You can't go back and see it the way you saw it then, nobody can

You'd think that I would've had enough of the great outdoors with my mountain biking trip last weekend, but one of my friends is moving to Alaska on Friday and she wanted to hike to top of a nearby mountain. How can I say no to that?

Here are some of the pictures I took while on the trail.

Some fall colors:




On the forest floor:


Some gnarly roots:


Meadow on the ridgeline:


Dead wood:


Steep cliffs:


If there's one thing people have always been good at, it's leaving their garbage lying around:


The summit that we wouldn't make it to:


Because of this:


It wasn't so much the rain, but the thunder we were hearing that made us turn back. We didn't want to be the stupid hikers that got struck by lightning. It was probably for the best as I was so sore I could hardly get out of bed this morning. It was apparently too much for an old man like me to do in one day (we hiked ~15 miles with a 4000 foot increase in elevation). Still, it was totally worth it. Next time, I'll make it to the summit.

Yo, watch the way I navigate, ha ha ha ha ha

According to my physical therapist, I am officially ineligible for the wheelchair basketball league.

Part of me is pleased that my recovery is going so well. Another part is a little disappointed. I so would've owned that league.

Neither one of us is one of them

There's a new restaurant/bar in town that just opened on Sunday. My friends wanted to try it out because they have 160 beers on tap, including one friend's favorite beer in the world, which, until recently, he could only get if he was close to Missoula, MT. So, that's where we spent our Friday evening.

I arrived the same time as two of my other friends. They weren't entirely sure where the place was, so they followed me through the parking lot. It was rather full, but as I drove through one of the rows of cars I saw a parking space that was close. I waved at my friends so they would take it, then drove further down the row, parked, then caught up with them as they were getting out of their car.

Him: Why didn't you take that spot?
Me: Because I was going to go over there and get handicapped.
Her: But then he already was handicapped, so he didn't need to.

As we walked up to the door, my friend ran ahead and opened the door for some women, and then for us.

Me: I would have grabbed the door, but I'm gimpy. I probably shouldn't even be out.
Her: It's okay, I'm frumpy. Hey! Gimpy and Frumpy: We're the other two dwarves.