A+ wife / backpacking trip

Not to toot my own horn or anything :) but I earned the "A+ wife award" yesterday!! Mike even said so! It started out that Mike texted me on Sunday that he was hungry for meatloaf. So I thought meatloaf is easy enough that I could do that for his lunch/dinner on Monday. When Mike wakes up at 3:30pm to get ready for work, I'm still at work but meatloaf is quick and easy to throw into the oven. So, he woke up to meatloaf for his lunch before he left for work at 4:30pm.
THEN, yesterday Mike said "We are having a food day at work tomorrow...could you make the pasta salad?" So I made that last night and I decided to throw in an Amaretto Bundt Cake that I've been wanting to make also.
All the above leading to my A+ Wife Award yesterday! YAY! (well I'd like to say I'm an A+ wife every day but Mike may have a different opinion :))

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We survived our overnight back-pack trip last weekend. We arrived on Friday evening to the A.T. It was pretty late, since I worked Friday and it was an hour's drive, but we were able to get in a pretty difficult 4 mile hike before it became too dark. Then we were grateful to get a shelter for the night...it was kind of rainy that night and I don't think I could have survived in a tent, especially if I would have been cold and wet.

We hiked to Annapolis Rock...pretty good view of the colors even though it was pretty foggy and getting dark out.

Here is the shelter we stayed at...whoever thought of the "shelter idea" is a genius! Now if they could install some cots to have a better night sleep, I would be in heaven.

Boulevard came with us and Stuart was boarded at the vet. We tied Boulevard into the shelter with us and he snuggled with Mike all night. At about 1:30am(while I'm trying to get some sleep on the uncomfortable hard floor), Boulevard let out a ferocious growl. My head was in the sleeping bag and I decided to leave it there and hope that whatever was out there would be scared of Boulevard. :) In the morning, Mike said that two hikers came near the shelter which caused Boulevard to growl...I felt kind of bad especially if they were wanting to share the shelter with us but grateful that Boulevard was ready to attack if he had too.

We left around 9am on Saurday morning.

What did I learn from this experience? 1) I need a lighter sleeping bag to carry, 2) I need a sleeping pad and a more supporting "pillow" to achieve a better sleeping experience, 3) I don't think I could survive overnight hiking without Mike.

Can you believe it's November already? I think it's about time to whip out the Christmas music!