Mar 14, 2014

I worked a good day at Child Study Team in Vineland and then made some calls after. Ryan met me at the park for a round with Anya a little bit later.

It was nice for a little while in the sun, but it got pretty chilly. Ryan was done playing a few holes in. I played through the front 9, but I figured it would be better to just go for a walk instead so I put the discs in the car and we circled the pond. I went home and enjoyed a quiet night watching Legit.

Mar 13, 2014

Work was interesting this morning. I went in to find out the Child Study job was put in by accident somehow. I ran a few errands for the office and then they sent me home because they didn't have any jobs for me. I am just hoping they leave it in as a full day pay. Later I went to dinner with my mom at Kawa. We had a good talk and I had great curry. I've been in a curry mood lately. We went next door to Yogo for some dessert before heading home.

I went home for a while before a last minute invite to the Oar House from Kaitlin. I went an had a couple of beers while we talked about the people we know in common. It was a fun, short hang out.

Mar 12, 2014

On my way to work in the morning there was a beautiful sunrise over the pond at City Park. I had to stop and take some photos. I wanted to stay and watch it happen, but I had to get to Memorial for my computer job. I was in the basement computer lab for the day. Not a bad day.

Later Chuck and I were at Quizzo alone. We did pretty badly. We have gotten used to it. I came home and finished working on the photos I shot last week to send them to Eddie.

Mar 11, 2014

Well, I certainly overslept for work in the morning. Like, not even just a little. I was supposed to be there at 8:15 and I woke up at 9. Luckily it was a meeting coverage job and when I called he said to just come in. I only missed one quick meeting in the gym so they were fine. I was with the gym/health class for the rest of the day and ended up getting done early. It was such a beautiful day I had to go to Parvin for a run.

There were a lot of people at the parking lot walking around the trails so I thought it was going to be a pain to run around everyone. I put on my headphones and a Moth podcast and started my run around the long way. I was surprised and happy to not encounter more than a handful of people on the whole trail. It was a great run for 4.5 miles even though I was skiing all weekend. I needed to be outside in the warmth. The rest of the night I spent inside catching up on shows and getting to bed early.

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.

Mar 9, 2014

We got up early this morning to spend our full day at Bretton Woods. This place was a little farther from the hotel, but still much closer than we expected. It's the biggest ski resort in New Hampshire, so we needed all the time we could get. It was a little chillier than yesterday but still very nice. The view was even better than yesterday somehow. We were much closer to Mount Washington and we could see it in great detail. I spent quite a bit of time just standing and looking at it.

Again, the trail conditions were perfect and there were virtually no lines at the lifts. Also, I was surprised at the black diamond trails and how they weren't overly difficult. They were steep, but I didn't see many moguls. They were all fun and Brenda was able to join us on all of them. There were a few pretty steep sections that I paused at for a moment before dropping in, but they were within my ability. We did one glade trail that was listed as blue. It wasn't too bad, but I wasn't interested in doing it again right away. 

One of our favorite trails was Granny's Grit/Herb's Secret (Granny's Grundle). It was a narrow trail covered with bumps, drops, and moguls that required sharp turns and a lot of leg work. We did it twice, and I wish we could have done it a few more times. We did a mostly straight diamond trail three times in a row and then headed back up to the top for a few more long runs down before ending the day with one last race run down which ended with a trail of moguls under the lifts that Ryan and I did extremely well. Another great day of skiing.

I wanted to check out The Cave, a pre-prohibition tavern underneath the Mt. Washington Hotel, but it didn't open until 9 so we couldn't do that. We headed back to the hotel to change and then headed out to get Thai food for dinner. I had spicy red curry that was exactly what I wanted and Brenda and I split a ginger fried ice cream that was really good but hard to eat.

When we got back we went down to the pool and swam for an hour or so before it was closed. Ryan and Bree didn't spend much time, so Brenda and I passed the time by swimming underwater as far as we could, talking about sea monsters, and trying to do backflips and handstands in the water without getting water in my nose. Not that easy. We got in the hot tub for a few minutes after swimming because you can't go the other way.

We went up to Ryan and Bree's room to play Cards Against Humanity next. It was a ridiculous game of hilarious statements. I left with things like "dick fingers" and "shooting a rifle in the air while balls deep in a hog" stuck in my head. We played for quite a while and weren't feeling like playing another long game so we called it a night there. I tried Peak Organic's Fresh Cut Pilsner, which was really refreshing and good company for games with friends. I was really tired and falling asleep as soon as we got back to the room.

Mar 8, 2014

We started the day with a quick stop at Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast and then down the road to Attitash. It was only about fifteen minutes from the hotel. We put our stuff on at the car and walked over to get started. For a Saturday there weren't too many lines at the lifts and the conditions were great. It was so warm from the start that I was taking off my gloves and hat on the lift. The view from the lift was amazing, and when we got to the top there was an observation deck that Brenda and I climbed for an even better view of the gorgeous White Mountains.

We skied a few trails on the Attitash side and then headed over to Bear Peak, which required a long flat push to get there. Bear Peak had a lot of ice on the few trails we tried out so we headed back over and spent the rest of the afternoon at Attitash. It was a great day of skiing, but when the sun went away at the end of the day it got quite a bit colder so we were ready to go.

We headed back to the hotel to change and then headed out for dinner. We went to Moat Brewery & Smokehouse to satisfy my desire to try their beers and Ryan's taste for ribs. We were told there would be over an hour wait, but it turned out to only be about twenty minutes! We got lucky. Bree and I split the beer sampler; they were all great! The Bone Shaker Brown, Matilda's Rage Red, East Intervale IPA, and the Cathedral Ledge Lager were somewhat tied for a favorite. I was very impressed. The food was great as well. We had hush puppies, and I had a delicious sandwich.

We headed back to the hotel after eating and went down to the hot tub after a while. The indoor hot tub was nice, but then we moved to the outdoor one. It was much better. Something about being outside in a hot tub is great. It was easier to cool off when it got to be too much. This is one of many attempts at getting a good shot of us. Brenda and I returned to the room to hang for the night. She made some awesome kava stress relief tea and put on some relaxing music while she did yoga. I sat in bed sipping my tea, and I really did feel relaxed and happy. It was a nice end to the day.