The Niff and I had an awesome vacation last week (pictures will be put into an album when I upload them all). We opted for multiple day trips rather than just one big event, I think it keeps it interesting that way. It cuts down on the odds of having some shitty vacation that never ends because the weather is just awful and you can't leave your hotel or on a cruise ship where everyone gets sick and you need to come into port.
We spent the first two days up in Crawford Notch, which for those of you who have no idea where that is it's about 2 hours north of anywhere. Seriously, no cell service, barely any running water, and more bears and moose than people.
The Niff got us a kickass little cabin that had electricity but no running water. She picked the best cabin though because it was literally 10 feet from one of the outdoor water sinks and 15 feet from the campground bathhouse, so it was like we had a bathroom that was just down the hall. And by hall, I mean woods.
We wanted to do a few hikes so I emailed Steve and he gave us a ton to choose from. We were opting for shorter hikes so we could get multiple hikes in. And because I am a fat, lazy, slob that isn't meant to climb up mountains and walk in the woods for hours on end.
We hiked Arethusa Falls (tallest falls in New Hampshire), Zealand Falls (has the biggest horseflies you ever did see), and Mount Willard (if you want to just drop off the face of the earth this is the place to go). All of them were awesome hikes, a lot to take in if you weren't crawling your way up each one with your hands on your knees bending over losing a gallon of sweat a minute because you are an obese land whale.
But seriously they were all beautiful, I only wish I took our camera to Arethusa Falls. It rained earlier in the day pretty heavy and we didn't want to risk another downpour and fuck up our awfully dated and shitty camera...
Mount Willard wasn't that tough of a hike but you had to earn it a bit. The hardest part was all the mud that you could easily slip and fall off the path into a small ravine, likely to hit at least a dozen trees on your way down. Coming to the top is the most surreal thing - you are walking out of the woods, up a trail and you just see sky when you are about 20 feet from the end of the trail. And then it ends. Just nothing but sky and mountains and cliffs you can plunge at least 1,500 feet to your death. Very peaceful though. Except the guy with his family at the top that was talking to some complete strangers about how he has wanderlust and shouldn't be living in a house or telling his kids how he "wishes he was a cloud". If I stayed at the top any longer I was going to see if he was as light as a cloud and flung him off the mountain.
Zealand Falls was pretty "flat" according to most hikers but as my dad would say, "Pig's ass". That's right - I would call it "wavey", because it seemed like you'd go up about 10 feet in elevation and then back down and then back up and so on. For 2 1/2 miles. Not that I'm bitching but if everyone says its "flat" I expect one of those completely flat roads like you see in the midwest where you can see for 10 miles in both directions. I guess I learned the hiker's definition of the word "flat". Something to remember.
On the way out there there were tons of little ponds and bogs. More than a few times we heard some pretty loud moving in the woods just from where we were. No doubt in my mind that either a family of bears were following us or a freakish non-Bullwinkle type mean ass Moose. If I saw a bear I was prepared to try to talk him down and look at him with sweet loving non-threatening eyes and back away slowly. And when he would surely chase me I would run around a tree until he got bored.
Side note: I really think I could do the tree dance with a bear. As long as the tree was big enough I think I could just circle it and not let him catch me. Think about it - he has to turn all that 1,000 lbs. of bear muscle around a damn tree, I just need to get my fat ass around it fast enough. My turning radius is much smaller than his. I think I have a chance. Everyone I've talked to think I have a chance too. In becoming dinner. We'll see. We shall see.
Zealand was really cool, the last .1 miles was literally straight up but there was an AMC Hut at the top where you could rest. The falls started even higher than the hut and there were tons of people swimming up there. In a waterfall. In New Hampshire. Pretty damn cool.
On the way down the Niff and I sat on some rocks and dunked our feet into the waterfall in one of the little pools that spilled down the rocks. It was crazy cold but with the pounding my feet took over the 2 days it felt like some sadistic day spa in the woods.
Another side note: people on hiking trails and up north in general are insanely nice people. It's likely the nature of the type of person that is up there - carefree, loves to just be outside and easygoing. You don't really see that in most places...
The two nights we stayed at the cabin I made our dinner on the small charcoal grill to the side of the cabin and made a fire. Bear Grylls could learn a thing or two from me, let me tell you. I mean, over the course of the two nights I only used half a gallon of lighter fluid and half a notebook to get our fires started!
I brought my laptop so we could watch movies at night and I brought Stand By Me, Lost in Translation, The Blair Witch Project, and something else. We only got to Stand By Me, but next time we are watching BWP for sure. And I'll make her walk to the bathroom by herself at 3am.
I think I took the whole "don't worry about what you eat when you are on vacation, you're on VACAAAAATION!!!" thing to an entirely new level. In no certain order, during the two days up north I consumed no fewer than 2 1/2 lbs. of hamburger, 3 chocolate bars (S'mores), an entire package of hot dogs, two decent sized cups of potato salad, a ton of chips and pretzels and goldfish and Clif bars and whatever else I could eat. Because I was on vacation!!!! Excuse me while I inject my insulin.
We went to the beach for two of the days of our vacation, slumming it at Hampton Beach the first time and opting for Jenness Beach the second time. The best $26 I spent was on our boogie boards. Mine is epic (again, pics to come) - a cheesy, dead-skeleton Pirate with a dead parrot on his shoulder and some skulls and crossbones. I was going to get the Niff the one with the giant fantasy type dragon on it, but I figured she'd toss me in the ocean if I did that. Instead I opted for a hawaiian flower type board for her.
If you haven't boogie boarded, it's awesome. If you aren't fat. I mean, whenever the Niff went she took off and would be gone for at least 50 feet. Whenever I did and thought I got a good wave I went 10. I liken it to strapping 4 cinder blocks to a piece of plastic and wishing it luck. I fared a lot better closer to shore in the smaller more compact and powerful waves, I seemed to get a really good push off and seemed to get the best runs on those. Whether I am good at it it's fun as hell and just became our latest hobby. It requires almost zero skill (which is good for me), very little money ($26 for two?!!), and just the desire to have fun (we have plenty).
Our last day of vacation was spent with our good friends Tom Brady and Randy Moss. And the rest of the Patriots. At Training Camp. Always a great time, I could watch them practice every day of the week. The best drill of the day was the wet ball fumble drill - they had a guy hosing down the field for over an hour. I don't mean a garden hose. I mean a firehose. Seriously. The guy was watering it for over an hour, and the entire team came over, the coaches grabbed soaked balls and wiped them on the ground to simulate a fumble that was forced in a downpour. And the players loved it. They sprinted as fast and as far as they could before they got to the ball and dove on it, covering up and sliding anywhere between 10 to 30 feet in the grass. We weren't close to it but we could see it and you could tell they were having a great time.
Brady looked solid, he hit most of his passes (only 2 that were off the mark, he hadn't planted his back foot and the ball just dipped or sailed).
Welker and Moss looked awesome as always but the biggest surprise will be in Joey Galloway and Greg Lewis. People that are casual fans don't know them but they are impact players. Galloway is a beast and Lewis is a bit bigger than Welker and both are threats to take it to the house.
Maroney looked awesome as well, broke a big TD during the offense/defense portion of the practice. Fred Taylor looked fresh and will be an impact player as well.
Defensively, Wilfork is just a grizzly bear of a man. But he is stupid fast for a guy that big. Mayo and Meriweather looked solid. I think our defense is going to turn heads this season.
It was an awesome end to a fantastic semi-relaxing but uber-productive vacation with the Niff. I can't wait to plan Summer Vacation 2010.
