It seems the weather is finally starting to warm up in Charlottesville.
After having a week or two of very nice weather earlier in the year, it turned cold again much to my dismay. Living in Texas last year I got used to having warm weather all year round. And despite being someone who sweats more than I would like, I prefer hot weather to cold any day.
One reason I am particularly excited about the coming warmth is that I am planning on hiking in some of the areas surrounding Charlottesville. It is something I never managed to take advantage of during my time here as an undergrad.
Emily and I bought a year-long pass to Shenandoah National Park a few weeks ago (during that short run of nice weather) and made our first hike on the Turk Gap Trail. We plan on making our way north through Shenandoah taking small day hikes on each visit. I highlighted the trail we hiked on the map below (click on it for a full map of the park).
I also put up some pictures on my Picasa Web Albums site (they ain’t much but you get the idea).
Been listening to this one a lot, pretty much the whole way through.
This novel was published after the Chilean-Mexican author's death, and I'm not even sure if it was entirely finished or not. It is broken up into five parts which, while connected, stand pretty much on there own. I have not yet made it to the grim part about the murders of hundreds of women in Mexico, so I have so far found it enjoyable and even funny despite some dark underpinnings. It's had a ton of critical praise, and I like it much more than my last foray into the violent novel genre: Blood Meridian.