the first time i ran away

so. i am happy to report that my paper got done (despite missing out on some fun st. patrick's day festivities) and here i type. 

this weekend trip to northern wales was very much spur-of-the-moment, but i'm so glad that i dived into the awful planning process and held strong to what i've been lusting for. so i convinced my friends to run away to the mountains with me, and it was so perfect. 

braiding hair on the train

megan; new zealand; lovely girl, lovely hiking buddy

the initial wonder

my beautiful friend, rachel! 

the moss. it was fantastic. to lay in a bed of moss.

our hostel where we met such kind people and made family dinners

my favourite

the hostel was situated perfectly between a clear, deep blue lake and the mountains

even this. it was so good to crouch down and marvel at the littlest bits of nature.

grace; new zealand; silly walker, silly talker

we all loved learning about and trying to speak welsh

and on the first night, there was this. started bad, ended bad.

so scary. i'm sorry. 

happy frenchman with a ponytail beard

or a unibrow....

asian man with a fu manchu that continues into a full braided beard

there's sound effects to this one. "ooooOOOoOooooh"

so great

after we recovered from the laughter and washed the lipstick off our foreheads we got plenty of rest for the second day of hiking up snowdon

sneeps!!!

hiking buds!

aaaaand there's rach and kat

there's a train for warmer days that lead up to the top of snowdon

the fog created white sheets on all sides of us

it was beautiful

very lord of the rings-esque

being the tallest peak in england and wales, it's a very popular climb

happy to have made it up there with very good friends. wishing for some rewarding views

on the way down

we hiked down, feeling good about it all. we all convened at the bottom and jumped into the freezing lake together. it was AWESOME

such a valuable, much-needed breath of fresh air. it filled me with peace. and we made memories not soon to be forgotten.

and now i'm getting ready to do the real traveling. the hard stuff. the fun stuff. the beautiful stuff. one week until i see paris, one week until i see kirk and his family.