Feb 8, 2014

Ryan and I started the day with breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Killington for day one of Vermont skiing. The conditions were pretty good, but the place was packed. We waited an average of 15 minutes at each lift line on the big ones. It was really not fun. Dodging all the people on the mountain wasn't fun either.

The view from the top was absolutely beautiful. You can't beat that. It seemed like almost every trail had moguls on it though. Whether in the middle or at the end, they showed up. Between not being too good at them and the tons of people on every trail it became really frustrating.

One nice thing about the overcrowding was we parked on the road and we could ski directly back to the car when we were done. That was fun. We went back to the hotel to relax for a bit and, after checking out the pool area, we got in the sauna for a little while instead. We went to the grocery store to get stuff for the next couple of days and then went to get dinner at a restaurant next to the store. The rest of the night was relaxing and uneventful before bed.

Feb 7, 2014

I got to sleep in a bit today because I wasn't subbing. I had to be in Philly by 1 to get ready for Temple University's winter graduation. I got a nice free parking spot and met Derrick, NaTaza, and the new guy whose name I've forgotten now. We got set up, I went to do PR shots in the garage and then ran in to get ready to shoot the degree/handshake. The president and the other hand-shaker were annoyingly moving around the whole time making it so hard for me to get my shot right. They totally ignored their marks on the floor and kept getting in my way. Come on!

After finishing work I came home, packed up all my ski stuff in a short time, and went to Ryan's to head to Vermont. After getting snacks we headed north. We didn't hit much traffic through Jersey so that was nice. It was also nice not driving. We did take a weird back road route to get there, but we did eventually make it to our hotel. We were happy to lie down and get to sleep once we got there.

Feb 6, 2014

I needed to get outside after spending the morning inside at home. I went to Belleplain to walk the lake trail. It was pretty good for a while, but then I got to a point that was totally flooded. I walked through some of it since my boots are waterproof, but it got too deep for even that so I was walking along the edge and blazing through vines and thorns to get past.

Luckily that was the only time I encountered flooding along the trail so the rest was a nice easy walk listening to music and podcasts. It always seems so much longer when I'm not running. Either way I enjoyed my time outside.

I went up to Philly and picked up Davonne later to go to Barcade. DuClaw was having a tap takeover and it's a good thing Barcade has a shitload of taps to accommodate all of their beers! It really did seem like they brought everything.

I turned Davonne on to the Sweet Baby Jesus, loved by all. She was hooked. I had some of my favorites including the Misfit Red and the X6. It was a fun time at the bar and we didn't even end up playing any games. We went back to her apartment for a little while before I headed home.

Feb 5, 2014

I worked at Vineland Memorial covering meetings again. This time I had to stay the whole day, but I still had a lot of down time. I went to the gym with Ryan a little bit after work for a workout and then I ran on the treadmill for a while after we finished.

Ryan and Bree joined Chuck, Matt, and me for Quizzo. We had some appetizers and had a good time even though did poorly on the quiz. Damn Mac and Cheese.

Feb 4, 2014

I worked at Vineland Memorial covering Child Study Team meetings for the day. I was done by noon and home for the afternoon. I got some dinner from Wildflower and headed up to REI to meet Brenda and Andrea. We spent quite a while there so Brenda could get her rock climbing shoes. I got a chalk bag and then we headed over to the gym. We spent a long time climbing. Andrea enjoyed it, even though she didn't always follow the colored routes. 

After climbing we were all hungry so we went to Iron Hill for dinner foods. We sampled a few beers and had really good meals. Our waiter took forever to bring us the check, but eventually we paid and got out. 

Feb 3, 2014

It was a lazy kind of day. I ended up not taking a job and just running errands for the day. I went to the bank and to Staples to get some things printed and did some grocery shopping. I picked up Brenda and Yoki later to go for a walk at Silver Run. I was having a strange day and felt like having some beer while I walked.

We walked the long trail and then stopped at the bird blind to enjoy the view and pass the leash back and forth. Then we continued our walk back to the car and headed off to get some food.

After eating some Wawa food, we went to Cold Stone because Brenda was craving it. I wasn't going to get anything, but the peanut butter crazy chocolate thing just looked too good. So I was bad. I tried to make up for it later at the gym by running for 60 minutes. I ran somewhere over 6 miles in that time, so I was happy. Then Ryan joined me for a workout.

Feb 2, 2014

Brenda and I went up to Blue Mountain for a night of skiing and boarding. It was a lot less crowded than last time we came, so that was nice. They closed the 4-person lift early, which was a small annoyance. We didn't really get stuck on the 6 lift with many people though so it ended up not making much difference.

The skiing was good on most of the trails, but it got icy again pretty quickly. A lot of icy spots make it less fun for me and a lot less fun for Brenda on a snowboard. Overall it was a really fun day though. We both ended up at the same lodge at the end of the night as well, which helps things go smoothly. We got some food near Allentown for the drive home, which didn't seem as long as it usually does.