Adventure #4 Hiking in Guilford

So, I went to Meetup.com after my friend Ro told me about it.  It's very cool -- check it out!  Found a hiking group and signed up for a hike in Guilford.  I brought Becky along with me.  That's what I love about Becky -- she's always up for anything! She didn't even remind me that she has had 4 surgeries on her ankle!!  (sledding accident!).  She's a trooper!

 I thought I owned hiking boots, but couldn't find them this morning, so I went with sneakers.  That was OK because many of the other hikers were wearing sneakers too. 
There were 8 of us all together: Jim, Angel, Jacob, Priya, Maria, Becky, myself and our hike leader Evan. Evan was a great leader. Many of us were first timers with the group.  Maria is from Norway and is here at Yale doing a fellowship. Priya recently moved from Utah to Connecticut for an engineering job.  Jacob is a produce buyer for 15 WholeFoods stores.  Interesting group of people! 

The hike itself was great - only about 5 miles, but some of it was challenging.  We went through some narrow pass-throughs and clmibed some steep rocks. 

We got voted best picnic at snack time -- I brought pitas, hummus, grapes, cherry tomatoes, and carrots.  We didn't tell anyone that our tomato juice was actually homeade Bloody Mary's ala Becky!!! 

We didn't share those!

We saw some really cool stuff -- nice views:

And would you believe cactus in Connecticut??

And maybe the world's strongest tree?

We then hit Coffee's General Store in Old Lyme for some wraps and chips, and Becky and I headed back to my house for luch and a bottle of wine.  Which of course I now have to finish!!! 

Mmmmm Malbec!