Mar 22, 2017

I got a job at Memorial and I really didn't want to go in so early, but it ended up not being too bad. I thought about taking a run after work, but I figured I should give my legs a little break after 5 days skiing. I took a nap or tried to and then we picked up Chuck and Alycia and went to The Abbaye for Firestone Walker's U Buy the Glass Night. Chuck and I parked and walked back from the Piazza lot. The beers were all fantastic. I loved the Pilsner, 31, Double Barrel Ale, and Easy Jack. Unfortunately we didn't have a chance to have Union Jack because it kicked.

Once the event was over and we finished our delicious cheesesteak and vegan wings along with our last beers poured after it finished we decided to go over to The Foodery and get a few bottles and cans to drink. We had to get a Union Jack since we missed out. We also got a Crunch chocolate PB Porter from Manayunk brewing and hung out there for a while longer. On our way home we may have passed a car on 55 on the right shoulder while a tractor trailer passed on the left. No big deal.

Mar 21, 2017

I went down to swim in the morning as Ryan slept in. I love swimming early in the day. I hopped in the hot tub for a short time afterward then headed back upstairs to get a shower and dress up for more skiing!

We started off in the trees and spent most of the day hopping between different sections of glades. We filmed each other a few times and were both feeling quite fast and confident overall. We did get ourselves into one place that we probably shouldn't have and had to slowly find our way down.

By the end of the day it had started snowing and the whole mountain was serene and beautiful. We planned on leaving but we ended up staying another hour or so just because we were having so much fun doing the jumps and filming each other on them. It was a perfect ending to our trip.

On the way home we stopped in Worcester at Belmont Vegetarian to get the medley of delicious food. I planned on stopping at Edge of the Woods in Connecticut again, thinking I would finally get there on time, but even though I called to confirm the deli was closed when I called back to order. I was so annoyed.

We stopped at Two Roads Brewing when we were in the area so I could have a flight and eat the rest of my leftovers since I didn't get my Reuben. For once some of their small batch beers were not great, but the Conntucky Lightning bourbon barrel-aged beer was great. We hopped back on the highway and finished the long drive home in good time.

Mar 20, 2017

One of the great things about staying at the Mt. Washington Hotel is that we could put all our ski gear on in our room, our boots on in the lobby, grab our skis out of the little holding area downstairs, and hop on our two-minute shuttle over to the resort. We left about 45 minutes before the lifts opened and we still sat around for a while waiting. We thought we'd be on the first chair but this couple beat us to it. Turns out it doesn't really matter anyway. Elite people get to go up early.

We still got ourselves a freshly groomed trail that no one else had skied on yet. It was so nice. We spent the whole day skiing trails with no wait at all for lift lines. Weekdays are the days to go. It was such a wonderful change of pace. The snow was pretty great for the most part and we had the place to ourselves. We got into the trees finally and eased into it, but by the end of the day we were feeling really confident.

We did a run with jumps on it and tried them out a few times. We went down Granny's Grundle and Herb's Secret a couple times which was a nice assault to the leg muscles. Overall it was a really great day and we were worn out by mid afternoon. The view was great as well. The sun was out and the sky was blue all day long.

When we got back to the hotel we headed right for the hot tub. It was nice for a little bit, but then others joined in and started chatting. It was a little awkward, but the guy told us about the outdoor pool so that was a nice tip.

The outdoor "heated" pool wasn't so warm, but we stayed in and walked around for a little bit mostly for the novelty. The coldest part was getting out in the chilly air while we were wet. Luckily we could duck into the pool house to dry off and put on our robes.

We felt like pizza so we drove a few minutes down the road to the town only to find out the pizza place was closed. Then we found another pizza place which wasn't there anymore. We ended up driving a half hour to Littleton where there was a nice little downtown area and a beautiful covered bridge over a frozen, snowy river scene with the cute little town behind it. We got our pizza and walked across the bridge enjoying the nice day and the late day sunlight.

The red building with the water mill on it is Schilling Beer Co. We went in and tried a few samples of decent beers and then we headed back to the hotel.

We went back outside behind the hotel to enjoy the fire pits and encountered a strange woman who kept telling us that we just missed them making s'mores and she could go inside and get some if we really wanted to. She eventually left and we went to the bigger fire pit because it was getting chilly.

We spent the rest of our night playing SnipperClips in the lobby and hanging around the room in our robes trying to get the perfect gangsta picture. I think we got it. It felt too soon to already be leaving our lavish accommodations, but we packed up our stuff anyway to be ready to leave in the morning then relaxed in bed. It felt like a really long day in a great way.

Mar 19, 2017

This is the main memory I have of Okemo for the day. The lines were crazy at a lot of the lifts. We only took the bubble lift once because the second time we got in the line we bailed and went to get lunch instead. 

It was another beautiful day and the lines forced us to go do trails that we had never done before or didn't remember too well. We had fun once we got on the lifts and we spent the day choosing the trails with the least amount of people on them. The snow was really great here for some reason though so that was nice.

We left Okemo headed for New Hampshire and stopped at Worthy Kitchen for lunch. I got a mac and cheese plate and started sampling beers. They had a few beers from Hill Farmstead which were quite good as well as Lawson's Finest Double IPA which was nice to try after hearing so much about it. My definite favorite was Little Umbrellas by Four Quarters. It was a coconut pineapple sour and it was fantastic. I want more right now.

When we got to The Lodge at Bretton Woods we sat and waited for the customer in front of us before being told that the hotel was closing the next day and we had been moved to the hotel across the street. That hotel is the Mount Washington Hotel and Resort. Quite a huge upgrade. I'm not sure of the price difference, and we would have had access to most of the amenities there anyway, but being able to stay there was definitely nice.

As we arrived the sunset was coloring Mount Washington and the Presidential Range pink. It was an amazingly gorgeous scene from our hotel porch balcony. We spent the night in high spirits enjoying our room and exploring the hotel a bit. I spent a little time in the indoor pool and hot tub before retiring to the room for the rest of the evening. The bed was so comfortable that it was easy to fall asleep.

Mar 18, 2017

We got up and got ready for skiing at Stratton as I took phone calls from photographers in Jacksonville doing the Insane Inflatable 5K. Once that was all taken care of we took the winding roads up to the resort and got to skiing. It was really crowded, but we didn't end up waiting in too many lines. We took the gondola a couple times, but mostly avoided it. The weather was amazingly perfect. Blue skies and not too cold. The snow wasn't perfect, but it was better than Mount Snow. We had a great day of skiing.

We went back to the hotel and relaxed for a while. It felt good to just lie in bed after skiing. We had gotten done early so it was another day with extra time. We went to Hermit Thrush Brewery a little later and did a flight of all of their beers. There were a few new ones, but the Party Guy was my favorite of them. Everything was quite good as always (except the super boozy quad) and the Truthy Cardinal barrel-aged tripel was amazing. I wish it wasn't so pricy to get cans.

We walked down to the outdoor store and I got a new belt. We went next door to Mocha Joe's where I got a green tea ginger maple drink that was amazing. This isn't that. This is Ryan's drink. I'm sure it was good but probably not as good as mine. We went back to our hotel for the night and watched The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror that we always quote with "The Shinning" and the time travel segment. It made me want to go back and watch more of the old episodes.

Mar 17, 2017

Ryan and I got up and ready for skiing at Mount Snow for the first time. The lodge was crazy packed because of the $17 lift ticket St. Patrick's Day extravaganza. The snow was patchy and rough and overall the trails were not super fun. We got used to the iciness and avoiding patches of grass and rocks, but after a few hours of leg-pounding ice trails we decided that we had our $17 worth and headed out early.

It felt a little strange being done skiing so early, but we made use of our time dropping off our skis to get waxed and sharpened then went to Superfresh for lunch. It took a really long time to get our food, enough that I had to go feed the meter. When I came back my kimchi quesadilla was there and it was delicious. I got a vegan twix bar for dessert that was also fantastic.

We went back to the hotel for a little bit before heading back to town to pick up our skis and then went to Whetstone Station Brewery for dinner. I got a flight and Ryan got himself a beer. I told him to get the sour because it's closest to kombucha. He didn't love it, but he drank it. A true beer drinker.

The beers were pretty good, but the bean burger was amazing. I would go back for the food before the drinks. We went back to our hotel for the night and played SnipperClips on his Switch. We got to bed pretty early in preparation for another day of skiing.

Mar 16, 2017

I worked what I thought could be my last day at Memorial in a computer class. It was an easy day and I thought I'd have off last block and be able to leave early for Vermont. What actually ended up happening was I had to cover the full last block with another new teacher who was pretty awkward. Ryan and I packed up my car and got on the road around 3 headed north. The drive up wasn't bad at all. It couldn't be worse than the last time we went up in January through a horrible snowstorm and the 5.5 hour drive took about 10 hours. I didn't take any photos as I was driving in the dark most of the time, but we made decent time with only a few rest stops and got to our Super 8 in Brattleboro to check in over the icy sidewalks and chunky parking lot.

Mar 15, 2017

I worked at Memorial for the music/choir class, where I didn't do much of anything once I handed out worksheets. I spent my day posting ads on Craigslist trying to sell some things before we leave. I had to deal with an idiot girl who tried to take someone else's completed paper to copy right at the end of the day. I came home and got my ski stuff together and did laundry before taking a nap. I went to Becca's later to cook a quinoa dish so I'd have food for the long weekend and then I came home and called it a night.

Mar 14, 2017

I worked at Memorial in an English class for the day. It was an easy day and it went pretty quickly. After work I went to Ryan's to play Aladdin for SNES and plan our ski trip. Aladdin was a lot of fun but much shorter than I remember. That happens a lot with older games. We got all our hotels booked and lift tickets purchased so we are ready to go.

I went to Becca's where we got the cooking underway. We made eggplant parm pizzas again. They never get old. They take quite a while to make, but they're so good. The olives, jalapenos, and artichokes really make them so much better. We ate and watched a couple episodes of the new season of Love before an early bedtime.

Mar 13, 2017

I had an easy day at Silver Run covering meetings. My first meeting was about 10 minutes and then I had off for almost 3 hours. I had another half hour meeting then an hour lunch before going back for a little over an hour to finish my day. For all the days I complain about work, these ones make up for it. I went right to PT from work and went through the motions, adding in a rice exercise that was surprisingly challenging. I went to Becca's later to watch Walking Dead before bed as we awaited the snowstorm that would never come.

Mar 12, 2017

Becca and I decided to head to Philly and figure out our day as we went. We started off at Sedgley playing a round in the cold. We played 9 holes by ourselves and as we started the back a guy pulled up and asked to play with us. He was nice, if a little talkative, but we had a good time. We decided to call it after hole 18 and went to get a coffee at Lucky Goat. 

While we warmed ourselves on a hot beverage we drove toward cold ones at Tired Hands. We started at the original brewery where we had a couple of amazing saisons, Blue Eyed Soul and Lord Invader, as well as a couple others before we headed over to the Fermentaria. The MimosaHands orange juice IPA was awesome and refreshing. They had a lot of good beers here.

The Rust & Decay II sour brown was awesome and there were a handful of tasty IPAs on tap. We went back up the hill for a couple glasses of the beers we started with and a plate of incredible curry potato salad to finish off our afternoon.

We had both independently thought of going to Loco Pez so that kind of inspired our trip to Philly in the first place. We got ourselves a seat at the bar, ordered our beers and nacho waffle fries (potachos *tm*) and enjoyed a slow time. The potachos were incredible of course. I nursed my Neshaminy Creek a bit since it was my last beer of the night and we ended up not getting charged for our beers anyway. Not a bad end to the day.

Mar 11, 2017

I got to the Insane Inflatable 5K early and got things set up. I had to rig up pieces of a tripod to hold the studio lights, but I got everything working. The photographers showed up and we walked the course to figure out what obstacles to shoot. There weren't a lot of great options unfortunately. This isn't like the ROC Race. Much smaller and less unique obstacles. We found the best places we could and I went back to start shooting the studio. I got busy in the afternoon, but it was still somewhat slow overall. The day went by pretty quickly and I was happy to be done.

After I got some food from Tropical Smoothie Cafe and uploaded the photos I went to the International Disc Golf Center at Wildwood Park north of Augusta. The Pro Shop was full of disc golf memorabilia and statues, discs, and photos. It was kind of cool to be in a place that had so much stuff related to the sport. The guy at the desk was really great and helpful too.

He suggested I play the Ed "Steady" Headrick course first. It was a great course with elevation changes, water hazards, and all types of shots around trees. I put my disc in the water shoot downhill over a piece of the lake. I thought it was gone for good, but I managed to get it back with a log and walking my hands into the deep mud.

When I got done under an hour he suggested playing the back nine of each of the other courses to get a little taste of everything. I played the back of Warner first, which was a lot of up and down hills, tight shots, and over a deep valley with a stream. I like this course a lot too. The Jackson course wasn't quite as hilly, but several holes threw over a treacherous ravine that I ended up in only once somehow. Some of the shots were on really steep edges. I finished up early, went to get myself a buffalo chik'n wrap and an amazing smoothie for dinner, dropped off my flash drive at the FedEx store and then headed to the tiny Augusta Regional Airport. My flights home weren't bad. We actually landed early, but the luggage took over twenty minutes to arrive and then we waited almost forty for the economy parking shuttle. I wasn't happy by that point, but I was really happy to be home and going to bed.

Mar 10, 2017

I started my morning driving through rain and traffic to get to the airport. It's a good thing I left early. Once I got on the plane I thought we were good to go, but we had to wait in line to get de-iced before we could take off. The whole flight I thought I was going to miss my connection. I got to the next gate in Charlotte just in time-- if they were leaving on time. It turned out that flight was delayed for mechanical work so I was fine. I got to Augusta a little late but without issue. 

My visit to the course for Insane Inflatable 5K went quickly and easily so I was able to grab some food and head right for the Hippodrome disc golf complex. I started out not loving the Old Glory course since the holes were not obviously laid out and there was a lot of artificial OB. A few holes in everything became much easier to follow and a lot more interesting. This hole that's sunken in the ground was one of my favorites.

I liked this hole on a hill too. There were a few holes that were hanging or hung up in a fun way. There was another drop-off island hole in the middle that was fun. One of the holes even had a bullpen fence around it. It was really weird and confusing, but good for them for finding novel ways to make unique shots.

Once I finished that course on hole 19, which features a bell tower with a basket hanging in it and a bell to ring when you finish. I started on the Hogback course right away to use as much daylight as I could. It was a much shorter and more traditional course with tight, wooded holes. It also featured this giant basket along the edge that you can see from the highway.

I liked this course as well, but after playing the first one I was in the mood for more unusual holes. Hogback does feature a lot of great terrain and risk/reward dropoff shots in the ravine. I put more than a couple discs down the sides of the steep ravine in this area. I was surprised that it was still light at 6:30 when I was finishing up. I think I made the most of the day.

The next stop was Savannah Brewing where I had to buy a little glass for $14 which I could get 6 pours in. Not too bad, but I wouldn't want to do it every time I went. The space is really great and open, with lots of tables and outdoor games. Everyone was really friendly and the pilsner and wheat beer were amazing. The other beers were just okay, but I think they have great potential. After my samples I went back to my hotel and got some things ready for the race then got myself to sleep at a reasonable time.

Mar 9, 2017

I worked at Memorial in an English class for the day. It went pretty well, and I had a lot of free time while the students took a test. After work Becca and I went to Parvin for a run, but I was so full from eating shortly before that I was going slow and not feeling it. We ran two miles and then stopped to walk the rest of the way. It was nice to just walk.

We went to the Pitman breweries later, hoping Kelly Green would have the coffee stout again, but we were disappointed to find out they didn't have it and the place next door was closed. I looked on PhillyTapFinder and found that Bainbridge Barrel House had several coffee beers on so we headed right for there after picking up a slice from Blackbird. We had some great beers, some not as great beers, but quite a few expensive beers. The Neshaminy Creek Coffee JAWN was probably my favorite. There really aren't enough coffee IPAs out there.

We got to the Barbary a little later than I wanted to, but the party was in full swing at Through Being Cool so I was quickly enjoying myself. I was enjoying myself too much to be able to leave before it was basically over at 2am. I'm glad we stayed.