Don't Leave them in the Dark

These are Anna Deavere Smith's haunting final words in her one-woman play, Let me Down Easy, at the ART. She's referencing the millions of children in Africa who are dying of AIDS -- specifically those at the Chance Orphanage in Johannesburg. But figuratively with those words she's speaking to the broader issues of mortality, vulnerability and resilience.

The artist and actress informs the audience that her play is about grace. It is about that and much more, touching on genocide, Katrina victims, horse racing and fittingly, the state of the U.S. health care system. One man, learning that his heart transplant will cost $250,000, simply laughs heartily and exclaims "That's less than the cost of a Ferrari!"

Overall, Let Me Down Easy entertains and enlightens with sad, thought-provoking and moving testimonials of life, injustice and beauty.

At the ART in Cambridge, MA through October 11.

Near-Peak Colors Around Mt. Jackson

After my high-altitude hiking in Peru, where the oxygen is limited, hiking in NH's White Mountains near sea level was a piece of cake! I felt great! And I didn't need to break for breathers on the way up.

We got a late start, so we met quite a few people coming down from the summit. Everyone of them lamented the lack of views due to the low cloud cover. "It's not worth it," several said. Well, I'm glad we continued.

Miraculously, when we reached the summit, the sky cleared and we had 360 degree views! Autumnal colors were vivid in areas of sun; less so in areas of cloud cover. Not quite peak yet though.

Although the summit of Mt. Washington to the northeast was occluded by clouds, the rest of the mountain, and the area around it, was majestic to behold.

The trail near the summit is very steep and rocky, and requires some tricky foot and legwork to get over massive boulders. Fortunately even the wet rocks weren't too slippery.

A very enjoyable 6-hour hike! And it was Mike's very first Presidential! Congratulations, Mike!

5.2 miles, 2,150' elevation gain
Summit: Mt. Jackson = 4,052 feet
Route: Webster-Jackson Trail and Mount Jackson Branch both ways

Peru and Machu Picchu

A wonderful hiking trip with Mike, Harry and Javier. See more of my photos on flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23477159@N06/sets/72157607550775182/detail/

NH Highland Games & Highland Dancing

Two of the key activities in the Highland Games are the Heavy Events Athletics and Highland Dancing.

Scottish Highland dancing is one of the oldest forms of folk dance. Although Highland dancing was historically restricted to men (warrior or celebratory dances), it has been performed primarily by females since the 1900s. Highland dances, which require both athletic and artistic skills, include

• The Highland Fling
• The Sword Dance (Gillie Callum)
• The Seann Triubhas (prounounced "shawn trews" and meaning "old trousers")
• The Strathspey and Reel

Of the Heavy Athletics events, I saw the stone toss, in which a 100 lb. stone is tossed with two hands for distance. It precedes the modern one-handed shot put. The winner of this game tossed the stone nearly 15 feet!

The signature event of the Highland Games Heavy Athletics is the caber toss. Unfortunately I missed this one. In this event, the athlete lifts the caber (essentially a 130-lb. telephone pole), runs with it, stops abruptly and tosses the caber end over end (at at least attempts to do so). This is something I plan to see next year!

Mt. Pemigewasset

Saturday's two-hour hike was sandwiched in between rain in the morning and thunderstorms in the afternoon. It was also a warm-up to Sunday's longer 4,000 footer.

I've said it before -- this trail rewards you with stunning views for relatively little effort. Though it only takes an hour to get to the summit, the trail is unrelentingly up-up-up the entire way. No switchbacks and no level stretches to catch your breath! A great workout!

At the summit, we enjoyed sun while we ate our lunch, and within 15 minutes, storm clouds rolled in and we could see rain in the distance. As the thunder got closer, we moved quickly to descend before the storm hit the mountain. I am always amazed as how fast the weather moves in the Whites!

3.4 miles, ~1,250' elevation gain
Summit: Mt. Pemigewasset = 2,557 feet
Route: Mount Pemigewasset Trail from the Flume Visitor Center parking area

Cannon Mountain

We saw a red-tailed hawk only a few feet away on a branch on the trail!

Casual hikers be warned: Hi-Cannon is a difficult and challenging trail, and includes a wooden ladder to scale some particularly vertical boulders! The ladder is not as difficult to step off of as the ladder on the Mt. Morgan-Percival trail, though. To avoid the ladder, we returned via the Kinsman Ridge trail, which was as difficult and challenging as the Hi-Cannon. Nearly as challenging as the Laura Cowles Trail on Mt. Mansfield.

I was impressed by the number of parents who took their children up the Lonesome Lake trail. I wonder how many of them made it to the summit of Cannon?

The views on top are 360 degrees around:

• North and South Kinsman to the southwest, with Mt. Moosilauke peeking behind them about 9 miles away
  
• Mt. Liberty and the stunning Franconia Ridge Trail (Mts. Haystack, Lincoln and Lafayette) to the east

As soon as the weather is predicted to be clear (read: no thunderstorms), we'll be on that ridge!

The summit of Lafayette is behind us in the photo.

5.9 miles (according to the White Mountain map, though it is probably more), ~2,350' elevation gain
Summit: Cannon Mountain = 4,100 feet
Route: Lonesome Lake, Hi-Cannon and Kinsman Ridge trail to summit; Kinsman Ridge trail to Lonesome Lake Trail back to Lafayette Campground

Geocaching with family in Michigan

I've now added a fifth state to my list of states where I've found geocaches! This past weekend my brothers, nieces, Uncle Rod, Mike and I searched for 4 and found 3 geocaches in the Tawas City, MI area.

My favorite, pictured here, was Buck Creek Pond, Iosco County, north of Tawas. What a beautiful area! I really enjoyed walking along the shore to find the cache. My niece traded a box of Big Boy crayons for two NRA stickers -- which we later learned was actually placed there by our uncle several years ago! How ironic is that?

Uncle Rod took a lot of great shots of us geocaching, but I captured this shot of him (holding his camera) and my brother Steve at the BBQ Sunday night! Thanks, Uncle Rod, for joining us in the geocaching adventure!

Special thanks go to Aunt Paula and Uncle Gerry for their generous hospitality over the weekend. I'm so glad that my brothers had the opportunity to get to meet them and our other uncles. It is a strong possibility that we'll (or at least I'll) be back again for the Baker reunion and Brown get-together next year. Second weekend in August.