Unexpected Visitors

2009-07-18 17:51:48.000 – Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer

Food Fight Aftermath

Yesterday was an interesting day, filled with a multitude of great visitors to the summit. The first ones to pass through were Jeff and Scott Wehrwein. Jeff was an intern last summer who continued on until December and Scott is his brother, a current intern on the other shift. They were doing a Presidential traverse and stopped in to say hello. Talking to them today, they finished up in the dark around 9:30 last night. Nice job, lads! It was nice to finally see the two of them next to each other and realize they are not identical twins after all, although they do bear a striking resemblance. Scott has been a good sport though being called Jeff by people for weeks on end.

The next folks to grace us with their presence were Al and Marion Lake, long time volunteers of the summit and two of the kindest folks to probably step foot in this building. They brought with them a tasty treat – a variety of cheesecakes! There were slices of triple chocolate, strawberry swirl, apple cinnamon, and classic New York. These were eaten for dessert after dinner. I went for the strawberry swirl, but then coerced people with other flavors to trade bites. I think the apple cinnamon was my favorite. Towards the end of it all, Hedda commented that she has always wanted to be hit in the face with a pie. This is not one of those things you hear every day and I for one am not one to let an opportunity like that pass me by! I slyly cut my piece in half and as she looked down, shoved the other half into her face. She burst out laughing, then quickly grabbed a handful herself and cuffed me upside the head with it. Luckily we both had the restraint not to continue…or maybe it was the fact there just wasn’t any cheesecake left! Either way, I certainly recommend the random food fight to liven up a dinner. Remember: you’re never too old to start and the kids will love it!

The final visitors were a couple, the husband of which was hiking all the high points in the lower 48. He had just come from Mansfield over in Vermont and was over on Marcy in New York the day before. Nearing the summit of Marcy, he met the summit steward there who happens to be Lynn Metcalf, one of the two twinterns here a couple summers back. Upon discovering that he was heading to Mount Washington in a few days, she wrote a note to the summit crew saying hello and asking us to visit. He delivered the note and showed us a picture of Lynn, both of which we were excited about. It now looks like I’m going to have to make a trip over to the ‘dacks to climb Marcy soon!

Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer