We Heart Vermont

Last weekend, Chuck's mom, Pat, came up to visit us in Boston. Like my parents, she had come to see us in Seattle but hadn't spent much time with us exploring Boston/the Northeast. She arrived on Friday and we did the typical North End dinner and pastries that we always do with our visitors.

Saturday morning we started a weekend road trip- beginning with Salem, MA and ending up in Burlington, VT.

In Salem, we explored the town, took a history tour (which became a private tour when we were the only people signed up for it), and ate lunch on the water. It was cool to hear the history of Salem and learn new things about the town, but he didn't really talk about witches enough for our taste. We wanted to hear the juicy stories! Oh well. We saw a lot of cool landmarks, including the hall where they filmed a major scene from everyone's favorite Halloween movie, Hocus Pocus. We saw real historical landmarks too of course, like one of the oldest remaining houses in the U.S. and the second oldest cemetery.

Hocus Pocus shooting location- where Bette Midler sings "I Put a Spell On You"

I want this house.

View from lunch

After Salem, we drove to Vermont towards Burlington and took a little scenic detour along the way. Vermont is famous for it's old covered bridges, so we looked on a map and tried to find some that weren't too far off the beaten path. While searching, we also found there was a place called Quechee Gorge, aka Vermont's Little Grand Canyon. So obviously we decided we had to see it.

The best way to see it is from a bridge, and we found it was pretty freezing when we stood out on the bridge. So we snapped a couple pictures and ran back to the car. Picture Clark Griswold at the Grand Canyon. That was us.

Then we found some of the covered bridges. This red one was my favorite.

Finally we made it to our hotel outside Burlington, and after checking in we decided to drive into town to find Church Street. First we stopped at Lake Champlain to snap some pictures because the sun was setting and it looked really pretty.

It reminded me a lot of Puget Sound in Seattle and for a second I missed living in Seattle and also thought about moving to Vermont.

After the lake, we walked around Church Street for a little while but most places were closing and it was kind of chilly, so after about an hour we left. We found a Texas Roadhouse right by our hotel, so of course we had to eat there. :) It was great, as always.

Sunday was Easter, so we headed into Burlington again for an Easter Brunch at a place called the Bluebird Tavern. It was delicious.

After brunch we walked Church Street again and got some truffles from the famous Lake Champlain Chocolates.

We then decided to go on another scenic drive, this time to a little island in the middle of Lake Champlain. We found a state park and got some pictures of the lake from a campsite within the park.

Before heading back to Boston, we made one last stop- at the Magic Hat Brewery just south of Burlington. Our tour guide asked why the 7-8 of us on the tour were touring a brewery and drinking beer on Easter, to which we responded "why not?" The tour was short and sweet and at the end we got to do a free tasting. Magic Hat isn't my favorite beer but we all found one or two that we liked.

And with that we ended our trip and headed south to Boston! We love Vermont a lot and I wish we had explored more of the state in our time here. I guess we will just have to come back someday for a vacation!

Casinos and the Cardinals

Wow. November has officially kicked our butts. We are exhausted. Two weekends ago we were in Connecticut all weekend with Chuck's dad. The day he left, we drove to Virginia Beach for Thanksgiving. Now we're back in Boston and after a couple of ridiculously early bedtimes, I think we're ready to tackle December.  I'll slowly be updating the blog with our recent adventures, starting with our weekend in Connecticut.

Back in September, Chuck's dad turned the big 6-0.  As his gift, we bought him (and ourselves) a ticket to see the Louisville basketball team play UNC in a tournament at the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic.  Basically we forced his dad, (also named Chuck, so don't get confused) to come up and visit us in the Northeast!

For the weekend, the Chucks and I stayed at the Foxwoods Casino, right down the road from the Mohegan Sun. Chuck (the dad) arrived at Foxwoods on Thursday and we arrived late Friday night. Soon after we arrived on Friday night, the Chucks ventured into the Poker Room and I held down the fort in our hotel room.

Saturday we took our time getting ready and then headed over to the Mohegan Sun for Louisville's game vs. some team I already forgot the name of. We originally didn't have tickets to this game, but were able to buy them for 5 cents a piece, 2 hours before the game, on Stubhub. Yes, you read that right. FIVE. CENTS.

Louisville played like crap but ended up beating the team pretty easily. After we walked around the Mohegan Sun a little, we headed back over to Foxwoods where we relaxed a little before we had a nice dinner in one of the nice restaurants in the casino. After dinner, Chuck headed back to the poker room while Chuckie and I walked the from the Foxwoods casino to the MGM Grand and back, and did some great people watching. To illustrate how far we walked (inside, it's all connected), here's a picture of the two casinos.

 Yeah. We walked for quite a bit.

After a drink at the Hard Rock Cafe in the casino, Chuckie headed down to meet his dad in the poker room and I headed back to the hotel room to my pajamas and Kindle. Note: I'm the WORST person to take to a casino. I enjoy the restaurants, shops, decorations and people watching, but I hate the gambling. It's not that I'm against gambling, it's that I don't know how to play most games, I hate slot machines, and the one game I do know and like, roulette, takes all my money way too fast and makes me sad. I do not enjoy losing money for fun. Unless I'm losing it on horses at Churchill Downs. On Derby Day. Actually I hate losing money then too so nevermind.

I digress.

Sunday morning we got our things together, checked out of the hotel and headed to the Mohegan Sun again for some lunch and then the main event- Louisville vs. UNC.

The game was really exciting until the end when Louisville lost. Womp womp. On the up-side, we had great seats and got to see our team in person for only the second time in 2 years! We also got to see Dicky V, our old coach Denny Crum, our athletic director Tom Jurich, aaaaaand a million North Carolina fans.

On Monday, I had to work and Chuckie had class all day, so Chuck entertained himself during the day and then that night, we took him to the North End. We had a drink at the Green Dragon, one of our favorite spots in Boston, and then a good Italian dinner on Hanover Street. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures on Monday, so you'll just have to imagine the 3 of us doing those things.

Like with all our visitors, the weekend went by way too fast and Tuesday morning, Chuck left to fly home. After school and work, we started our (long, rainy, really long) drive to Virginia Beach for Thanksgiving! More posts coming soon....

Football and Modern Dance

Friday, Chuckie and I got to see Louisville play football in person for the first time in almost 2 years.  Lucky for us, they had a road game at UConn in East Hartford, Connecticut, just a little less than 2 hours from Boston! Our friends Ana and Jose came with us and fully committed to being Louisville fans for a night. The game itself wasn't the most exciting game ever and it was super cold outside but that didn't stop us from having a blast.

After dinner at a place called "Margaritas," we drove to the stadium and found parking in a field a million miles from the stadium. Not really, but it felt like it.  I couldn't get over the fact that everyone, even pass holders/season ticket holders, park in a field! It was so different from Papa John's Stadium, but in a good way.  UConn's football team may be 0-8 but their fans still tailgate as if they're 8-0. We didn't have much to tailgate with except a backpack full of beer and a little speaker for music, but really, what else do you need?

We sat in the Louisville section and met a lot of Boston residents who are UofL alums. They get together at a local restaurant for most of the football and basketball games, so I have a feeling we'll meet up with them in Boston in the future.

Ana and I took a bathroom break at one point in the night and on our way back to our seats, I spotted Mike Marra and we asked him for a picture. Although when I first saw him I think I said "Hey! You played basketball! But I can't remember your name!" I'm sure he really appreciated that. His friend told me, "I'll give you a hint- it starts with a Mike" and as soon as he said that I yelled "Mike Marra!!!!!!" So he knew I was legit.

Also please notice Ana throwing up the L. She's a really good and committed fake Cards fan and this is why I love her.

We thought the team would come over to their fans who stuck it out to the end (it was pretty cold, y'all) but only 3 players came over! And now Damian Copeland and Hakeem Smith are our favorites because they shook every fans' hand and said "Thank you for coming. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for being here."

So that was Friday. In two weeks, we're heading to Connecticut once again, this time to see the basketball team play in a little tournament!

Saturday we switched gears and instead of Louisville clothing and football, we got dressed up and went to a dance show. Sami's BFF Ines, who you've seen on the blog HERE before,  attends the Boston Conservatory for dance and she's a-maz-ing (both at dancing and just at being a lovely, wonderful person). So Chuck and I went to see her dance in the fall showcase at the Conservatory. It was so fun to see Ines on stage and we got to meet her entire family which was fun too!

Sunday we relaxed from our busy weekend and I got myself hooked on another show on Netflix, Mad Men. Chuckie's not watching this one with me because he actually has to do some work sometimes and isn't allowing another show to distract him like Breaking Bad did. So I watch a few episodes of Mad Men and then I update him on the crazy antics of Don Draper. It was a good weekend.

This Thursday, Chuck and I are headed to Chattanooga, Tennessee so he can visit an Amazon fulfillment center (I'll explain more after the trip) and we can spend the weekend with one of our favorite friends of all time, Branden!

Columbus Day Weekend

Columbus Day weekend was good.

Friday night we spent celebrating my friend Ana's birthday with friends. Ana hosted everyone in her and Jose's apartment and it was way too much fun, like most parties in their apartment tend to be. (See: last year's birthday party/pajama party and the Cambridge Blackout party for proof.) There were drinks, snacks, cakes (yes, multiple cakes), more drinks and music. We sang Happy Birthday twice- once in English and once in Spanish and even skyped in an LGO from South America for a little bit. At the end of the night, we trekked to Harvard Square where we unintentionally crashed a Harvard Rugby party and I got a lot of beer (not mine) spilled in my hair. It was a great night all around.

Saturday, we were up bright and early to head to Vermont. I really wanted to visit Vermont during peak leaf season and see Burlington, which we've heard from multiple sources is a gorgeous town. Well, it did not disappoint. 

Our friends Clayton and Christen joined us for the day trip and we arrived at our first stop, Shelburne Farms at noon. Shelburne Farms is a 1400 acre working farm right on Lake Champlain. We decided to walk the 4.5 mile loop around the farm and check out all the sights. The first stop was here. 

A bakery, a cheese-making factory, animals, picnic tables and probably a lot more that we missed. 

From there we got back on the trail and headed for the Lake. Once we hit the lake, the 4 of us climbed down some seriously steep stairs (how do you like that alliteration?) to the water where we spent about 30 minutes taking pictures, skipping rocks, and discussing how someday we will tell our future kids and grandkids about how people used to throw rocks into water for fun. 

Skipping little rocks wasn't enough of a challenge for Chuck and Clayton so eventually they started skipping ginormous rocks. Or, attempted to skip them, anyway.

Back on the loop trail we passed the Inn (where we all decided to someday come back and stay for a vacation), the dairy section of the farm and more beautiful scenery. We ended back at the Visitor's center where we stocked up on cheese, maple syrup and some other goodies made right there on the farm.

Next we headed into downtown Burlington just to drive through and see, and then we were on our way to the Ben & Jerry's Factory for some ice cream and a tour.  I couldn't get any pictures of the factory because they specifically ask you not to take any pictures and I didn't want to risk get kicked out of a place that gives you ice cream.

After the tour we headed back to Boston because it was a 3.5 hour drive and we were all pretty tired from the drive up and all the walking.

Sunday was a mashup of several activities including an Independent Film Festival and Oktoberfest in Harvard Square with friends for me, some relaxation and a little work at home for Chuck, and then an evening of bowling and watching the Red Sox playoff game for us both. I took pictures of none of the above but I promise they were all fun. 

We watched most of the Red Sox game at the bowling alley and then got home just in time to see David Ortiz hit a grand slam to tie the game in the 8th inning, followed by a couple of good hits in the 9th to lead the Red Sox to a huge, epic win. ****This is where I acknowledge that yes, we are bandwagon Red Sox fans, as we don't typically care about MLB at all, but the Red Sox are in the playoffs and we live in Boston therefore I think it's perfectly acceptable for us to keep up with them and cheer for them because we REALLY want to be in Boston if/when they win a World Series because we've heard there are all kinds of parades and other exciting events in the city because Red Sox fans are diehard and crazy and awesome. The end.****

Monday was a day off for both of us and we spent it eating pancakes, catching up on TV shows we missed last week, grocery shopping, walking to Starbucks for a special Fall drink, and watching Breaking Bad, our current Netflix show of choice.

'Twas a spectacular weekend all around.