rephrased

So yes, hiking. It was a-fucking-mazing. Great times were had by all. I smoked up for the first time. (you: "The first time EVER?????" me: "Yes, the first time ever.") Met cool people from all over the US and beyond. Was reared up on by a rattlesnake. Walked 600 miles in two months and 26 miles in one day. Was rained on, hailed on, snowed on, sleeted on... I dunno... I really learned how to rely on myself a lot more. And I learned that being content has nothing to do with what (or who) you have at the time. Figured out a lot of who I am, and returned with confidence. Enough confidence that, on the bus ride home, having not showered in a week of hiking, and having not done laundry in two weeks (I only had one change of clothes) I still had the nerve to strike up a conversation with this really cute girl on the bus. And I even got her number. Heh heh heh. Anyway, I just got a place in Portland with some kickass people I met at a bar here. Big place, water view from my bedroom... I move in Saturday. I'm back in the mortgage job for a couple years so I can save up money, pay back all the people who helped me out on the trail, then pack it all up and move West with no real plan. I'm thinking about Montana. But everything changes. Anyway, I've decided that one or more people from SG should come visit me in Maine this summer. Maine is the kickassest place in the world to spend a week or long weekend in the summer. Um... so now it's late and I have work tomorrow. So I'm out of here. But first I must share my new addiction with you. It's called Moxie:

and it's this soda that apparently only Mainers drink. It tastes a little like a mix of black coffee, Dr. Pepper, and Robitussin, with carbonation. Yeah, it's gross, but I can't stop drinking it. I guess every region has it's own bizarre food thing. People in Maryland eat "scrapple" which is exactly what it sounds like: the scraps left on the floor after a pig is butchered, all stuck together with grease and pressed into a loaf, then fried. I know, it sounds gross to me too. But then in Maine, we put our hot dogs in bright red (like a fire engine) plastic casings, so who am I to judge? What gross thing do people eat where you live?



**************EDIT***************
Oh yeah, and I have a ton of kickass trail pictures to post... does anyone know how I can get paper pictures turned to digital without a scanner? Will the place that develops them put them on a CD from the negatives or something?