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 5, 2017

Becca and I headed out early to Jack Frost. I got my books on surprisingly easy and went out to get my lift ticket only to be approached by not one but two people trying to sell me tickets right at the window. Both were ushered away by security people, but I followed one of them into the lodge and got a ticket from her saving $18. Whatever works. The mountain is incredibly small. I was surprised that I was already at the bottom when I did a blue run to start off. Becca and I did a couple of the baby greens and they were like nothing I'd ever seen. I could see the bottom of the lift from the "top" of the hill. We had to stop doing that quickly.

We got on longer greens and blues pretty quickly and Becca did really well. We did more blues and it wasn't long before I convinced her to go on a diamond. She fell once, but not because of skiing badly, so she was more confident about her ability. I was really surprised at how quickly she picked it up and improved. We met up with the others and Laura after a while to ski with them for a bit. We went inside for some food and then spent the rest of the day on blues and diamonds. It was more fun than I expected, but we were ready to go by mid-afternoon.

On our way home we decided it was too nice to not stop for disc golf at Little Lehigh Parkway. It was a nice way to end the day outside and there wasn't really anyone else there. I also found two discs on the course.

We hit Wegman's for a nice dinner from the hot bar and then went to Vegan Treats, of course. The ice cream was hazelnut and chocolate. So amazing. We also got a couple of the cookies for later.

One last stop before heading home was Sterling Pig Brewery. We had them at the Abbaye's event a couple months ago so we wanted to try more. The space was pretty nice and the beer was good. The lager was one of the best, but everything was pretty good. There was also a local cider on tap which was awesome as well. The bartender was really nice and she talked to us about other local places. This is definitely a great place and the bar is set up with big open air windows that could be opened in warm weather. It was a nice last stop.

Jan 10, 2017

Our last day wasn't as bad packing up as I expected. We had everything in the car and ready to go pretty quickly. I struck out on getting a bagel because we were heading in a different direction to Okemo, but it was a nice drive on different roads. We got to Okemo and put our gear on and headed out for our last day on the trip.

The weather could not have been better for the morning. The sky was blue, it was warm, and we were happy. Besides the $5 fee for our RFID cards and a short issues at the first gate with them, we were having a great time. We went down some of our favorites and found some other that we didn't remember as well. It got a little colder starting in the early afternoon and we went in for a lunch break.

We didn't stay in as long as the other days, and when we went back out it was still quite cold. We spent the rest of the day hitting as many trails as we could before the lifts stopped moving and then bid the mountain farewell. It was a great last day of skiing and then the drive home was fast and without snow, which was a concern. It rained a bit, but overall we were moving quickly. It couldn't have been worse than the drive up. We had fun listening to 80s music and The Beach Boys. It didn't feel like a 6 hour drive, and it was good to be home.

Jan 9, 2017

We had a little slower start in the morning getting ready going to the grocery store so I could get some hummus and then to get a bagel to eat on the way with it. The drive seemed longer, but it was much clearer than the way home last night. We got there and got ready inside since there were so many less people that we could park right next to the lodge.

We got out on the mountain and skied some of the same trails before venturing off to the other side of again to see if we could get anywhere new. We went there for a short time and raced down one of the green routes once or twice before deciding to go back over toward the gondola with everyone else.

We did a few new trails and found a fun double diamond area that was very hilly and ungroomed to ski. We both fell on it once in different places, but I wish we had done that more. We did one glade, but it was mostly open and a little icy so it wasn't something we wanted to do more. We had one group of people in the gondola ask us if they could pop a window to smoke a joint. I politely declined. We finished on a good run and hit the road in clear conditions.

Superfresh Cafe closed really early so we couldn't go there, but we went to another place and I got a good quinoa bowl. I made another stop at the brewery for another small tasting of the delicious sours before we came back to the hotel for the night. We played some Nintendo games and finally finished the annoying Ninja Turtles 3 that we started a while ago. We played Blades of Steel and a couple other games to cleanse our palate after that. It was a good way to kill time before bed. Last night here!

Jan 8, 2017

Ryan and I got up and, after briefly considering taking a lazy day after our long drive, we got on the road to Stratton. The roads were fine in the morning and I think we were both ready to get on the slopes. After the usual fun of putting our boots on at the car we caught the lift bus up to the resort to get our tickets.

The weather was perfect. The sun was out and it was cold but not windy. Our first runs were fun and then we headed to the other side of the mountain where things turned very cold, especially on the lift. The snow-making didn't help matters there. We took a couple of short breaks and decided to head back to the other side to get food.

The trees at the top of the mountain were so beautiful covered in ice and snow. I couldn't capture them all the way I wanted to, but I'm going to try tomorrow. Some of them were just icy and others had these thick layers of snow hanging from each branch making them look heavy and wise. I love the imagery, but I hate that the environment is so inhospitable.

We had a good lunch of soup in bread bowls for a steep price before I went out to get my other face mask and hit the trails again. The other mask made all the difference. Also taking the gondola and not the open-air lift probably helped. We spent the rest of the day on that side of the mountain exploring trails until it was almost time to go. We found a diamond we liked a lot called Upper/Lower Spruce and decided to do it twice to end the day on that good note.

The Thai place we went to for dinner was right next door to Hermit Thrush Brewery so I stopped in to try their sours. Everything I had was really good. It was great to have a flight of only sours that exceeded my expectations. Some of the non-aged beers weren't as amazing, but it's not fair after trying my favorite style to judge those ones. They seemed really good too. I left with a mixed 4-pack of cans and a desire to go back again very soon.

We went next door to Thai Bamboo and each got curry that we had been thinking about all day. It was a little pricy, but the food was really good. We also had a pretty view of this outside the window by our table as it snowed lightly. The drive to the hotel was careful and slow on the snowy roads, but we made it after navigating around some steep hills. It's early bedtimes and drying out facemasks now.

Mar 10, 2014

We decided we wanted to get the most out of our last day before we headed home, so the plan was the get up early and get right on the slopes. Well, it took a little longer to get out of bed at first, and then once we got to Attitash and I was putting on my ski boots... well, I only got one on. It's always a pain in the ass getting them on, but not like this. I ended up walking to the lodge with one shoe on.

I took my boot to the rental shop where a nice guy asked me if I had left them in the car overnight. Yes, I had. And the cold shrinks them. He offered me a hairdryer to warm up the plastic. Sure enough, as soon as it had warmed up a bit it slipped right on. Amazing. A good trick for the future.

We finally got up out on the mountain and there was almost no one there! Mondays are great! We didn't wait in line for the lift all day. We did a bunch of trails on Attitash and then gave Bear Mountain another shot. We even found a little downhill trail to get to a lift so we avoided the long flat section. It was definitely less icy than on Saturday, so we did the bigger trails on that side before heading back.

We were basically able to do all of the trails at the resort over the course of the day and then a couple that we liked a second time. It was great. There were times on the lifts with no one in front of or behind us, and there were places where I stopped on the trail and it was just silent. I loved it. The weather was really nice again despite it being overcast all day. Brenda got a free lunch for some ladies only deal so we split the $10 and got grilled cheeses before leaving.

We walked around North Conway a bit when we got back, looking in some of the souvenir shops and gear stores for deals. I ended up finding a really cheap helmet on clearance so I'll finally have one of those! We went back to the hotel to shower and pack up our stuff before meeting up with Ryan and Bree to bid the Eastern Slope Inn adieu one last time before pointing the car toward home.

On the way home we stopped at Cracker Barrel for an awesome dinner of country foods. Brenda and I got into a pretty serious game of checkers. It had been so long since I played I didn't remember some of the basics. Once we got into it it was a battle to the death. We took a break to eat and then went back to our table, untouched. It was basically a draw, but Brenda gave in and let me win just so it could end. The rest of the drive home was long, long, long. Everyone was zoned out or sleeping most of the ride so I was listening to music or staring at the road in a hypnotized state. We finally made it home and I dropped everyone off before heading home myself.