We came off trail for the weekend to head to southern New Jersey for the fourteenth year in a row to play in a Beach Ultimate Tournament with the very special team Yellow Submarine. We lost in the finals, coming in 2nd in a tournament with over 300 teams. More importantly we spent some quality time with close friends along the way.

We stopped along the way to see and say farewell to some close. Maine friends moving to Arizona before we complete our hike. Then we headed to Philadelphia for a pretournament dinner with teammates. We caught up (via Skype) with Wired and Jett Cat who are well into Maine looking to finish in early August.

In the morning we headed to the beach for a weekend of sand and ultimate. We spent quality time with the great group of people that has made the yearly reunion for this team a priority over the las fourteen years. We missed others who have ranked the team too low on their priority list.

After the tournament we stayed for another night of togetherness where we shared some Yellow Submarine Ale brewed by Grandpa Pete, and a Yellow Submarine piñata designed by Grammy Taylor. Because the team travels with its own official photographer, I was lackluster in my photo taking. I’ll leave it to Neva to add in some quality submarine photos. It was a weekend filled with sand, swimming, frisbee, boardwalk, water parks, lavish meals and fancy cheeses.

The late nights and off-trail excitement seem to have overwhelmed Cartwheel’s immune system, and she is dealing with a fever and sore throat. Our current plan is still to return to the trail on the morning of Tuesday the 29th, to hike with Mama Bear’s parents for the next few days. But, as always, our plans are subject to constant revision.