We were camping at Dolly Copp campground in the White Mountain National Forest near Gorham, New Hampshire. Chris’ parents have been going to this campground every year for the last twenty years. It’s a really gorgeous spot with lots of swimming spots, hiking trails, and a whole lot of peace and quiet.

The week was mostly spent reading, swimming and eating. Just the way vacation should be.

On Tuesday Chris’ dad took Rachel (Chris’ sister) and I to the Kangamagus swimming spot where I witnessed a child almost drowning and almost lost my bikini bottom under a strong waterfall current. Good times!

On Wednesday the whole gang drove down to Salem and Manchester for some shopping and some fun times at the amusement park. For shopping, we went to the Mall of New Hampshire, Target and the Ham Radio Outlet (HECK YES! [Chris' dad is a Ham]). The day’s notable purchase was most definitely my new beautiful Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. They are so much cheaper in the States, and New Hampshire has no sales tax, so I kept bugging Chris to let me buy one, and he kept saying no. Turns out he had bought me the 90th Anniversary Edition mixer at home for Xmas. Anyway, I bugged him enough that he had to tell me, and we decided to buy the one at Best Buy in New Hampshire because it was so much cheaper and return the one he had bought at Sears in Fredericton, but now he has to buy me a new Xmas present. Go me! Way to ruin Xmas!

That evening, Chris, Rachel and I went to Canobie Lake Park – which was pretty fun! I don’t remember the last time I had been to an amusement park.

On Thursday Chris, his dad and I went for a short hike on the Tama Falls trail. The weather was pretty hot the whole time we were there – so we were lazy and didn’t really attempt any long hikes this year.

The rest of the time was mostly spent lounging around, reading and sleeping. A great vacation! Thanks again to Chris’ family for letting us tag along! And here are the rest of my vacation pictures, for your viewing pleasure.

On the way back we stopped in Bangor, Maine to buy a dehumidifier at Best Buy. Since we’ve been back, my new obsession is emptying it and marvelling at the amount of water taken out of our basement air. I lead such an exciting life.

I’m alive, my trip went wonderfully, I didn’t get robbed or harassed, my Patagonian trip mates were wonderful, I ate like a pig (as one should do whilst on holidays), I took an impromptu trip to Iguaçu (northern Argentina) with Gen, I got super good weather and my pictures and videos are slowly coming online on my Flickr account.

As wonderful as it all was, I’m still glad to be home with my man and my pug, being the creature of habit that I am. Three weeks was the perfect amount of time to unwind, get a bit adventurous and miss home.

I will probably write some more detailed summaries of the various legs of my trip (I almost wrote legs of my race – stupid Amazing Race) and backdate them sometime in the next few weeks, but I’ll write a post linking to them so you don’t miss out on them. For the moment, I leave you with this picture of one of the amazing sights that I saw in Patagonia.

So yeah, wow, I’m leaving for Argentina on holidays today. I’m going to visit my friend Geneviève (Gen.V. or Pôle Sud pour les intimes) who is currently doing a semester of law school abroad in Buenos Aires. Geneviève and I went to high school, played soccer, danced, lived in rez and overall acted silly for the last 10 years of our lives together. Should be fun times!

I’ll be gone for 22 days, which is the longest amount of vacation I’ve ever taken at a time ever by far. I guess I’m new enough to the workforce that the concept of paid vacation still puzzles me a little, but hey, I’ll try not to let it get in the way of my enjoyment. Shouldn’t be too hard!

I’ll be visiting her in Buenos Aires for 11 days and going trekking/sightseeing/skiing/showshoeing/boating/glacier-watching in Patagonia for the other 11 days.

To be honest as I’m typing this, a mere 6 hours from my departure, I’m kind of exhausted and probably not as excited as I should be to be leaving on such a great trip, but I’m sure that once I get there tomorrow that’ll quickly change.

Anywho, you can check out a rough outline of my itinerary here. Have a good June everybody, and be on the lookout for a picture flood once I’m back in July! See ya!