Hiking - Shenandoah Nationanal Park

As I type this entry it is about an hour before Jason and I head out on our multi-day backpacking/camping expedition in the SNP. The weather is much warmer than I expected so I'm depacking cloths from my backpack which will make it lighter to handle. My flight from Ottawa to Newark, NJ was delayed a little so I missed my connecting flight to Baltimore. Luckily, they had a later flight which was a big relief. The delay gave me a longer layover in Newark and I was able to explore the airport, catching up on the newspaper and look across the Hudson River to New York City. The World Financial Center, and Empire State Building were visible on the horizon. What was missing were the "twin towers?" Looking across the water, I could see how they had once dominated the NY skyline. Jason met me at the airport and we quickly focused on the trip planning task and things evolved quickly. We headed over to REI (www.rei.com) to load up on some last minute hiking gear. It was my first time visiting a REI store and it was sort of like being a kid again in a new candy store but this time the eye-candy was all the latest in outdoor gear. I can see how MEC (www.mec.ca) has adapted many of the REI's concepts. Our next stop was a place that serves really large burritos that taste great. I'll have to ask Jason the name of the place. The remainder of the night was spent buying food, packing and putting stuff together for our adventure. Time to get back to packing...