New York Pictures

It's a little late, but I just put together a photo set with captions of our December trip to NYC.

Carbon Bigfoot Print

This weekend we went as far northeast as Calais, ME for a wedding. That's about 6 hours one way from Lowell. When we got back home we fed the ferrets and immediately headed for IKEA in Stoughton. Considering we had to drive separate vehicles back from Bucksport to Lowell, the grand total milage for the weekend is something like 1,057 miles! Yikes...

Camping!

Kimberly and I joined the Havens and the Carrolls on an overnight trip to the DAR State Forest in Goshen, MA last night. We meet regularly to discuss Christian books and our thoughts about Christ, the church, and service. This trip as a group was to get away and have some time for individual reflection (and to spend some time together with food and a fire).

We passed through some pretty intense rain storms on the way,

We spotted a great rainbow on the other side

but when we arrived it was totally dry. Austin, John, and I foraged for some wood and got a pretty decent fire going. Kimberly, Missy, and Laura made us up some super tasty pizzas.

It was certainly great to get away for the night without any commitments or obligations. It was fun, as always, to build a nice fire, to sit in relative quiet, and to have a good excuse to just talk with friends.

Two Awesome Weekends

Two weekends ago, before I started the new job, Kimberly and I went to Keene, NH for exploring, camping, and hiking. We left Friday afternoon intending to camp for one night, but after setting up camp I decided that we needed an extra night there, so we reserved Saturday night as well.

Friday night we ate here:

A seafood place called Nick's. We couldn't resist. The food was actually really good.

The campground was gorgeous. The sites were big, riverside, and clean.

Saturday morning we headed to town and ate at a local diner, then went and did some hiking on Mt. Monadnock. This was the first time I've ever summited Monadnock twice in one week!

After the hike we showered and went back to town for dinner. We ate at the Margaritas in town (shameful that we went for a familiar chain instead of a local place, I know, but it was what we were really craving in the moment). Keene is a very cool college town, with an active main street complete with local shops. We bought a nice art print and some supplies, visited a musical instrument store, and a record store.

a yet-to-be-molded record bowl

Both nights we made a great campfire and had s'mores. Here are some shots from Saturday.

a single star on 8-second long time exposure. These are my hand movements and I tried to hold the camera steady without a tripod.

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This past weekend we went to the annual cookout at Kimberly's parents' camp in Northern Maine and Nathan and Priscila decided to come along with us! We left Friday night, stopping off in Portland for a late dinner, Yarmouth for a visit to Delorme and the world's largest revolving globe, and arrived at Kimberly's parents' house at 1AM.

Her name is Eartha. Kimberly and I always give her at least a nod on our way through in Maine.

Saturday morning we got up and went to Tim Hortons for breakfast. Nathan and Priscila were very excited for the opportunity, since Tim Hortons is a staple in Quebec where they lived previously, and it has expanded all throughout Maine, but there are none near us in eastern Mass. After breakfast Kimberly and Priscila went shopping while Nathan and I hiked Blue Hill Mountain 20 miles southeast of our hometown, Bucksport.

Nathan taking pictures on the summit.

The mountains of Mt. Desert Island

We met back at the house and then continued on an additional 100+ miles to the camp in Merrill, ME. We stopped off at an outlook with a view of Mt. Katahdin on the way. After the party we visited with Kimberly's family, had a huge campfire, and slept in tents.

We buried our ferret, Rocky, who passed away in January. I picked up Kimberly's little cousin's First Act accordion and worked out Amazing Grace for the ceremony.

The Katahdin outlook:

The campfire:

On Sunday we took all day to travel back, stopping at the Kenduskeag stream and our favorite bagel shop in Bangor, visiting my family in Bucksport, eating dinner in Augusta, and outlet shopping in Freeport.

It was the first time we had a chance to show our friends from Massachusetts our home state and it was great to see all the familiar places and people in a vicariously new light.

Lonely trip to Boston

I went to the city today thinking that I would do a bit of shopping and then head for the Blue Hills to hike. My first problem was that instead of parking in a garage and taking the T I decided to search for a spot myself. It took about an hour and I was at least a 10 minute walk from Downtown Crossing. Street parking in Boston is such a gamble. I've had several trips where we found a spot in minutes, but all too many like this, where it becomes a long and frustrating exercise.

I went to Strawberries on Washington St. and cleaned house. I bought a couple of those discs I said that I wanted back a couple of blog entries ago, as well as a few others. Their used CDs were buy three, get one free.

After scouring all of the used discs at Strawberries I went down the street to H&M. H&M is my favorite clothing store because their size small clothing actually fits me and some of their clothes are so cheap I'll buy them before they're on clearance.

On my way back to the car it was very hot and I was starving so I got some soft serve.

Here's everything I bought:

just because I always have pics in my posts lately

Unfortunately, it was around 1PM when I was done shopping, not to mention 90+ degrees. I could have hit the trail in the Blue Hills, but by the time I was done I would be sweaty, exhausted, and most discouraging, caught in outbound rush hour traffic. I decided it was best to head back to Lowell.

I'd love to go out for a run, but it's still very hot out. I might have to settle for the exercise bike at home. In the mean time, Putin is getting crazier and crazier.

Highlights from my spring trips.

In March Kimberly and I went to Pittsburgh so that she could present a paper. We stayed in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh

where we had a lot of great food (such as sushi)

at great prices (much cheaper than east coast cities) and we took in a bit of culture

including these sculptures, but also a play and walks through historic places.

Pittsburgh was a fun place to visit, but I wouldn't recommend it for a week without a car. It's not a walking city like San Francisco or even Boston or New York.

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In April I went to Las Vegas for a week on business. It was my second National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention and my first one being in charge of the setup and operation. Due to a semi-scam from the agency we booked our hotel block with, we ended up at the Tropicana instead of the brand new Westin. It was mostly a painless downgrade, though the decor was exceptionally tacky.


Vegas was still Vegas, which I'm thoroughly sick of after about 30 minutes, but the show setup was a big success. Here's the finished booth:


Some other photo highlights:


Me with the international sales manager, Lars-olof Janflod.


Myspace-style picture from the hotel room.

The lobby of the Beatles Love Cirque du Soleil show at the Mirage.

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The very day I returned via red-eye flight from Las Vegas we went picnicking

and hiking

with the Kelihers at a state park called Purgatory Chasm outside of Worcester. It is a beautiful natural feature that was quite accessible for a short hike.

I fell asleep in their car on the way back, but I was so glad to get some fresh air after being stuck in the mire of Las Vegas life for an entire week.

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On the following week (near the end of April at this point) I got my daily job responsibilities back in order and then took a Wednesday off to go do some more serious hiking. I chose Mt. Moosilauke in the White Mountains since it was the only 4000 footer that Nathan had bagged without me last year.

I chose to attempt the steepest approach, only to find several feet of snow still on the ground.

The snowy hike was certainly grueling, but provided many beautiful sights.


I thought this natural ice sculpture was particularly inspiring.

As I approached the summit, the snow suddenly gave way.

The last several hundred feet were totally clear.

Ominous Mt. Washington in the distance.

I had a friend that I met on the trail snap a picture of me at the summit.


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My next adventure was a Mt. Monadnock hike with the Kelihers, including Nathan's brother Josh who sold me my Corolla but who I hadn't had the chance to really hang out with.



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We made it up to Maine once this spring. Here are some pics of us with my siblings.



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Our last big adventure of the spring was a trip to the Adirondacks.

Kimberly picked me up at work on Friday, we ate some good dinner at the Melting Pot in Framingham, and then we headed west on the Mass Pike. We ended up in Lee, MA Friday night, where we parked at the end of a trail near the AT and camped by our car.

Saturday we had breakfast at a local diner and then continued into New York. We checked out Lake Placid and then went on our first overnight backpacking trip.


Here we are loaded up with our gear.

We camped on the side of Mt. Marcy, the highest peak in New York state.

Our tiny campsite we scouted out.

Due to Kimberly forgetting her brand new hiking boots and there being much more snow than we had anticipated, we didn't go for the summit. On the way back down it rained, so we broke out the ponchos.



After we got back to the car we drove to the ferry that goes from Port Kent, NY to Burlington, VT where we checked into a hotel to shower and relax for the evening.

On Monday we took a trip through Stowe, VT to eat at our favorite pizza place there, Pie in the Sky, and then went to the Cabot Creamery. Since it was Memorial Day the cheddar guys had the day off, so we didn't get to take the tour.

On our way back through New Hampshire we stopped in Tilton and met up with the Havens and Nathan K. who were on their way back from Montreal. We did a Nathan swap and he had dinner with us in Tilton and then joined us for the rest of the trip.

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I'll try to keep up with my happenings a bit better from now on to keep the entry length down. The best thing I have to post this week is an amazing comic by Kimberly and Shannon, courtesy of the built in camera and software in Kimberly's new MacBook.


(click to enlarge and admire)