on the fringe of converting from a quiet, simple life, to re-entering a fast paced, fast moving, bright light, too many distractions world. I hope they are able to "re-enter" without to many problems. In all the trailjournals I've read, it seemed as if almost everyone has had a rough time assimilating back into "reality".

So, after meeting these true idols, I finally bring in my pack, enter the sleeping area (a room with 8 bunkbeds) I claim my bed (#9 lower bunk) and unpack my sleeping bag. WOW, I can smell the thousands of hikers that have slept here before, you can't miss it, but its part of the adventure and history of this place. There is no way my boo would be able to handle it. He can't even load the dishwasher without gagging! hhahaha! Mudd Butt offers to "tuckerize" (check my bag) to make sure I'm not taking extra stuff. I take up her offer and I explode all my gear in the living room floor and we go thru each item. She re-arranges a few things, throws out a few things, and helps me repack. I really do appreciate her advise, after all she has thru hiked and I consider that an expert on packing a backpack. So I learned a few new things. Around 12am, we finally get to bed and as I'm snuggling down my into my sleeping bag, visions of 6th grade camp start bubbling up along with the giggles. I love it!

Huzzah!

Today I took my boo and my parents back in time to 12th Century England. Let me preface by saying that both of my parents and I just finished reading BOTH of Ken Follets books (which were over 900 pages each!) "The Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End." So we were in a very medieval-English mind set. Poor boo was dragged along (he doesn't like to read and thinks Ren-fest is dorky), but he was a trooper, and NO we didn't dress up. (Although, I thought it would of been fun to dress up, Boo drew the line at that.) So off to the Renaissance Festival we went.

My parents had a great time. We watched some funny skits, cheered for a knight at a joust, admired some local artisan crafts, walked the little English town looking at all the dressed up villagers singing, laughing, greeting, and beckoning us to visit their stores/skits/musical shows. We said hello to the king and queen, watched people eat giant turkey legs, and just enjoyed a wonderful, leisurely fall day together. We caught the sword fighting/whip lashing "Don Juan and Miguel" comedy skit and the hilarious catholic nun comedy skit called "Hey Nunnie Nunnie."

We spent a while at the Name and Shields shop learning about the origins of our last names and what the family crest shields look like. That was actually pretty interesting. Seems as if my maiden name derives from Wales and my married name is Irish. Anyways, after walking around the entire 22 acre village, petting zoo, and artisan shops, we caught the mid-day joust, a few singing villagers and musicians and then called it a day. But not until we took the obligatory "king and queen" cut out photo opt. This one is of my parents cheesing it up.

It's Fall Y'all

Its really Fall Y'all. (By the way, I don't say "y'all" it just happened to rhyme with Fall. hahaha!!) Its November 2nd and a perfect crisp fall day for a hike. We headed over to a local trail to enjoy the weather, the colorful leaves, and the daylight savings time difference. :)

I really enjoy hiking in this weather. It so invigorating. I still work up a sweat, but it's cool enough to not overheat and crisp enough to feel comfortable in a lightweight fleece.

Boo and the dogs did amazing as usual. Boo had a great idea for tiring out Thing 1 (who is a 4 year old chocolate lab and STILL full of energy). He is really good off the leash, listens to voice commands really well, and we were in a pretty secluded part of the trail, so I was comfortable taking him off the leash. Thing 2 (who is always leashed b/c she has some problems listening) and I hiked up about 100 yards ahead. Boo and I basically had Thing 1 run back and forth between us on the trail. I could hear his collar jingling as he was galloping full force to where I was and as soon as he would reach me I would say, "Go get daddy!" and he would turn around and full force gallop to Boo and I'm sure Boo had some similar instruction for him to race back to me. I think he got a good work out today.

The forest was so full of color today it was just so amazing. Lots of yellows, red, greens, and oranges. I just couldn't believe how pretty it all looked. I kept stopping to take photos and just look around in awe. Fall is truly my favorite time of year. Nothing beats being in the woods listening to the sound of leaves crunching beneath my feet and to my dogs panting. :)

Holla-ween....

Hahaha! Thats how I spent my Halloween. Outdoors and hollering so loud that I made my voice hoarse. NO, I was not being scared, I was doing the scaring! Boo and I volunteered at the US Whitewater Center for Fright Night. We dressed up in masks, gloves, dark clothing, (and me in a cape) and we helped out on the haunted trail. Scaring people as they walked thru to do some haunted zip lining. It was all in good fun and it was outdoors on a trail. :) It started with Boo picking me up at work and us hauling to make it to the US White Water center by 6:30pm. I was starving for dinner and was hoping we would find something along the way and NOTHING, not even those ever present golden arches could be found. I was just hoping I wouldn't pass out tonight. When I don't eat, I get lightheaded and grouchy :( Well, we are probably 2 miles from the Whitewater Center when low and behold, we see a sign that local church (Moores Chapel Baptist) is having a BBQ sale. SCORE!! Wow.... the world has a strange way of working out, when you really need it. I got a couple of BBQ sammies from some really nice people and knew I'll be ok the rest of the night.

So we get there and we take a quick tour of the trail with another volunteer and work out a "scare" plan. I was going to be in charge of pulling the string so the pirate skeleton falls, but upon testing it out, I sort of broke it..... oops... It's all good though, we just propped him up and we moved on to plan B. After the tour, which was pretty creepy, we went up to get "costumed" out. I found a creepy devil mask and cape, and boo found creepy old man mask and a bunch of chains to clank. Oh... and this is when we also found out that WE (along with 1 other volunteer) were the ENTIRE crew that was to scare people. I was totally floored, I have never done this and now we were responsible to make sure people had a good scary time. We quickly decided to cut the trail in 3 parts and each of us were responsible for our own section. The trail was only 150 yards long, so we each had a good 50 yards of the trail to work with. Boo had a great spot. He was heading up the beginning 50 yards of the trail. He would walk on a parallel trail making groaning noises, and shuffling his feet so the people could not see him just hear him, and then when the trails joined, he would run out the woods clanking his chains and chasing the people up to my section of the trail. When the "victims" would walk up into my 50 yard section, I was hiding in the woods and would just run out, screaming MUAAAHHHHH!!! They would continue up to the last 50 yards dodging a creepy cemetery scenes, slaughter house scenes, and the third volunteer before approaching a fog machined, haunted zipline tour. On the way back from the tour, they woud have to come back down the trail and I would hide in a different spot, behind a long black curtain that was hanging from a tree. As soon as they rounded the corner I would beat my chains against a barrel for a loud noise effect and then rattle the chains while I stared them down. That was the best, I scared so many people that way. As they passed Boo's section, he would bury himself in the pin needles and then pop up as they passed him. I thought we did a pretty good job of scaring people for only being 3 volunteers. I hope everyone had a good time.

This was definitely a different way to spend Halloween than what I'm used to. I was glad I wasn't scared out of my wits b/c normally, I wouldn't do something like this, I wouldn't even go on a haunted trail walk. I'm usually the type that likes to watch Charlie Browns "Great Pumpkin" and hand out candy at my house while oohhing and aawwing at all the cute costumes. But hey, it was new, different, and I was outdoors. :)