Conference rdvax::grateful

    We haven't started yet, but every Tuesday thru the summer that we can,
    the colo deadhead contention and a few special invites head out after
    work to Nichols Res for some fantastic fishing. This res has been
    double-stocked for the last few years cause of whirling desiese (not
    twirling desiese). On a good afternoon, with the right fly-n-bubble
    combination or the right lure, it's not unheard of to catch and release 
    triple ones limit of fair sized cutts and bows. 
    
    Any local heads are more than welcome to join(t) us. 
    
    rfb 

tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful - come on down to
dean park in shrewsbury and jump in for a game of vball

if you think you'd be up for playing once in awhile,
send me your email address and i'll add your name to the
.dis list, send it out each week to let you know whether
we're playing - hope to see you there !   -   armand

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 " you don't stop playing because you grow old
     ... you grow old because you stop playing "


 Dean Park Volleyball kicks off tomorrow, wednesday,
 April 30 ... time to get outside and soak in some
 of that beautiful weather that's on the horizon !

 So if you think you might be up for playing at dean
 park tomorrow, don't forget to bring an EXTRA CHANGE
 OF CLOTHES, unless you want to exercise the "clothing
 optional" rule, always the preferred option !

  rotate !

 Dean Park is conveniently located in shrewsbury, mass
 very easy to find (email me if you need directions)
 and provides a very casual atmosphere for some fun in
 the sun !  Feel free to stop by, jump in to a game
 and leave whenever you like ... non-competitive, co-ed
 fun-filled volleyball, no olympic gold medals handed
 out at the end of the night, but maybe we can twist
 Therese's arm into buying us free beer, as usual !

 I'll send out a message tomorrow to find out who's up
 for playing, you can reply to let me know whether you
 think you'll show ... when i receive enough replies,
 I'll send out a message to let you know that the game
 is on !  We start around 5:00 P.M. and play until dark


 tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day - let's
 enjoy it, with some fun-filled volleyball at dean park !

 as always, if you don't want to receive further email
 just reply and ask that i remove your name from this
 .distribution list ... and if you know someone who
 might be up for playing, send me their email address
 and i'll add them to the list

 talk to ya later !   -   armand

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 directions to dean park:

 from route 495, the easiest way i know would be to take
 route 9 west to south street (7 miles) take a right, go
 about a mile and take a right at the light. Dean Park will
 magically appear on your left after about a half mile.

 Unfortunately, they might still be working on south
 street ... so you have two options:

 1) go past south street about a half mile, and take a
 right towards route 140 ... you'll come to a light where
 you'll take a left, and drive almost a mile until you reach
 a light, where you'll take a right. Drive through the next
 light you see (if it's green) and Dean Park will then appear
 on your left after about a half mile.

 2) route 495 to route 290 west.  take exit 23 (?) to
 route 140 south, go about one mile and you'll reach a
 light, where you'll take a left. Go through your next
 light (if it's green) and then Dean Park will be on your
 left after about a half mile.

 3) route 495 to route 20 west. after about 5-6 miles,
 you'll come to a fork where route 20 bears left, and
 there's a sign pointing right towards shrewsbury ...
 bear right here, and Dean Park will appear on your
 right after about a mile and a half

 okay so that's three options ... each one is pretty
 easy, and i'd recommend taking one of these over the
 route 9 to south street option ... best of luck !

 dd
 
 

    
    Count me in as a drop-in for volley ball
    
    One of the few team sports I'm actually good at.  :-)

 We had enough players respond yesterday that we will
 definitely be playing volleyball tonight at Dean Park !

 The weather today is perfect for kicking off the Dean
 Park Volleyball Deal for Summer 1997 - so feel free to
 join us in shrewsbury for some fun-filled co-ed naked
 beach volleyball  (okay, the naked part is optional,
 but the fun-filled part goes with the territory !)

 Here are some directions, hope to see you tonight !

 Armand        rotate !

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 from route 495, the easiest way i know would be to take
 route 9 west to south street (7 miles) take a right, go
 about a mile and take a right at the light. Dean Park will
 magically appear on your left after about a half mile.

 Unfortunately, they might still be working on south
 street ... so you have two options:


 1) go past south street on route 9 west about a half mile,
 take a right towards route 140 ... you'll come to a light
 where you'll take a left, and drive almost a mile until you
 reach a light, where you'll take a right. Drive through the
 next light you see (if it's green) and Dean Park will then
 appear on your left after about a half mile.

 2) route 495 to route 290 west.  take exit 23 (?) to
 route 140 south, go about one mile and you'll reach a
 light, where you'll take a left. Go through your next
 light (if it's green) and then Dean Park will be on your
 left after about a half mile.

 3) route 495 to route 20 west. after about 5-6 miles,
 you'll come to a fork where route 20 bears left (there
 is a sign there that says "route 20 springfield" ...
 who would take route 20 to springfield ?  maybe some
 crazy fool) ... anyways there's a sign pointing right
 towards shrewsbury ... bear right here, and Dean Park
 will appear on your right after about a mile and a half


 okay, so that's three more options ... i'm not very good
 at mathing today ... come on out and join the fun !
 
 

anyone up for a hike up tuckerman's ravine ?

we hiked it last year on june 1, and it looked like there'd be
enough snow to last another month or so ... we were bummed we
forgot to bring our skis ... must be quite a rush going over
that headwall !

i'd love to hike it again this year, thought someone here
might be up for checking it out, or even skiing it ... i'm
not ready to go over the headwall (a.k.a. deathwish plunge)
but i'd check out the side trails, if not the main bowl
(from the bottom of the headwall) ... there is a web pointer
that updates daily - a picture of tuckermans (doesn't do it
justice though !)
 
   http://www.rsn.com/conway/cam.html
 
 

    
    Can't ski the wall this weekend.  Next weekend should
    be perfect.
    
    Probably work out for the best.  This weekends weather is going to be
    staggering.

    Lindsey came home from the Grand Canyon yesterday, 6 days and 5 nites.
    Had a blast, naturally. I took her out to a late dinner last nite and
    she told me all about it. Stayed up till 2Am! SHe had reality to face
    this morning...school..and a test on the Cold War. She said she knew
    the material before going down in the Canyon, but now remembers
    nothing.."something about Russia..and the US..."    %^)
    
    She said it was close to 100 degrees every day at the bottom..snow at the
    rim. Saw all kinds of lizards, toads and one nite hundreds of tree
    frogs all around their camp. The deal was she was to think of me every
    time she saw a lizard...but i was the talk of the camp anyway, with my
    comment "any one taking a gun?" when I found out the crew consisted of
    7 women. "yer dad's kind of a redneck for such a hippie" "when's the
    last time yer dad went backpacking? look at all this food!" and I made
    her take a "Leatherman" knife/tool, which they renamed "LeatherWoman"
    and made fun of me when they used it....it's nice to be loved by
    sarcastic teenage girls/women.
    
    rfb

    and you're really really old too!
    
    ;-)
    
    PeterT

|The deal was she was to think of me every
|    time she saw a lizard..

Well, I know I sure do.  And vice-versa, too!

 

|it's nice to be loved by
|    sarcastic teenage girls/women.
    
I suppose so, in the right setting anyways...;-)

Seriously, it sounds like a blast.  Was this a hike,
a raft trip, mule/burro, or what?  Always wanted to
do the Canyon...

tim

    total backpack trip. Lindsey had the heaviest pack (50 lbs, she only
    weighs about 100 lbs) cause of
    all the extra food, clothing, and gear I made her take. 
    
    something like this...
    1st day was 7 miles down..the hardest according to Lindsey
    2nd day was an easy 5
    3rd was and easy 7
    4th was a hard 5 cause it was in the 100 degree heat all day, no shade
    5th was an easy 3-4 with a cool "climb" involved in the backpack
    6th was the day out, a medium 7 or so according to Lindsey
    
    somewhere around 30 miles I think she said, so my above is probably off
    a little...i lived in AZ for about 5 years and NEVER even went to the
    rim of the canyon...regret it too...
    
    rfb

my mom lives in arizona ... got to visit her a couple years ago, and
was lucky enough to get up to the grand canyon for an overnight hike

driving to the rim and checking it out can be incredible ... but you
get a much better feel for how vast the canyon is when you go down to
the bottom ... 

when i arrived (around 7 am) there was a praking lot i pulled up to
and hopped out to take a look ... nobody there, peaceful, serene,
very nice !

but then ten busfulls of tourists pulled up and started taking 
billions of pictures of each other ... i'm not exagerating, either,
it just took away the magic of the moment ... everywhere i go, i
try to be friendly to people, but anyone i walked by avoided eye
contact like it would strike them down ... 

complete opposite once i hit the trail ... everybody on the trail
made it a point to stop and chat, extremely friendly, very cool
vibes up and down the trail !  this is one of my favorite parts
about hiking - the fact that people who get out and enjoy the
great outdoors tend to be on the same "wavelength" ... when's
the last time a complete stranger approached you on the street
of a city to chat with you (besides begging for change) ?

i hiked the Bright Angel Trail down to Phantom Ranch, and was
so awestruck by the beautiful scenery, infinite reaches of the
canyon, and friendly nature of those who i crossed paths with
that day ... including animals (mostly mule deer) who would
walk right up to you, and eat right out of your hand (if you were
willing to share that extra sandwich or some trail mix, which you
are not supposed to do)

the hike down was definitely tougher on the body than the hike up -
the shock-absorbing knees take quite a beating when you're going down

folks at phantom ranch were very cool - kind of like park rangers,
who live down there somewhat permanently ... i reserved a dinner
for when i arrived, and was psyched to hear some live Dead coming
from the kitchen !  Walked into the kitchen and immediately made
friends with the phantom ranch folk ... very cool !

stayed over at phantom ranch, and made my way back up the next day,
towards a snow-storm on the south rim - eight inches of snow and
the temperature dropped to 8 below that night - freezing compared
to 70 at the bottom of the canyon !

checked out the weather, and found that it was close to 60 degrees
back home ... figures, i went on vacation in january to escape the
cold weather of new england, and end up in colder weather in arizona !

grand canyon - very cool part of a vacation i will never forget !


speaking of hiking, this is the summer-time activities note, and
i'm always trying to recruit friends for hiking trips ... kind of
early in the year for new england, but if you're up for hiking,
keep your eyes peeled here and you might find a hiking trip you
might be interested in ... some of my favorites:

mt lafayette (franconia notch) - waterfall trail, very nice !
mt mansfield (vermont) - option to tram to top and hike many trails
mt katahdin (maine) - we're going to try to hit katahdin august 14-15
north moat (n conway, NH) - excellent view of white mountains !
tuckermans ravine (mount washington) - hope to loop tucks/huntington this year
monadnock (southern NH) - decent warm-up hike, "close to home"

many others !  looking forward to a fun-filled summer ! 

arm 
 

    re: rim tourists and canyon hikers...
    
    Lindsey said the same thang...esp when they reached the rim on the hike
    out..the bus-peopel were scared to death of these 7 women who hadn't
    had a shower in 6 days...