Stop bacon my heart, Valentine

The guys were excited for bacon!

It is often said that the best way to reach a man's heart is through is stomach.  And the most effective tool to reach a man's stomach is bacon.  Therefore our Valentine's dinner was focused on bacon, otherwise known as man candy.  We got together with two other couples in our small group on Friday evening.  Each of the gals made a few dishes.  The menu included bacon wrapped jalapenos as the appetizer, bacon wrapped meatballs as the main dish, bacon bread, loaded baked potatoes, and a salad (with bacon bits) for sides.  Dessert was maple twists topped a maple glaze and bacon bits for sprinkles.  It was all very delicious.  Next we watched Hitch.  This movie may be the most guy-friendly romantic comedy out there.
On Saturday morning we started off our Valentine's festivities by tackling household chores-- shining shoes, doing the recycling, cleaning out cars, and cleaning the kitchen.  I decided for some crazy reason to deep clean the kitchen.  Cleaning for me is a lot like the storyline from the children's book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  I started with just doing the dishes and wiping off the counter, then scrubbing down the fridge door which lead to cleaning the inside of the fridge, mopping the floor, and cleaning the oven.  As I was wiping off the exhaust hood over the stove I must have been a little too vigorous with my scrubbing and one of the screws fastening it to the cabinet fell out.  After living here for about two years we are beginning to think that whoever designed and built the kitchen cabinets in the 1970s wasn't expecting it to last this long.  With the exhaust hood hanging precariously by two screws (the third must have fallen out long ago and was never replaced) Arthur ran to the hardware store for the right size of screw while I sat on the counter propping up the exhaust hood with a curtain rod.  Arthur was able to fix it (hurray for having a handy man). 
That afternoon we headed to town-- Arthur wanted to see American Sniper (a perfect Valentine's movie).  Arthur reports that, while the language was rough, he could not imagine telling the story any better.  I dropped him off and headed shopping.  Arthur then took me to pick out my Valentine's gift.  It has kind of been a tradition since we were dating that Arthur skip the flowers (per my request) and get a practical gift-- socks.  This year I got a really nice pair of hiking socks and couldn't have made me a happier wife with my toes all warm and cuddly while snuggling up on the couch reading that evening with Aurthur.  Omnia Vincit Amor. 

Backpacking, Bison, and Burgers!

All week I was anxiously watching the weather reports.  Usually in February we check the weather to see if a winter storm is going to blow through however this week I was more concerned if the predictions of 70F on the weekend would pan out.  In the meantime waiting for the weekend I made plans for outdoor activities since I'm tired of being cooped up inside.
Saturday morning we rolled out of bed and gathered all of our gear.  It was the maiden voyage for our backpacks filled with 20 pounds of random stuff-- pillows, calculus text books, jackets, etc.  We were headed to Strong City to go hiking at the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve.  Our route happened to take us by one of our favorite small town cafes for warm cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk which was scrumptious. Maybe sometime our weekend adventure will be to seek out the best cinnamon rolls across the state-- so many wonderful options.
When we arrived at the Tall Grass Prairie we made a quick stop at the visitor center so I could pick up a trail map-- I love maps and always have to have one in hand.  When hiking it is my job to navigate and Arthur's job to provided interesting thoughts to ponder.  The visitor center also had some exhibits about the geology of the Flint Hills and plant and animal life of the region that were pretty good. We probably would have spent more time here if we weren't so antsy to get on the trail. Also near the visitor center is the home and barn for the ranch that was built in the 1880s.  The barn was huge, built from limestone.  It was three stories and built into a hill so all three stories were accessible to wagons and other equipment.  Once again we should have stopped an taken some pictures but the wide open spaces were calling. 
We donned our packs and headed out for Crusher Hill loop.  We needed all the elevation training we can get for our hiking trip this summer so Crusher Hill sounded like a good option.  At several points we stopped and surveyed the panorama.  Nothing that was man-made was in view (except for the trail we were hiking as Arthur pointed out.)  After about 3 miles of the hike I got bored with my own thoughts and began asking Arthur to share his aloud.  I am always surprised by what he thinks about and most of the time it is more stimulating that my thoughts so I ask him to share (at one point during the day he was thinking about taxes and I figured my own boring thoughts were at least better than taxes.)  Arthur said that he was thinking about what it would be like to photo journalist for National Geographic who travels the world preparing pieces on adventure traveling.  We then talked about the places throughout the world we would love to travel to for stories-- National Parks, Camino de Santiago (we recently watched the movie The Way on Netflix), the Incan Trail, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, trekking the Scottish Highlands, and Iceland (we also recently watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty with some great Iceland footage).  While writing this post we came across an article in National Geographic about the Tall Grass Prairie.  It includes some great pictures and more background information about the importance of the tall grass prairie ecosystem.

As we continued on we crossed into the pasture that is home to the preserve's bison herd. There are about 60 bison in the herd and I was hoping that at least we would be able to spot them. We came around one bend in the trail and about 20 bison were calmly grazing just ahead of us.  In fact they were strung out across the path, blocking our route.  Now all the signs warn about staying 100 yards away from the bison and we were probably closer than a football field.  There were two hikers up ahead of us on the trail that had stepped off to "wait out" the bison.  As we got closer one started calling Arthur by name.  It turned out to be one of his fraternity brothers from college and his wife.  It was wonderful to catch up with them while at a stand still because of the herd.  We also decided to take a load off our feet and eat lunch while watching the bison grazing on theirs.  Once we finished lunch the herd hadn't moved much and were still blocking the trail but now we could at least make a wide berth around them without getting between the small groups of the bison.
After seeing the bison the hike became less exciting.  There was a lot of putting one foot in front of the other and readjusting the loaded pack.  I'm sure the scenery would be breathe-taking at another time of year but the "dead of winter" (even if it is 75F) isn't the most picturesque on the prairie.  A large portion had also been burned last fall so it looked like a blackened wasted land.  As the miles wore on we began to see signs of civilization again with a limestone school house on the crest of a hill on the horizon.  The schoolhouse marked the short cut back to the parking lot-- we were ready for the short cut after our 11 mile hike. Even more importantly it would mean getting to dinner faster.
After the hike we cleaned up a little and headed into Strong City to have dinner at a restaurant named Ad Astra.  We aren't food critiques or even self-proclaimed foodies but we would highly recommend having a meal here if anyone is ever passing through Strong City.  We both had burgers which I had been fantasizing about the final 4 miles of the hike.  Absolutely delicious.  Many of the ingredients they use are from local producers-- farmers, ranchers, small micro breweries, dairies, etc.  As a treat we also shared a slice of peanut butter chocolate cheesecake.  It was a great dinner date after a wonderful day of hiking.  Omnia Vincit Amor.

Training for vacation

While we were in college it was about this time of year that the rec center was extremely busy.  The influx of people 'keeping' New Year's resolutions dwindles during the first few weeks of February however a new wave is just beginning--those who are trying to get in shape to look good in a swimsuit on the beach during spring break.   The past few weeks we have started our own training for vacation.  However we aren't training for the beach.

Most people go on vacation for rest and relaxation.  Arthur and I tend to struggle with getting R&R during our time off.  Instead our vacation this year is going to require several months of training to get in shape for.  In July we are headed to New Hampshire for an 8 day backpacking trip through the White Mountains along the Presidential Traverse.  We have found a group that hosts a hike each year and have signed up so there will be guides since this will be our first foray into backpacking.  For our first trip we aren't completely "roughing it".  Each night we will stay in a hut along the trail--much like a hostel with a bunk room and meals will be provided.  

We have been gathering the gear that we will need and are now proud owners of trekking poles and large backpacks.  We also need to train to cover 6-9 miles a day across mountain terrain.  This is more of a challenge in Kansas where our largest elevation gains are 500 feet at the most.  We may have looked a little out of place using trekking poles and large packs to amble across the prairies where we do most of our hiking or along the streets of our small town.  Instead of getting practice with elevation we are going to work on putting on lots of miles.  We have picked the following song as our theme for this year.  (All great theme songs need kilts and a Scottish accent).  (Havering means to babble or talk foolishly-- we do this a lot and now we have an official word for it.)  Omnia Vincit Amor.