Ok, first of all, sorry about the poor picture quality. We were using a disposable camera for the trip. The trip was meant as a way to relax by voluntarily subjecting ourselves to carrying heavy loads while hiking up (very little down) several mountains, cooking low quality food, and attending to heel blisters. We accomplished all these goals.
We hiked 13 miles on Georgia’s Coosa Backcountry Trail, and added 2 additional miles to get to a small section of the Appalachian Trail for a night. We hiked 3 days and spent 2 nights of blissful sleep in our lovely tent. Our tent is awesome. We got it on sale at REI for $60 and it has vestibules.
The two big mountains we hiked were Slaughter Mountain and Blood Mountain… names to entice tourists. We spent a night on top of Blood Mtn. amongst blooming rhododendron trees and a hazy but cool view. The forest fires on the GA/FL border kept all views hazy.
We ate chicken curry, instant oatmeal, Asian noodles, pepperjack cheese, and lots of GORP (premuim nut mix, raisins, and m&ms). It was good to dust off the 10 yr. old camping stove and make hot chocolate in the mornings.
After coming off the trail we went to Charleston, SC and visited Clayton’s aunt and uncle. They taught us their fishing knowledge and we attempted, unsuccessfully, to catch anything for 2 days. We did get blue crabs and an eel… all uneatable… alas. It was extremely relaxing though, and we loved it. Now we need to buy fishing poles and try the lakes in Tennessee.
Teresa’s parents and younger sister are in town for the week. Last night we stayed up really late making our next batch of beer. It is be a strong Belgium style ale. We are really excited about it.
I found this photo recently. Here is the story.
We’re on our next batch of beer, this time a lovely Milk Stout. My friend Erik also likes beer, and so he graciously has volunteered his time to come help us make this one and glean from Clayton’s knowledge (which he read in a book). This batch has been awesome because we got the actual grains and crushed them ourselves. And we added lactose. That’s why it is called a milk stout, and it makes it a little sweeter. We started it about a month ago, and have fermented it twice now. In this picture we are siphoning it from the 1st fermenting bucket into the glass “secondary fermenter”. And now it’s bottled and sitting in our closet coming to perfection. Soon we will try it and let you know how awesome it is. We will try to make you as envious as possible. We are also trying to come up with a name, so if you have any suggestions, post a comment and let us know! “Milk the Teet” perhaps?