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.