Sep 7, 2011

I went for a bike ride in the early afternoon and headed to the movie theater to meet Chuck to see Our Idiot Brother.

I got there early so I was alone in the theater taking photos. Only a couple of others came in during the movie anyway. I thought the movie was great though. Check it out. I rode home and went with my dad to play some tennis at the college. We had some really good games once again.

Later I went up to Kat's new place at Rowan to celebrate Wednesday. We played some Kings with the rest of my drinks from the other night.

We got into Pictionary after that, which turned out to be a lot of fun. I did really well at getting my teammate to guess what I was scribbling. It was good seeing everyone again.

I had to come home a little early since I actually got a job for the next day!

Sep 6, 2011

I spent the morning wandering around Rowan, running into people I hadn't seen in a while and explaining to them what I was doing on campus since I don't go there there anymore.

Later Chuck and I spent a few hours going through videos from the DCAQ shoots and making time notations for each file while we decided what we might want to include in the final edits. We got some good work done.

We met Joanna and Lindsey at Landmark for trivia. We did really well at first, like usual. Then it started declining. Some of the questions were tough; one asked what historical landmark was once called "The Six Grandfathers" or something close to that. The answer was Mt. Rushmore. I don't get it. Anyway, we didn't win. I wish we knew what the winning team scored though.

I came home to watch a few things and try in vain to get a job for the second day of school.

Sep 5, 2011

Nothing to speak about in the early part of the day, but in the afternoon I rode my bike over to South Vineland Park to meet Ryan for a run. We ran around twice with two stops on each lap for sit-ups and push-ups. It was a good run. I kept riding north to Rowan after we finished to hang out with Joanna. It was a good ride at about 24 miles.

After I cleaned up we got some sandwiches at Prof's Place and then came back to watch Craig Ferguson's stand-up and then played Phase 10. It's been a while. It's still fun.

We looked for a movie to put on and decided on Juno. I hadn't seen it in a while and I forgot how good it was.

Sep 4, 2011

It was a lazy day spent watching things in my room and editing photos from yesterday's photo shoot. Chuck picked me up in the evening and we made a liquor store stop on the way to his friend Brian's apartment, where we stocked his fridge with beer and got the party started.

It was "Drinking Games Night" so we started off with a few games of beer pong. I drank my Saranac as we played and the cups were filled with Corona? Miller? Something like that. Chuck and I lost.

We ordered some pizzas that disappeared quickly and then got into a game of Kings. By that point I was done drinking for a bit so I sat out and watched Super Troopers and whatever comedian was on TV. Eventually I joined back in the game and played for a while.

I'm not good at drinking game night since I get to a certain point and then don't feel like drinking anymore. Either way we had a really good time and laughed a lot so mission accomplished!

Sep 3, 2011

I started the day doing something I had been wanting to do for a while: running again. Though I've been climbing mountains and the like, I feel like I've been slacking on the run so I went over to the trail on Silver Run and took a couple of laps. I can never tell based on the maps, but it was probably around 3 miles or so.

A little later I met Christy at Rowan to do a photo shoot. The studio was a bust, but that turned out to be a blessing since the lighting outside was wonderful. It was a beautiful day and we took some great shots on the lawn in front of Bunce and behind.

This is definitely one of my favorite shots that we did. I love it. It got me excited about shooting again; that's another thing that has been waning lately and I want to get back on track.

After the shoot we went to get crab fries at Clancy's since we've been talking about it for so long. They were okay. The cheese sauce is really what I'm in it for anyway. Pretty sure our waitress was annoyed since that's all we got. It's okay we tipped her well.

We went around the corner to the park to play frisbee for a little while. The weather at night was so nice. Bare feet in the grass is pleasant. It reminds me of playing ultimate, which we did not do nearly enough of this summer.

I came home for a relaxing evening of watching shows and editing photos.

Sep 2, 2011

When we awoke, after making a quick trip to the supermarket, we got the Ben & Jerry's factory in time for the first tour. We lucked out, with only a couple of other people up early enough for that one.

We watched the film, where I noticed a typo, then saw the factory again and went to the tasting room. We tried Triple Caramel Swirl, which was great. Even at 9am. We tried a couple of other flavors at the scoop shop and then checked out the graveyard before leaving.

We continued our day in this fashion: checking out places that make local delights and trying free samples of them. We went to Cabot Cheese and tried wayyyyy too much delicious cheese samples. Some of the spicy ones were great. The wine was over budget at $1 a sample so I stuck with cheeses.

We also got some chocolate and fudge samples and checked out a place where they make apple cider. The process was really interesting to watch as this guy hosed in tons of pureed apples and then wrapped them in a burlap-type bag placed them on top of others that would thereby squeeze all the juice out of the lower ones. Really cool. And the cider was delicious!

We went to a nearby disc golf course for a game, where I was quickly distracted by the "Ski Jump School" training course that was set up in the woods! There was a balance wire, a climbing wall, obstacles to jump over, and (though it might look like I'm just jumping for joy... well I was) hanging rings. Basically, it was Ryan's and my dream. Too bad it's six hours from us. Sad.

We eventually got back to the course, which was pretty good. There were some challenging holes and some fairly easy holes. The difficulty often came in the length, but some were uphill and hard to shoot as well.

I got to shoot lots of wildlife including a large spider and this cool little toad that stood still for his close-up!

I enjoyed the course, if only for the handful of holes that I thought were really cool and the obstacle course that I would feel obliged to play on every time I was there. I'd go back.

On the way down the highway we stopped at Grafton Village Cheese, where I tried some of the most amazing cheeses I've ever had. It was a specialty shop so that makes sense, but the imported cheese and aged cheddar they had were fantastic. I'm no cheese connoisseur, but I do love it nonetheless and this was great. The 3 Year Cheddar and the imported Swiss I tried were my favorites.

When we got down to Brattleboro, we got off the highway to go to the other place I wanted to eat again: Flat Street Brew Pub. In something that must defy all odds, this place had been the victim of a flood. Only that street. So both places that I wanted to check out were out of commission when I showed up. What luck I have.

Speaking of luck, there was a detour on the highway south so we had to sit in stopped traffic for an hour or two. The ride home was long and I was ready to lie in my bed when I finally got back. The ride home is almost always the worst. At least it was a great trip otherwise!

Sep 1, 2011

When we got up we went down to the river to see where the peaceful, roaring white noise was coming from last night. The water was moving pretty fast and it was cold and refreshing on the toes. It was a nice thing to see first thing in the morning.

We took a short drive up the highway to the Franconia Ridge loop parking area, checked out the map, got our boots and packs on, and then headed for the trail.

It began rocky much like the Mount Washington hike, climbing up right away. Some of the path had been washed away in the recent rains it seemed, but we were able to get through. We took the split to the right and started on the actual loop, where we encountered a few waterfalls.

This was the biggest fall of the three or so that we went by. They were all pretty different and provided a refreshing cool breeze when we passed.

The trail climbed steeply past the falls and beyond through the woods. It was a tough climb at many points. We took several breaks, wondering how far we were from the top. I think our pace tends to wear us out quicker when we are on steep hikes like this one.

Once we got past the tree line there was still a while to go. Steep ridges and large boulders to climb over were only a couple of the obstacles on the way to the top. Once we arrived however, the view was amazing. Completely worth all of it. We dropped down and grabbed some snacks while talking to a couple who were hiking the Appalachian Trail through. They gave us some tips on doing it and some reality-checks.

After a good rest and refueling, we hopped on the ridge trail, which is the AT. It spans three peaks on the loop before descending and we were only at the first, Little Haystack. The ridge trail took us up (again!) to Lincoln's peak, then down a bit before the final ascent to the peak of Mt. Lafayette.

Lafayette was crowded with through-hikers of the AT, chatting about their experiences hunting animals and how much food they pack on an average day. It was all really interesting and encouraging to see people getting along so well. The friendliness of hikers has always been a favorite of mine. One of the hikers said, "Through all of the beautiful views this trail has, the thing I'll really remember is all the great people I've met along the way." That only makes me want to do it more.

The hike down was long and started feeling never-ending at one point because I was so hungry. It was a nice walk down mostly, with the rocky parts being the only nuisance to quick descent. There were a lot of them. Once we got down we grabbed some dinner and headed on toward Vermont, stopping at the same little campground as I did on the last trip to shower. It felt great to wash the sweat and dirt off of me.

We drove to The Alchemist for dinner, but a sewage pipe burst earlier right in front of the place and they were closed. We found a nearby state park to set up camp (why did I sleep in a parking lot last time??) and had some good food from home when we got there.