A Summer of Moving East

Since leaving New Zealand, it seems I've been in constant motion eastward, spending no more than 4 days at a time in the same town.  Once I was back in America, as I readjusted to driving on the right side of the road and using American currency, I split time between my hometown of Casper, Wyoming, and my family's cabin in Silverthorne, Colorado.  The former consisted mostly of doctor's appointments and catching up with high school friends, while the latter consisted of hiking 14ers and spending time with family.

The Rockies are a wonderful place.

With my oldest brother, Dave, on top of Torrey's Peak.  We took the unconventional route up Kelso Ridge, which included some awesome Class 3 climbing, and roughly 5% of the crowds that hike up the normal route.

From the top of neighboring Gray's Peak, a look back at Torrey's and the Kelso Ridge.

A week or so later, from the top of Missouri Peak.

Dave leads the way as we make a quick descent before those clouds turn ugly.

From here, I embarked on phase two of moving east with a cross-country road trip back to the Purple Valley.  Mostly this just means that I sang country music to myself for ~35 hours.  South Dakota was the low point of the trip; the high point was stopping for a weekend in Minneapolis where my other brother, Jeff, and his wife live.  Dave also joined us for a full Stamp sibling weekend, highlighted by attending a country music festival in rural Wisconsin to see Eric Church perform.  It was, how shall I phrase this, a cultural experience.

The sibs! (side note: this was perhaps the second time in my life that I've worn a cowboy hat, but when in Rome...)

I hit the road the next day for the second half of the drive, the low point of which was paying roughly $30 in tolls to cross the states of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio.  A few hours of sleep in Pennsylvania, a 3am wake-up, and a beautiful sunrise drive later, I arrived back at Williams and went straight to my first thesis meeting, then frantically reunited with friends including Olivia and HC! I did field work for my thesis the next day, then had a couple days of figuring out what my thesis will actually be about, but lest you think the eastward travels be over, I then headed to Harvard for a couple weeks of lab work.

As Josh informed us in his earlier post, the White Mountains are "the place to be" and "what all the cool kids are doing", so naturally I took a break from the big-city life to pay Olivia a visit.  We were blessed with some uncharacteristically beautiful weather, did some great hiking, and I got a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the efficient and entertaining workings of an AMC hut.

Always a pleasure hanging out with this one!

Once I finish up the lab work here at Harvard, I'll return to the Purple Valley and actually stay in one place for a significant amount of time- what a concept! I hope everyone's summers finish up nicely; I can't wait to see everyone in a few short weeks!