9 more days...

9 MORE DAYS!!!! I can tell this has gotten annoying already :) Too bad. So sad! I'm going to keep doing it anyway. If you missed the last post, I'm using my last 10 days in DC to write one thing that I loved/ will miss about Washington and one thing I want to do this summer. Go back and read day 10. Now!!!  .. :) Thank you for your compliance. 

9. I will miss the weather. Being from Colorado, where the seasons are stereotypically "perfect," it is sort of blasphemy for me to be saying this right now, but I truly loved the mild weather I got to enjoy this year. Apparently, DC gets a lot of snow in the winter, but I'm starting to believe that the people from here are just whimps that don't know what real snow is. Literally, the most snow we got was a little frost on top of the grass that lasted like a few hours; then it melted and it was sunny again. Talk about a weak winter. But, I was glad! The fall was super gorgeous, with all the leaves changing red and falling onto the sidewalks. It was still pretty warm, which is much different than the stupid Colorado falls, which consists of some warm weather in Sebtember, followed by an immediate snow in October and then several more months of cold and snow. It was nice to actually have a real Autumn. The winter was rainy, but still pretty warm, except for a few days here and there which required a coat. But, mostly the coat was used to not get drenched by the pouring rain. Spring was . . .GORGEOUS! The cherry blossoms?? You have not lived until you have seen the cherry blossoms. It simply takes your breath away. I loved getting to see all the cherry blossom trees and being able to walk past them on my way to the grocery store or the bank and giving them a silent salutations as I strode on past. I do admit, the summers are pretty brutal here. It's coming to the point where the humidity and heat are coming back. It's only May, so I am just glad I won't have to experience what July will be like this year. Thank goodness for Colorado dry heat!! But, overall, spectacular weather. I had a lovely year of DC climate, so thank you Washington :) 

One thing I simply must do this summer: go camping. When I was little, my family used to always go camping at least a few times every summer. Since we've grown up, we've kinda fallen away from this tradition and I really miss it! Setting up the tent with my dad (which usually turns into some yelling, followed by a loss of interest by the kids. .. basically dad sets up the tent and we watch as to not trigger any more yelling :) ), building the fire like a boy scout, the best peach cobbler on earth (thank you dad), day hikes that turn into all day adventures (I actually really hate this. We know that the hike is always going to be more than "oh its just a mile or so", so stop telling us it isn't!!), smores of course, and just hanging out with the family for a glorious weekend. It's always a blast, even though we get all dirty and everything we bring ends up smelling like campfire. It's totally worth it. 

Ok, this is against the one thing a day rule, but I'm also going to add that I want to have a bonfire this summer. Never done it, but I really want to...

Ya, we hiked that. . .after we were told that it was only going to be about 3 miles. It's always a lie. We ended up running out of food and water. Good times :)