Sleds & Snow

On Sunday morning, Dave and I got our stuff together and drove again up to Hollis, NH, to take our snowmobiles out for a little drive.  We belong to a group called Hollis No'Easters, a group of snowmobilers who maintain the trails in the Hollis area.  We went to Silver Lake again and this time, we went on a different set of trails, a little wider, a little more rolling, and as it turned out, a little more fun.

Shortly after getting on the trail, we found ourselves in an apple orchard, which was pretty cool.  Then a little while later, we were in a town park.  The trails are multi-use, meaning they aren't just reserved for snowmobilers.  Again, we saw people hiking with their dogs, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.  This was a pretty popular area because the trail cuts through the park, but either side of the trail is restricted and snowmobiles aren't allowed, so people can play with their dogs, make snow angels, etc.

We ended up going almost 9 miles out on this trail, crossing roads and bridges, going around some quick turns and bumpy patches.  It's starting to get a little warm for January so some spots were sparse with snow, but it was still fun.  After a little break, we turned around a headed back.  Dave and I can't figure out why, but the trail was a lot more fun on the way back.  Maybe it was because we were familiar with it. Maybe because we were going uphill.  Or maybe because we were a little more comfortable with our snowmobiles.  Regardless, we had a good time. 

Then we got back to the orchard.  There were a few other snowmobilers out, but not many and the orchard was empty.  Even though we couldn't talk to each other, apparently Dave and I both had the same idea: Time to open this sucker up.  I hit the throttle and just went for it.  When I did look down and see that I was just shy of 30 mph, I laughed and let off a bit, pleased that I had the guts to do it.  Dave had a similar experience, but his sled was a little quick on the gas and he shot forward, getting up to 30 pretty quickly.

We had a great day out. It'll be too warm to be any fun this weekend, but hopefully over the next few week's New Hampshire will get a little more snow (notice how I qualified where I wanted the snow to be?) and we can go play some more before the end of the month.

First Run...Almost Made It

So last night, Central Massachusetts got it's first meaningful snow for the season.  We got a dusting for Christmas and about an inch on Friday morning.  But last night, we got about 10 inches of fresh, fluffy snow.  And Dave couldn't be happier.  All night he kept running to the windows,checking the accumulation.  Actually, I'm surprised he didn't wake up and jump up and down on the bed, exclaiming about how much snow we got.  I'm very proud that he didn't.

While we wanted to take our snowmobiles out, we haven't registered them yet and today the agent office was closed.  So we went cross country skiing at Great Brook Ski Touring Center.  It was a great day for it.  The sun came out, the powder was perfect for gliding, and I only fell once (over some ice at the very beginning). 

Dave and I came back home and cleared out some snow from around the house and Dave killed the downspout with the snow blower.

The little dark chunks to the left of the downspout are more pieces of downspout.  Dave is ashamed.

Then we decided to have some real fun.  Even though our snowmobiles aren't registered, we can ride them on our own property.  Behold: Dave turning our backyard into his own private, albeit tiny, snowmobile trail. (My apologies for the sideways-ness of this video...I actually thought I was taking it correctly.)

It was actually pretty fun.  Until we went to put the sled back on the trailer and Dave came up the slight incline only to run out of gas.  We didn't have that much gas in it to begin with, and I'm sure the slight tilt didn't help, but it was pretty funny to see that after going around the yard about 8 times, he didn't have enough in the tank to bring it home.

So close, yet so far.  Dave is again ashamed.

So on Dave's agenda for tomorrow is registering the snow mobiles and stopping for gas on the way home so we can get the sled back on the trailer (and hopefully go out on a real trail later this week).

Harpoon Brewery or Beer at 11:30 am

Dad came up to spend Christmas with Dave and I this year.  So we thought the perfect thing to do would be head to the Harpoon Brewery in Boston and take the tour.  If you remember, Dave and I visited the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, VT, and took the tour, which resulted in a lot of beer consumption, specifically because another woman on the tour didn't like the beer and kept giving her portion to Dave.

Well, the Boston tour was equally fun.  It happened to be Ugly Sweater Day, so most of the tour guises were dressed in hideous Christmas sweaters which was of course, amazing.  The fun thing about the Harpoon Brewery in Boston is that because of Prohibition, the Harpoon brewery license is noted as 001, the oldest continuously operating brewery in the state of Massachusetts. 

The tour starts with a tasting, this time of their Rye IPA.  Then we got to taste the IPA straight off the line, unfiltered and very cold.  Then later another taste of the filtered IPA for a comparison and finally a free for all at the tasting taps.  I tried the Harpoon Dark, the Raspberry UFO and the UFO White.  Dave tried some of the more dark and unique offerings, and both Dad and Dave tried the Apple Pie, which is the combination of the Winter Warmer and their Apple Cider.  It legitimately tastes like apple pie in a glass.  So we bought a six pack of each of those to enjoy with Christmas dinner (since I didn't make apple pie for dessert, it seemed appropriate. 

Then we had to get lunch, cause we were getting a little tipsy before 1 pm.

Meeting The Bloggess

Last Friday night I had the opportunity to meet the woman behind my favorite non-food blog.  Remember last year when I introduced you to The Bloggess by linking to her story on picking your battles and Beyonce the giant metal chicken?  Well, Jenny Lawson, The Bloggess herself wrote a book and visited Boston last week for a reading, Q&A and book signing.

My friend Rachel picked me up from work and we headed to the Brookline Booksmith.  Let me just say, as friendly as the staff are there, they really had no idea what they were in for.  Half of them didn't know who The Bloggess was or what her blog is about (duh, taxidermied animals, the zombie apocalypse and fighting mental illness), but they also had no idea how popular she was, the size crowd to expect, or how to spell her name.

Her name as The Bloggess is actually written on the cover of her book.  That they sell in this store.

I'd called the week before to see if tickets were needed (they weren't) and then asked when I should arrive for seating/getting in line.  The event started at 7 pm, so the clerk said they typically start seating between 6:30 and 6:45 pm.  This sounds like a bit of insanity to me, so I made a note to suggest to Rachel we try getting there around 6 pm.

Rachel and I did some window shopping, got some food (followed by some ice cream) and then met her husband John who had come from work.  We headed back to the bookstore to get seats.  There were about 25 seats set up in a small area when Rachel and I first got there around 4 pm.  When we came back at 6 pm, there were about 75 seats and the front rows were already filled.  We grabbed seats for ourselves and saved one for Dave, who was coming from work later.  We spent the next hour watching people trickle in, doing some serious people-watching in general and also being totally jealous of the woman who walked in carrying her own 3 foot replica of Beyonce.

The place got mobbed, but I must say the crowd (by and large) were friendly, nice and not stereotypical Boston-style irritating.  (Note: I say by and large because later when we got in line for the signing the guy behind us was a total douche to his wife.  But at least he wasn't being douchy to everyone else in line.)

Dave came in while people were standing in the aisles, sitting on the floor and mobbing the stairs (the room was in the basement level of the bookstore).  The crowd was so nice they didn't even give him a glare when he took the seat I saved for him (and surprisingly, no one asked if they could sit there or gave me a hairy eyeball for saving it). 

At one point I turned to Rachel and said I really had to pee and I kind of wanted to go to the bathroom to see if Jenny was hiding in there (she has anxiety and tells stories of how she'll often avoid crowds by hanging out in the bathroom all night).  But then the moment came and Jenny made her way through the crowd to begin the reading. 

She was totally adorable, humble, sweet and very, very funny.  She read from the book (complete with side notes which were even more funny stories) and took questions from the audience.  It was hilarious.  I started to record a portion, but knew I wouldn't be able to keep the camera steady what with the buckled over laughs and wiping the tears from my eyes from laughing so hard. 

There were easily over 150 people there and after all was said and done, we got in line for the signing.    She was signing upstairs, so those of us with seats actually ended up in the back of the line and the people on the stairs got to go first.  But it was still fabulous and then a manager announced that Jenny would stay until they closed to sign every last book or stuffed mouse, so a lot of people left the line and headed out to get food and whatnot, so that actually made the line move rather quickly.

Rachel, John and I waited (Dave went to get food--it was now past 8 and he hadn't had dinner), continued people watching and eventually wound our way to the front of the line where I got my book signed, a card for Amy (who had bought me the book in the first place), and got my picture taken with Jenny and Copernicus.  It was so much fun.

And Jenny totally signed the card to Amy "Knock, knock, mofo."

I Did Say I'd Get My Own Boat

When Dave and I first started dating, I was living in Central Pennsylvania, in an area that basically existed for two reasons: 1) the college I worked at (and had graduated from); and 2) the Raystown Lake.  The lake is very much a recreational area that attracts lots of people for boating, fishing and other related outdoor activities.  So when Dave was visiting me over the summer, and I needed to up my outdoor activities if I ever planned to keep up with this Mountain Man, we decided to rent a canoe and head out on the lake. 

I don't know why I thought this would be fun.  I was (and still am) hopelessly uncoordinated and not quite interested in being outdoors with the heat and the bugs and canoeing is like real work.  Ug. I even wore Dave's generally infinite patience thin while we struggled to find a cove for our picnic lunch and then of course I was even more unmotivated to not be a complete pain in the ass while we negotiated out way back.  In the end, Dave basically said never again, but well.  We did try again a few years later in a much more relaxed environment (and with a friend so we were on our best behavior).  Then we discovered kayaking would be a far better paddle sport for us, since we could each get out own boat.  That was actually fun.  A couple summers ago we each rented kayaks and headed out on a local river for an afternoon.  Being far more mature and slightly more interested in being outside (despite the bugs and the heat), but still hopelessly uncoordinated, we had a lovely afternoon and have since talked about getting kayaks for ourselves so we could do it more often.

Fast forward to this past Saturday.  Beautiful weather, a long weekend, the unofficial start of summer.  Clearly a perfect day for a little kayak trip.  We'd been hoping to check out a local boat house on a different river a few miles from home, so we looked it up.  The rates were good, but of course if we get a tandem boat, it would be even cheaper.

Me: Yeah, but remember the last time we did tandem?

Dave: But this is different.  Kayaking is easier to do tandem than canoeing.

Me: I don't know, I think I should get my own boat.

Dave: No, it'll be fun.  You'll be fine.

You know that saying about famous last words?  Yeah, insert that here.

We arrived at the South Bridge Boat House to start our trip on the Concord River.  They have single and tandem kayaks as well as canoes for rent, and since it was a great day, they were pretty busy.  We didn't really care since it was just for fun and planned to head up to the Old North Bridge (you know, Revolutionary War, shot heard 'round the world, blah, blah, history, blah), about a mile and a half up river. 

So we started paddling and then I noticed we were drifting to the left.  Apparently this was my fault.  So repeatedly Dave made me stop playing (he didn't actually fire me) so he could straighten us out/get us back on the right side of the river.  When I got permission to play again, we'd be ok for a while, then of course we'd start drifting (again, my fault).  Now, bear in mind, the last time I kayaked was at least 3 years ago and that was my first time.  Also note, Dave did not give me a refresher course in paddling physics despite the fact that he knows I make stuff up when left to my own devices to determine mechanical or physics-related logic.  And I'm almost always "wrong."  (That last bit is in quotes because Dave says I'm wrong about a lot of science-related stuff, but I think he just wants to the science brain in this relationship, so he tells me I'm wrong even when I make a genius statement.)

At some point this whole thing just became comical and while I couldn't stop laughing, I do think Dave was at least mildly amused (I tried several times to take his photo but seeing as how I wasn't interested in flipping the boat over in an attempt to turn around and get a good one, I can't only assume this smile wasn't completely contrived).  I also repeatedly informed him that I had been the one to suggest we each get our own boat, but he was the one that insisted we'd be fine.

So finally, as we approached the Old North Bridge, having avoided any collisions (with other boats--I did try to goose some geese but they flew away) Dave, who was sitting in the back, noticed why we were bearing left and educated me.  And then I noticed that we were bearing right when he paddled, so I made fun of him.  To which he said it was only because he was overcompensating for me but I like to think it just proved we were meant to be together because if I bear to the left and he bears to the right, then together we should be in perfect harmony. 

Except really we weren't.  Instead we literally zigzagged a little over 3 miles round-trip on the Concord River.  Dave said it was exhausting.  I said it was getting our money's worth because we got to see more of the river that way.  When we pulled in to shore and the worker there helped us out, he asked, "How was it?"

Me: He said I have to get my own boat next time.

Cleaning Out

I don't usually make fun of my parents here, but this one was just asking to be blogged about.  And it'll probably be another week until my mom notices this post, so by then it will be far too late.

This past weekend, my sister, Amy, and her family were visiting my parents.  As usually happens when my sister and I visit our parents, she found herself cleaning out their fridge as they tend to not pay attention not care forget about what's in there.  Since Dave and I will be visiting them this weekend, Amy felt compelled to tell me about her findings. The following is our text conversation:

Amy: I'm throwing out cream cheese with a June 6 2010 expiration date from mom's fridge.  You are welcome.

Me: You are a saint.

Amy: What about sweet hot mustard with a date of 9/10/06?  Seriously?  How could that have slipped by us in the past?

Me: That's exactly what I was going to say.  We just did this in January.

Amy: So it has been in the pantry for 5 years?

Me: I don't know which is worse.

Amy: This is all one piece of candy.  Even stuck to the sides of the tin.

Me: Bwahahahahaha.  Thank you.  For real.  Do you think she'd be mad if I blogged about this? ;)

Amy: She has no idea I have done this.  I think it's pretty funny.

Me: So would J.R.  And since she won't have wireless until we get there, it will be a while until she notices.

Amy: Heeheehee...the candies are Harry and David; she can't throw them away.

Me: Yup, that'd be it.  Ooh, what about the rock candy on the window ledge above the island?  Did we toss that yet?

Amy: Dad is in the kitchen right now. I'll check. There's also a tin of Christmas cookies still unopened.  Plastic seal still on it even.

Me: Those may have come from Grandma.  Which means Mom had a chance to toss them but didn't.

Several hours later, I got this update.

Amy: Rock candy is gone.

We tease because we love.  Besides, what else would we talk about if we couldn't poke fun at our mom?  Love you, Mom!

"I Don't Like It"

Last month I got a deal from Living Social for two tickets to the the AppleFest at Wachusett Mountain, including a ride on the chair lift to the top of the mountain.  It sounded like a good way to spend an afternoon, so I bought the tickets and hoped it would be a beautiful day.

Well, yesterday was gorgeous, although windy, and it really was quite lovely to spend sometime outside.  Much of the AppleFest is vendors, crafters and local artisans, but there were some interesting displays, music and the like.  We watched a chainsaw artist work on a bench for the ski lodge.

We also had a chance to check out the Bengal tigers.  Although we were in between shows, it was clear the tigers were pretty stressed out.  Except for the one that decided to lay in the sun and take a nap, they were all pacing and never settled.  It actually made me a little sad, wondering what they must be going through.

They had a German buffet but we ended up passing on it because Dave is afraid of sauerkraut.  Instead we saw the giant pumpkins brought in for the Great Pumpkin Weigh-in.  Imagine how many pies, breads and cookies I could make with this thing!

We also saw a father and son juggling act.  They were pretty good (better than I would be) and the one trick that the father messed up on, he insisted on doing right, so it was nice to see someone admit their mistakes.  He's on a balance board with a cup of water on his head juggling knives in the wind. 

Eventually we wandered over to the ski lift and got on.  And that's when I remembered, I don't like heights and prefer to have my feet safely planted on the ground.  I don't ski, so I've never had a reason to be on a ski lift before.  Dave skis this mountain pretty often and clearly had no issues.  The video pretty much says it all.

We got off a the top to check out the view.  We've hiked up here before and there were an awful lot of hikers there already. 

It was a gorgeous day, despite the wind on top whipping pretty good.  The view was relatively clear, and although we were 50 miles away from Boston, we could still make out the skyline on the horizon.  That is if I had been able to see the screen on my camera when I took this shot.  It's still a beautiful day though.

Then came the fun part.  Taking the chair lift back down the mountain.  At least going up I felt like the ground was getting closer to me.  Going down wasn't as nice (and I think it's pretty clear that going up wasn't pleasant either).  It occurred to Dave that he'd never gone down a ski lift either, but he certainly didn't seem to mind.

Despite being in sheer terror for part of the day, it was a nice event and we had a pretty good time.  We shared a homemade raspberry turnover that was delicious and I was even able to pick up some maple sugar for some cookies I want to make.

But no, even if I had the coordination and desire to ski or snowboard, I don't think I'll be getting on a ski lift anytime soon.

The Best Random Day Trip EVER

When I realized how far up into Vermont we would have to drive to get Lizzy to her new home, I started wondering what else we could do in that direction to make the trip a little more palatable.  So I looked at the map and I thought about places and things in Vermont that Dave and I like and tried to find some overlap.  Lo and behold, we lucked out.

Being a novice baker, I have been wanting to visit King Arthur Flour, ideally for a class, but even just to go to the bakery and store.  Luckily King Arthur Flour was minutes off the interstate we used to get up through Vermont.  And better still, the Harpoon Brewery was only about 20 minutes from King Arthur Flour, a few minutes off the same interstate, a little further south. Since Harpoon is Dave's favorite beer, I knew we would have to stop.

While driving towards Lizzy's new home, I mentioned to Dave that we would have to stop at a roadside stand of some sort to get real Vermont maple syrup.  As a huge maple syrup fan (I haven't been able to buy anything other than the real stuff since we moved in together), he agreed and we kept our eyes peeled for the right place.

About 15 minutes from our first destination, Lizzy's forever family, we spotted a sign on the side of the highway for Cabot Creamery, indicating it was only 5 miles away.  We agreed we should stop and see what it was like.  So after leaving Lizzy with her new family, we got back in the car and headed to Cabot, VT.  The town is quite quaint and soon we found the Cabot Creamery, including a factory store.

We went inside and started looking at all the local Vermont goodies and then Dave noticed that they offered a tour.  Since it was about to start and was only $2 per person, we joined the group.  The tour started with a short film noting the history of the Cabot Creamery and farm co-op.  It was pretty cool to learn how they started, the quality they require of their farmers and what they do with all the milk, curd and byproduct.  They actually return the water drained off the cheese to the farm fields, putting nutrients back in the soil, and then of course the cows are eating that naturally enhanced grass.

Then our tour guide Tori told us all about the different cheese products and types they make, including some limited items that are only available close to the creamery.  She was very thorough--I had no idea they were so specialized in certain types of cheddar.  She then took us a on a quick trip through the plant, showing us the machines that make cheddar cheese (from curd to package) and another machine that, at the time, was filling 16 ounce packages of sour cream.  The video actually showed us one of the machines, the one that lifts the finished boxes onto the pallets.  I had to comment on it when Tori asked if their were questions because it was painted like a cow. (I asked who painted it.  She said the company that made it sent it like that.  How funny is that?) So of course when we saw RoboCow, I had to snap a picture.

After the tour we went back to the store to sample some of the cheeses.  We tried to behave ourselves since we hadn't yet had lunch, but I did have to get a second taste of the Buffalo Wing Cheddar and Dave was amazed at the limited batch of Classic Vermont Vintage Cheddar.  So of course we had to get both.  And then a few more.  We could have done a lot worse, but ultimately this was our haul.

I don't know if it was the lack of food or just being happy from finding a random place to stop, but outside I goofed off a little.

Moo.

We got back in the car, quickly got back on our route and decided it was time to stop for real Vermont maple syrup.  We'd passed a sugar house on the way up, so when we came near it again we pulled in and got exactly what we wanted.  The sugar house itself wasn't very exciting, but we knew it was the type of place where we would get "the good stuff."

Now it was time for me to get excited.  We were on our way to King Arthur Flour.  In true Vermont fashion, this company is 100% employee owned and really turns out some quality products.  Their recipes are amazing and I understand they have wonderful classes.  Ideally, I'd like to take a class there sometime, but stopped by the store was a fun introduction. 

King Arthur Flour is undergoing a huge expansion, building up their Baking School, store and bakery, among other things  The project will be done sometime next summer.  Guess I'll be holding off on that class until then!

Inside the store, I found myself completely mesmerized by all the different ingredients and tools. all of the thoughts running through my mind of what I could potential make with some many tasty morsels.  Dave was very patient with me as I slowly and methodically went around the store (literally around--the store is a giant circle!), placing things in my basket.   I'd warned Dave that I planned to fill my basket, but then promised to go back through it and buy only the things I wanted most.  Which I did.  My final purchase was only a fraction of all of my wants.

Indeed there actually were specific items I knew I was going to purchase, like Fiori di Sicilia, an extract-like flavoring that gives a unique "secret" ingredient flavor.  I also ended up getting maple flavoring and cinnamon oil, among a few other things.  Items that did not make the cut were the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion cookbook and the mini cheesecake pan, but not I have a reason to go back.  On the plus side, they were running a special that day so I got 15% off my total purchase, which was like getting the cinnamon oil for free!


Happy with my King Arthur Flour swag, we got back in the car and headed toward the Harpoon Brewery.  Dave had been there in July for their BBQ festival with his friends Ben and Nick.  They'd gotten a brief tour, had some beer and ate some good food.  Dave asked if I wanted to do the tour, but I wasn't sure if they would be offering one, based on the information in the pamphlet I'd picked up at the Visitor's Center that morning.  We'd planned on grabbing a bite to eat since they have a pub-style restaurant and we were famished.  We'd left around 8:30 in the morning and other than the stop for nibbles of cheese at Cabot, the only other sustenance we'd had was a bag of peanut butter M&Ms.  

Inside Harpoon, Dave used the facilities and I started poking around the store with all the hats, T-shirts and what not.  I was just about to go to the hostess stand and give our name for a table when I heard a woman holler to the crowd that anyone going on the tour should line up at the door.  I hesitated, not sure if I should hurry and buy tickets for the tour or if Dave wasn't interested.  Just then he came out and I told him the tour was about to begin and did he want to go.  So we ran over to the register, got tickets and headed to the door.  They carded us, gave us tasting glasses (that's always a good sign) and the tour began.  Dave's tour back in July was only an abbreviated version, so this was definitely a treat. 

I'd like to stop for a minute and appreciate our tour guide who, while admittedly having trouble with math at the moment, almost didn't give me a glass because she didn't think I was 21.  And then realized by birth year was 1980, not 1990, and that even if it was, since my birthday is in February, I'd be 21 anyway.  Looking back, I kind of appreciated it because when I'm with Dave I never get carded at all, let along questioned about actually being over 20.


Cat and Dan, our tour guides, gave us an amazing tour.  Having gone on a brewery tour before, we kinda knew how beer was made, but the history of Harpoon and the unique things they do to make their beers was pretty cool.  Local farmers actually take the brewery's used mash for feed for local cattle (no wonder the cheese tastes so good up there!).  Plus Cat bubbled over with personality and energy and you just know she loves her job.  Along the way we had some samples.  First was a swig of unfiltered IPA.  IPA is Dave's absolute favorite, but I usually don't care for it.  But this unfiltered stuff was great.  And super cold.  Cold beer is happy beer.


Cat had filled a pitcher of the unfiltered IPA and then started given about 2 ounce pours to everyone.  With beer still left in the pitcher, she started handing out seconds.  Who was the first person she refilled?  Dave, of course.  There were probably 15-18 people in our tour, and there was a couple standing near us. The woman leaned over to Dave and asked him if he liked IPA.  He said yes and she asked him if he wanted hers--she hadn't tasted it because she knows she doesn't like it, so she just poured it in his glass.  Dave made a beer friend!

Later on in the tour, Cat brought us another sample, this time of the filtered IPA.  And yes, the entire scenario I outlined above was repeated.  Exactly.  At this point Dave had 6 tastings to my 2.  Of his favorite beer.  Lucky duck.

Finally, the tour concluded with a sampling frenzy as Cat described the 10 or so beers they had on tap at the moment and Dan offering to pour us as many samples as we'd like to try.  I tasted the UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen and the UFO Pumpkin.  Both were super yummy, and as Cat described, the pumpkin tasted like "liquid pumpkin pie."  Dave tried the 100 Barrell Oak Aged Dunkel and the Leviathan Imperial IPA, and another one I was forgetting.  Clearly he had so much beer, I was starting to forget things.  Or it could have been the fact that in 8 hours I'd only eaten cheese and candy.  One of those.

So to the pub we went!  The restaurant is the Riverbend Taps and Beer Garden and the food is classic pub fare of burgers, sandwiches and fried things.  We each ordered UFO Pumpkins and then tucked into an appetizer of chicken tenders served with amazing french fries and an awesome ranch dressing.  Again, in true Vermont fashion, ingredients are local where possible and out sandwiches were actually served on King Arthur Flour bread.  Everything was delicious and a leisurely dinner was truly was the perfect way to end the day.  With stomachs filled and our beer buzz subsided, we headed back home.


So let's recap: In a little over 12 hours, we drove to Vermont, adopted out dog to a wonderful family, visited a creamery for a tour and tasting, got real Vermont syrup, visited the King Arthur Flour factory for perfect baking ingredients, toured the Harpoon brewery and got lots of samples and a great dinner.  Yeah, I'd say that's not bad for a random road trip.

Every Dog Deserves a Treat

Last weekend I was baking and ended up using the last bit of peanut butter in the jar.  Of course, when talking about peanut butter, that means there's always still more in the jar, but just really tough to get all the last bits out of the jar without getting your hand stuck in it and peanut butter all over your hand. 

As the resident dog, Lizzy has the privilege of "cleaning" the spatulas used for peanut butter when I'm baking.  It's only fair since the other dogs got to have it.  Having come to the end of the jar, I did what any well-minded dog lover would do. 

I gave the empty jar to the dog.

 

She was pretty happy.  Even when Dave went outside, she kind of looked up and then decided she was too busy and interested in her jar than to follow him. 

Guess we know where he stands.

Rock Climbing

A few weeks ago, I got an email from Living Social Adventures for a Rock Climbing and BBQ night.  They had a few nights and times and I thought it would be a fun evening out for Dave and I.  Dave used to rock climb a lot in college (does this really surprise you?) but I only went once about 10 years ago and did not have a good time (I didn't go with Dave).  However, I was up for the challenge.  Plus, at the end of it all, I would get a tasty dinner from Blue Ribbon BBQ, the best BBQ joint in the area (which isn't saying much considering we went on a BBQ bender while in North Carolina, but it was still good food).

Saturday late afternoon we made our way to MetroRock, but we didn't know exactly what to expect.  The email confirmation said we'd be provided with equipment, so we just wore comfy clothes and sneakers.  The beginning was a little disorganized. They probably had about 50 participants and at the designated time to begin, they just said, "Follow the person in the yellow MetroRock or the grey Living Social T-shirt."  So all 50 of us followed the first person in the yellow shirt we saw walking with harnesses in her hand.  Turns out she only had 3 of said harnesses.  I was confused.

And then more yellow and grey T-shirt clad people began appearing and the lines started to shorten.  Slowly I began to understand.  We weren't there to learn to rock climb--we were there just to run up the walls.  Each T-shirted staff member would belay the participant, and we would cycle through the allotted harnesses at that particular climb, and then move onto another staff person.  It took a while to figure it out, but once we did it made more sense.  Although I did question why they sold more slots than they had harnesses available.

On the first climb, I made it up to the top without too much problem.  Admittedly, it was a pretty easy climb.  Although when I got to the top I did remember that I'm not a huge fan of heights.  Oops.  Dave of course did very well, since he actually knows what he's doing.  (Please excuse the blurry pictures. I forgot the camera and had to go with the phone for these.)

The second wall we climbed was tougher.  It was almost twice as tall as the first and took a sharp right turn partway up, so if you didn't use the right path or got yourself twisted, it'd be tough to stretch over to the right course and get to the top.  I made it most of the way up before my legs started shaking in fear.  From the floor Dave and the staff person were cheering me on, encouraging me to just stand up on that leg to reach the next hold.  Easier said than done.  I would be more confident standing on that leg if it wasn't shaking so bad I thought it would give out.  But I made it and although I had to do a little stretch jump at the end to hit the target, I still made it all the way up.

After a short break, we found another wall that didn't seem too scary. Technically there were two logical routes to take, one being very short, the other taller and more tricky that would require jumping from one wall to another. 

Small world story: Dave and I were standing in line and two women were behind us. Dave had on a Fat Heads T-shirt (bar in Pittsburgh) and one of the women asked if he was from Pittsburgh. He said no, but I was.  Turns out I went to middle school with this chick.  She was a year ahead of me and we even road the bus together.  Neither of us recognized each other's names, but we played the name game of who you know and knew a bunch of people in common.  How weird is that?  I can go to Pittsburgh and never run into anyone I know.  But at a random rock gym outside of Boston I come across someone I apparently went to school with.

Dave let me go first and I made it up the short one quickly, so I decided to go for the big one.  I made it over to the other wall and slowly and thoughtfully climbed the big one.  I was doing reasonably well when I went to grab the next hold and it moved on me.  AHHH!  Dave hollered that I was doing good and I looked down (WHY???) and told him that it moved on me. It made me nervous to continue to use that hold, but I needed it, so I persevered.  I was pretty close to the top (although going slowly on shaky legs) and then I just had to hang out for a while.  The holds were not in a useful place anymore.  And because I'm short, I didn't have the wingspan to stretch.  I made to attempts to jump and hit the target, but failed at both.  I needed to hit the next hold.  So I chalked up, and gave it my all.  I was able to grab the next hold, which was super small, just long enough to propel myself to the target.  Not easy.  Dave went up and agreed that it was a reasonable course until you got to the top and had to use a lot of strength to finish.

We started watching some people doing more challenging climbs and came to an area that apparently was challenging everyone.  As we got there, a guy went up and became the first one to make it to the top during our session.  The difficulty was an overhang at the beginning that you needed to get over and then climb across the wall, away from the target, and then work your way back.  A few more people went, some successful and others not so much.  I convinced Dave to do it, though.  (I knew I would never be able to figure out how to get around the overhang.)

Dave was pretty methodical about his path and he did really well.  He wasn't the fastest, but he figured it out and didn't get twisted or have to backtrack like a few other people did.

After the last climb, we went up to get dinner.  They didn't have any seating, so we got our BBQ and beer and pulled up a piece of floor to chow down.  The food was good, which was a relief considering the amazing BBQ we'd had the week before.  And we were starving because it was already about 2 hours pas tour normal dinner time, adding to that the activity portion of the evening.

Overall we had a really good time.  It was something completely different for us and we probably wouldn't have done it had I not seen the deal.  It also encouraged me to get back to working out.  There's no excuse to being this sore after only 3 climbs!