Gear (creative title, I know)

I told you we did cool things last Sunday too. We drove 3 hours 17 minutes to the closest REI...in Michigan. If you forgot, we live in Ohio.

Yeah.

There wasn't really anything on our list, except wasting a day and visiting REI. We were experiencing some REI withdrawal. Can you believe Ohio doesn't have an REI? Say whaaat? Andrew and I are members of this awesome Co-op and are lucky(?) that we spend a lot of money there on a yearly basis. So, each Spring we look forward to our REI dividend and how to spend it.

We wound up buying a stove : ) So, pretty. It's a personal cooking/eating system, so I'll bring a spare cup and Andrew will pour some contents into my cup. That way we save on packing a larger stove or tools to cook with. It's a multi-use type of thing. And saving weight counts.

Picture courtesy of backpacker.com

We also bought multi-day packs for both of us. We spent almost 2 hours there looking for a pack. Ok, I was the one taking all the time. But, in my defense, I'm super hard to fit.

I finally found a pack that fits my shortness. It's a Deuter(hehe, such a funny name). The awesome thing about this pack is it's adjustable.
And, yes. It's on the lowest "setting" that's how short I am. So, when I grow taller I can adjust it to fit. Don't judge my dreams. Andrew's pack. An Osprey. My blue day pack is in the background. Sadly, I couldn't find a larger pack by Osprey that is small enough. If that makes any sense.

A full-frontal of mine.

It was a very succesful trip. We both got a pair of hiking pants as well. I am so tired of hiking in jeans, it was time to cross over to "real" hikers material. My pants are stretchy for maximum flexibility. Sadly, Andrew's are not : (  I also bought a Nalgene bottle, with a rubber insert to prevent myself from spilling water all over my face. In awesome discount news, with our dividend and a 20% coupon for members we saved almost $100.

woohoo

It better not be thunderstorming this weekend. That 13 mile loop is calling my name.