Hey figured I would update you all with some adventures that have taken place so far in 2013 and sadly haven’t gotten around to making individual posts.

Beautiful day out snowshoeing

First I would like to mention that I started to take classes again back in January and have just wrapped up for the semester to further pursue my degree while I am working at Mercury Marine. But I may be in classes and work, I have tried to not let this slow me down, and I don’t think it has.

Fun time Sledding

With the busy schedule of mine it is frequent you may find me outside, while there was snow on the ground I was busy trying to go out snowshoeing. Also went sledding a couple of times with some friends from my bible study group and one of their houses that has a giant hill and tow rope in the yard.

January and February as always was FIRST Robotics time and I continue to help mentor FRC Team 2194 Fondy Fire in the software aspect of the team, be it with the website or with the robot.

I also had the ability to travel for work back to Iowa State for the Spring Engineering Career Fair and scouting for possible full-time as well as co-op candidates. Now that I own a vehicle I traveled down before the rest of the crew so I could actually be there and spend some time with my friends that I hadn’t really seen much of since I left Iowa State.

Cinco de Mayo taco bar

Backpacking trip in March

As the weather has been getting progressively warmer I have been getting out backpacking with the Fox Cities Area Backpacking Meetup Group. I joined the group back in the Fall and there hadn’t been many trips that interested me during the winter but there have been plenty of trips already this year. So far I have been on 3 trips with all of them being out in the Kettle Moraine Forest Northern Unit but they have been on different parts of the trials. On first trip back in March there was still a lot of snow on the trail that required snowshoes which everyone in the group left theirs in their car besides me. So I was blazing down the trail as the others ended up at times going knee-deep in snow. Our more recent trip was  over Cinco de Mayo weekend which to honor that we had a taco bar that was setup for dinner one night which tasted fantastic.

FIRST LEGO League World Festival Refs 2013

Back in the end of April I ended up going done to St. Louis for my second year at the FIRST World Championship event. But this year I wasn’t a part of Iowa but from Wisconsin. I once again was a referee for the FIRST LEGO League at the event. Unlike most people who book a hotel, myself and 3 others ended up staying at a KOA campground to save on the expenses and wasn’t bad at all. Hey for what I am used to this was a hotel. In addition to being just a volunteer, Fondy Fire was able to attend the event and competed. As always this event is perfect for networking and meeting people, including I meet and shook Will.i.am’s hand one morning as well as catching up with people I meet two years ago. Before leaving St. Louis I had to stop at the St. Louis City Museum which was a blast to explore. I may be more of an adult but I am for sure young at heart and always up to play. Sadly all the fun and play in St. Louis had to come to an end.

Playing at the St. Louis City Museum

Most recently just this past weekend myself and some friends from my bible study headed out to Devils Lake State Park in Wisconsin for a night of camping and a day of fun. Devils Lake is probably the most known and most popular State Park in Wisconsin and I don’t blame anyone. It has a nice location, has a Lake in the middle of the park, bluffs on either side of the lake with amazing scenic overlooks, plenty of trails ranging in difficulty, large number of routes to go rock climbing on, and more. While we showed up Friday night had a good time around the fire but then Saturday went out hiking on the trails as well as did some rock climbing where a couple of my friends tried rock climbing outside for their first time before we ended up coming home.

So as you can see there have been a lot of adventures that have taken place since the last post in January, but they have all been fun and enjoyable and that is what matters. As some adventures are smaller than others it is all about what you make of the adventure to make sure you have stories to share.

Enjoying the view at Devils Lake

I may have had a number of adventures already and summer is just beginning there are some plans that are already being worked on that I am more than happy to share with you. Very soon I am planning on going backpacking with some friends from back in Minnesota and we will be going up on the Superior Hiking Trail near Lutsen area for a weekend. I’m looking forward(kinda) to having a roommate. He is actually a good friend from Iowa State that will be having a Co-op adventure with Mercury Marine until December. Tough part is he is moving in with me in the one bedroom apartment which we will make do with the room. Last major upcoming adventure is one I am excited and looking forward to going on. There is a group of us that I have met from the backpacking meetup group that will be traveling out to Colorado for a week and will be backpacking in the backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park as well as planning on going up Long’s Peak. Don’t worry I will do my best to provide a trip report but for now I think it is time to let you go.

Hopefully you are going out and making adventures of your own, whether it is an hour adventure or a month, make sure you go out and have fun.