Wet, Wild, and Wonderful

Last weekend I jumped in a car with two friends and we caravanned with two other friends to West Virginia. We had purchased a living social adventure deal for a weekend of camping and rafting. After 6 hours of driving and gas stations and a Wendy's we arrived at the campsite near Beckly, WV. We checked in with the Living Social crew and they hooked us up with a sweet "rustic cabin" near the bar. 

Being it a Living Social Adventure I was a little worried that the crowd would be rowdy 21 yr olds, but it really wasn't there were people from 21-40 and couples, big groups of friends, bachelor parties, and families.

The first night we had two free drinks at the camp bar where they had live music and we chatted with some of the other campers. It was Jenn's birthday so we had cake by our cabin and hung out with other campers around the camp fire.

Saturday morning we didn't have to meet for the river till 10 am so we took our time getting up and getting breakfast. The weather was pretty nice, but since we were worried about the water temperature we all rented wetsuits, geared up and hit the river.

Our guide was a seasonal guy from Cincinnati, he was really cool and very good at guiding our boat. We only had one person fall out and we got her back in within seconds.

They took video of some of our trip and was playing it on the tvs around the campground. The picture below is a picture I took of the tv.

me on the front right

After about 5 hours of class 5 rapids (haha ok... there were some 1,2,3 &4s too) we cleaned up and headed to our BBQ dinner at the camp restaurant.

PBR

After dinner we headed to the camp bar where everyone was hanging out and they had an open PBR bar from 6-10 pm. 

The next day we had breakfast at a cute cafe in the neighboring town.

hmmm should we eat here?

That was previously a church.

from the balcony

We stopped in a store down the street and found it empty with the following sign:

trusting West Virginians

On our drive home we stopped in this White House to use the restroom (aka The Greenbrier).

24 hours in NYC

Since I had last Monday off of work (thanks Veterans!) I decided to spend a few hours in NYC. 

As soon as the train pulled in to Grand Central Station I headed across town to join my old touch football team for a game. I settled right back into the old routine and it felt like I never left. Especially because we won the game! 

Then,  being a tourist and all, I hopped into a cab for the Upper West Side. I had brunch plans with a few friends, which grew when two other friends ran into us while we were waiting outside.

I was going to walk around after lunch, but was completely exhausted so I watched some cartoons with my friend's one year old.

We then headed to City Winery to listen to Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys. Ralph Stanley is best known by my generation for singing O Death in O Brother, Where Art Thou?. They put on a great show. The 80 something Stanley infused a good amount of humor into the show and took several requests from the audience. The ended the show with my favorite "I'll fly away". The show reminded me a little of when I would go with my grandparents to the country music show in Missouri, only with a lot more wine.

I didn't have anything planned for Monday morning, other than making it to Penn Station in time for my 12:35 train, but when I woke up I knew I wanted a NYC bagel. My friends' that I was staying with directed me to TAL bagels down the street. I looked at the whole wheat bagel for about 1 second before knowing I was going to go all out and get the salt bagel. Of course I got it toasted and then smeared with scallion cream cheese. Then I walked to Central Park with my bagel and a small coffee with milk.

Central Park was showing a little damage from Sandy, but over all was busting with activity. Runners, bikers, and a lot of kids PE and recess classes.

ugh I want another one

great lawn

sax player under the bridge

After my delicious breakfast and a stroll through the park I headed to Joe Fresh. Joe Fresh is a Canadian retail chain that opened up last spring in NYC. I'd been seeing their clothing in several of my magazines the last few months, with reasonable prices, so I knew I wanted to check them out. I ended up with four shirts and a dress! I just did some online research and it looks like they will be opening up "stores" inside JCP's across the US over the next few years.

The weather was perfect so I concluded my morning in NYC chatting with a friend in Bryant Park. The city was already decorated for Christmas and Bryant Park already had the little shops and ice skating rink up (although the ice was melting and it looked more like a pond).

At noon I headed back down 7th Ave to Penn Station and headed on Amtrak back to DC. Perfect weather, parks, and friends made for an amazing 24 hours. 

More from Forest to Shore

This last weekend I headed up to Stratford, Connecticut to visit my friend Robert (i.e., my first friend in NYC), his fiancé Kelly and their dog Oso. I met Robert on my first day of work in NYC in July of 2007; he has been inviting me to visit him since about September 2007 and I finally took him up on the offer.

I left early on Friday and took the Amtrak Northeast Regional train to NYC. I got more and more excited the closer I got back to the city I once lived in. I stayed in NYC long enough to get a coffee with a friend before boarding Metro North to head up to Stratford. 

choo choo

First things first, I had to meet Oso, for the occasion I knitted him a bow tie. 

debonair

Friday night we grabbed dinner at a cool cafe that had live music. The food and company was good, unfortunately the funk band decided to funk it out at top volume, so we only lasted one set.

Saturday morning we went on a 7 mile hike on the Housatonic Rail-Trail with the dogs. There was still a bit of snow in the shady areas from the big storm they had last Wednesday. 

For lunch we headed to New Haven to get a burger at Louis Lunch. According to their website they invented the hamburger sandwich as we know it today when in 1900 a man asked for something he could eat on the run. In honor of that tradition (and the tight quarters inside) we ordered our hamburgers to go. 

The hamburgers are still cooked in the original grills (seen below) from 1898. We got our burgers with cheese, onions, tomato and served on white toast. They were pretty good.

you put the meat in the rack and the rack in the grill

We then spent some time walking around the Yale campus. The sights:

This tree fell over in the storm and they found three skeletons underneath. Apparently the Yale Green was previously a cemetery and when they moved the headstones they forgot the bodies.

I'm not sure what this building is, but its beautiful.

We went into the library, the library looked straight out of Harry Potter, but with a lot more computers and laptops.

Soon it was time to eat again and we headed to Bar Pizza. Bar serves New Haven style pizza, which is super thin and crispy. We got one of their specialties, mashed potato & bacon, as well as a cheese pizza. I really liked the mashed potato & bacon. 

we inhaled half before I thought to take a picture

We capped off our night at the Owl Shop with Robert's CT crew.

props

After a delicious omelet and coffee on Sunday morning I hopped back on Metro North to head back to NYC... 

St. Patrick's weekend in NYC

As soon as I excited Penn Station I saw this billboard- 

File that under "things you don't see in DC"

After drinks and fun with friends I saw that the Empire State Building was already celebrating a day early...

My friend Carrie and I arrived at the parade at 11 not realizing till later that the parade lasts 6 hours!

There were lots of cute kids in cute Irish sweaters

And cute men in skirts playing bagpipes

I stayed with my friend in her Sunnyside apartment

And we finished St. Patrick's Day by going to the new musical Once

Sunday was spent catching up with friends at brunch, a walk up 5th Avenue, and people (and dog) watching in Central Park. Public art also brought us this-

Tornado made from inner tubes

A smooth train ride back and ready for another week.

Kensico Dam

A few weekends ago I got the opportunity to house/dog sit in White Plains.  The Saturday morning I woke up to rain and more rain and more rain.  After watching all the rom-coms I could find on Netflex on demand (don't judge me) the rain finally subsided and Scout and I decided to take a walk.

My friend had pointed out the trail on a map and said there was dam if I followed the path, but I had no idea what I was getting in to.

The creek that ran along the pathway had flooded and pretty quickly my feet were wet and Scout was a bit dirty, but we trudged on.  There was 70+ year old man jogging along... we weren't going to let him see us turn back.

After a lot of running, sniffing, and marking our territory we arrived at Kensico Dam.

The dam was completed in 1917 and is 307 feet tall and 1,843 feet long

The dam is 233 feet thick at the base and tapers to 28 feet at the top

More than 1,500 people, mostly Italian, worked on the dam and they completed it 3 years ahead of schedule

There were a lot of people exercising in the park even though it was such a damp day.  We tried to see over the mountain, but after climbing hundreds of steps we noticed the path was closed...

After a few more laps we traveled the two miles back home and watched a little housewives of NYC.

First time on the slopes

Yesterday I headed up to Belleayre Mountain to learn to ski. A friend and I boarded a bus at 6 am for the two hour ride to the mountain. After stopping at a rental place to pick up skis, boots, poles, and a helmet (safety first) we headed to the mountain. My friend had never skied before so we were the blind leading the blind when it came to where to go, what to wear, what to do, how to look cool... but we soon figured out our gear and where to go for our beginner lessons.

We spent the morning learning how to take our skis on and off, side step, ski parallel, ski wedge, stop (big pizza), and turn (smash a bug with one toe while smashing a bunch of ants with the other foot, huh?). We had a variety of instructors pass us off, but ended up with a great guy. After lunch we spent the afternoon on the bunny hill. I got pretty good at turns and stopping and everything, but the surface lift killed me, hardest part of the day was going to the top of the hill with that thing.

View from the top, well the top of the bottom

Not a fan of these boots... they kinda hurt a lot

I actually got a complement on my $25 JC Penny Husky Boy's snow pants

7 hours in Boston

Last Sunday I had to head up to the suburbs of Boston for work so instead of heading up late I caught the 7 am Amtrak, which put me in South Station at 11 am. I spent a lot of time planning what I would wear and pack (I had to carry everything around all day including work computer and business outfit for the next day. I packed a backpack and it was a success, I didn't feel like I was roughing it and my back made it through the day pain free.), but I didn't spend a lot of time planning what I would do in Boston.

First a little background- I'd been to Boston once before, when I was 20 years and 364 days old. I had family living there at the time and was visiting with my mom and sister. We had a wonderful, if not cold, time and saw a lot of the tourist highlights (while on a trolley). My favorite memory of the trip was when everyone went out to some awesome pub with awesome music, but I was sent home with my 5 yr old cousin to watch Lion King 1 1/2 because I was a day short of 21 (maybe two or three days... I might be being dramatic). Anyway back to Sunday...

What to see: I wasn't feeling in the shopping mood or the museum mood and hey it was a balmy 37 degrees with a beautiful sunny sky so I thought I would do the Freedom Trail up right this time and walk every red step brick of it.

the trail

How to get there: I took the Amtrak which was very reasonable compared to how much it usually is to DC. Work was paying but at $67 each way it is a relaxed and comfortable way to travel. There are also plenty of nice buses and flights traveling between NYC and Boston each day.

Money Spent: $67 each way

What to eat: I brought along some snacks for the train ride then got a my first coffee of the day on my walk to the Common. It was early and cold, so coffee was necessary. Sidenote: I always thought the further you went northeast the less you saw Starbucks, but Boston is covered in with them.

Money Spent: $4.00

Where to start: Walking straight northwestish from South Station you arrive at Boston Common where the trail begins. I went to the visitor center and bought a little book so I could read about each location as I walked around.

Money Spent: $6.75

Massachusetts State House

The Granary Burying Ground

Paul Revere's final resting place

Old State House

I'm not sure what this building is, but I liked how the picture came out

Where to eat: By the time you reach Faneuil Hall you've been walking for an hour at least and you are hungry. Faneuil Hall was closed for a special event, but behind it is Faneuil Hall Marketplace and that is where I had lunch. The middle building is a giant food court and while I had researched a few nice places to eat I didn't want to take too much time to eat and I ended up getting some clam chowder and a bottle of water from one of the booths inside.

Money spent: $6.00

Old North Church- where the lanterns were displayed to warn Charlestown how the British were advancing

Where to take care of business: The bathroom facilities in the visitor center for Old Ironsides is anything but old. Highly recommended.

What to do: I was delighted to learn that there are free half hour tours of the USS Constitution. I arrived right as one was started so I climbed down the ladder and joined in. As the USS Constitution is a commissioned Navy ship the tour was lead by an active sailor. The ship got its nickname from a fight during the war of 1812 with the British Frigate HMS Guerriere firing at less than 50 yards away the cannonballs were just bouncing off the sides. The sailor explained that it was because of the special wood that the ship was made out of that can only be found in the southern United States.

Money Spent: $0

USS Constitution "Old Ironsides"

On board

Lesson Learned: Even a beautiful 37 degree sunny day will start to feel a lot colder in Boston when the sun starts to dip. The walk across this bridge to the ship and to Bunker hill was not pleasant. And it wasn't until I was to the other side that I looked at a map to learn that there are no subways over there... when you walk over, you have to walk back. Even though I warmed up inside the ship I have to confess... I didn't make it to Bunker Hill. I mean I saw it... I saw the memorial lots of times, but not close enough to see the whites of their eyes.

Charles river with Bunker Hill Memorial in the background

How to get around: You see the most by walking so that is what I did for most of the day, but after walking over that cold bridge twice I looked for the closest subway or "T" and went inside to buy my Charlie Ticket (who's Charlie?). For a visitor like myself it costs $2 a ride and is convenient to many parts of Boston (just not Bunker Hill). I also saw lots of cabs, but why are all their lights on with people inside. Well it turns out that the lights don't indicate anything in particular and people don't generally hail cabs in Boston. They operate on more of a dispatch system. But what to do when you are wandering around? When it was time to head to my hotel in the suburbs I walked past another hotel and asked a cab waiting outside if he would give me a ride. He turned out to be a great driver and I had a smooth trip to the hotel. I didn't catch the rate, but the 16 mileish ride cost about $55, a ride around proper Boston would be much, much less.

Money Spent: $2 for the Charlie ticket

Other highlights: Somewhere on the tracks in CT I realized that my phone wasn't working. I tried everything and it just wouldn't do anything. If you have a Sprint phone I highly recommend the Sprint store on Boylston. After my four hours on the trail I stopped in. They not only fixed my phone in less than an hour they gave me a new back cover for it... brilliant.

Where to eat dinner: After fixing my phone I was tired from walking around and cold so when I saw a Boloco, a Boston chain, I thought I'd give it a try. I had the memphis which was BBQ shredded pork and cole slaw burrito. Pretty good and the staff was very friendly.

Money Spent: $8

Crazy Koi

These were also at the Arboretum. Some guys were feeding them and they were going crazy!

National Arboretum

When you think of National Treasures in Washington, DC you think the Capitol Building, White House, National Mall, Lincoln Memorial, Smithsonian Museums... the list could go on, but have you ever thought of trees? I spent this last weekend in DC and having lived there for a summer and visited numerous times I've hit all the hot spots. My friend suggested we try the National Arboretum.

Even with the drive through some questionable neighborhoods, the Arboretum was pretty cool. One garden area contained all kinds of plants used for different purposes including: dyes, teas, eating, perfumes, medicine, etc.

It was in the dye area that we spotted this beauty

Another area, fern valley, had these pillars from the Capitol building. When the building was expanded these were removed and the addition was completed with marble replicas.

One area was full of bonsai trees and I knew that I had seen them before. Soon I remembered that my favorite TV show, CBS Sunday Morning, had done a piece on the bonsai trees located here. I have to admit I loved looking at the tiny trees.

Matt volunteered to give some size perspective

Especially the tiny forests

Other areas included a State Tree Forest (although the map wasn't very helpful and I am pretty sure the Dogwood Tree was missing), power plants, azealas, and holly and Magnolias.