Four weekends down Part I

July 8: My mom had dropped off Kimber the night before in Plymouth. The anticipation of their arrival was killing me. My mom came bearing gifts like an extra pot, some Bisquick, maple syrup, a desk lamp, and some flannels. The morning went smoothly. Woke up around 630am. Kimber and I ate some Apple Dapples (store brand Applejacks). Packed everything up and started driving to the Lincoln Woods parking lot. We stopped off at Half Baked Fully Brewed so Kimber could grab a "pickmeup" and then to Hancock campground to rendezvous with my sister Katie and my mom. Touched base with them and we were off hiking up to the campsite. Took us just under an hour. We set up camp and I showed her around quickly. We ran 3 miles together and I added on before and after. Katie and my mom arrived soon after along with my boss John. We all talked for a while before John headed out and we hit up the ranger pool to cool off. We got back and I showed them around my site. I had them take all their food and toiletries out of their bags to put in my bearbox for the nighttime (this is a crucial thing to do when camping front country or backcountry). My mom made some pork tenderloin with rice, corn, and carrots on Wednesday and froze it for this occasion. It was delicious. It was so satisfying to eat a home cooked meal. We relaxed after by playing Skipbo and shoving our faces with Pepperidge Farm cookies. I think it was 45 cookies between the four of us. We demolished them by the end of the game. Katie smeared some chocolate on the cards because the cookies were a little schmelty. I made some rounds and cleaned the bathrooms before winding down for the night. I did have a woman with her family complain about the poor signage to Franconia Falls and how she thought the US Forest Service was better than that. I just shrugged it off and continued on with the night. The rest of the campers were nice and one group was having steaks for dinner (now that's how to eat). I made sure my mom knew where she was going for the next two days and figured out the estimated time for each hike. We all scrunched up in the tent together. I let my mom take the bed mattress and the rest were on the wooden platform. Day 1 of a long interesting weekend complete. 

Summary: Overall, a good day. An easy 6.5 miles (2 before, 3 with Kimber, 1.5 after) with a 3 mile hike in. It was very comforting to have everyone there in my tent for the night. Surprisingly, I did not sleep well because all of the girls kept getting up to go to the bathroom.