alex

On a cat sailing the islands in front of Rome. Amazing.

Thanks. I appreciate that. No I’m in Val d’Aosta, on the Western Italian Alps - on the border with French. The collapse was way East of here. Crazy to see that. You can’t really see it from my pictures but as you take the 5 Km gondola above the “Mer de Glace” you realize how the glacier is a giant playground. There are groups of 20-30 people rappelling down into crevasses, and many groups of hikers all roped to each other making the treck from Punta Helbroner on the Italian side, above Courmayeur, to Aguille du Midi, on the French side above Chamonix. It’s a bit surreal because the area is essentially a plateau at about 3500 m of elevation, so it feels like you're crossing Antarctica on a tiny 4 person gondola that spans 5 Km, about 3 miles, with not a single supporting beam. The glacier is called Mer de Glace, sea of ice - and pretty aptly named. As a kid I remember there being lifts there (movable J Hook style tows) but apparently they recently decided that the occasional skier falling into a crevasse is not worth it. The Mer de Glace gondola was closed for years - not sure why, so we jumped at the opportunity to do it since it was open and it was worth every minute, truly a once in a lifetime experience, although a bit scary. It’s about an hour and a half round trip in a tiny cramped 4 person gondola suspended at 3300-3800m of elevation above a glacier. Definitely anxiety provoking but the scenery is just indescribable. Sad that people lost lives visiting such incredible places - and even sadder that these places may be gone when my kids are my age.

A few more pics from the Italian alps. The Roman “bridge” (technically an aqueduct) was built in 3bc and it’s still standing. They put in a glass floor inside and it’s scary as f.

More pics from the Mt Blanc area (both Italian and French side - Courmayeur and Chamonix). Went on the “ice train” to the glacier cave today. So sad to see how the glacier is retreating. About 8 meters of ice lost every year - it’s crazy. I remember as a child a glacier that went almost all the way into Courmayeur, now you have to hike up some 3000 feet higher in elevation to find any ice, and where the glacier used to be is just a round valley filled with rubble. So sad.

Got some snow last night. I want to live here lol (12,000 feet elevation or so)

Made it to Italy. The Alps never cease to amaze me. Got some snow last night

I've actually personally apologized for the weather a number of times in the past few weeks. They really don't seem to mind - most seem to enjoy the cool weather! I guess if you choose the mountains in the summer you're not really hoping for 90s and dews

Same here. Not much on radar but those showers mean business

I also noticed that on my way to Concord. Its crazy, looks like April lol

Just happened to us today. Visitors heading up on the cog asking us if they can borrow jackets because they had no idea it could be this cold in June. But it's a challenge to get the word out; people rarely read all the info we send them

33.1 with frosty roofs and cars. Bring back summer!

And 35 with a chance of frost is the forecast for tonight

What a difference a notch can make. It’s been wet here. Maybe it’s normal but it seems wet; 3” since the beginning of the month. It seems that days without rain are rare. Today gets the award though… 40s, sheet drizzle and windy. 0.23” of rain so far since midnight

Had a really cool encounter with this guy (girl, I guess) tonight

Unfortunately, here too

33.6 with a touch of frost this morning

Went kayaking in the wetland next to my house today. So bizarre to have such a different world just feet from my deck lol. It feels like you’re in the wilderness

Wait what??? It’s dreary here. Steady rain all day, 50s. About 5” of rain in the past 3 weeks - on the upside, the green is absolutely magnificent

I love skiing but that just has no appeal whatsoever to me

This picture is just amazing. I love bears https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd9bP1jMuwq/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Here moosie moose https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cd3ImSIAhMI/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Got a wifi trail cam and placed it in my back yard in a spot where there seemed to be an animal trail leading to the wetland. In 3 days spotted a deer, 2 moose, and a coyote. Pretty cool!

2.4” here in the last 3 days. Feels fallish today

I think the bare trees contribute to some really fast heating, AZ desert style. Although today suddenly there is some green showing! Should be fully leafed out within a couple of days at this rate.

33 with frost to 86 today. 54 degree swing. It’s sooo dry. Last check the relative humidity was 11%. Won’t even bother watering the lawn lol

Yeah it’s about an hour and 15 minutes. The kids “league” covers all of Coos County and a bit of the NEK, so it’s a wide area. A couple of games in Canaan and a couple in Colebrook. But they won 10-0 so it made up for the drive