It's Pronounced [loo-is], Y'all

We've had difficulty finding time for a vacation this year. We've cancelled, rescheduled (twice) and also shortened. Total downer. Makes me wonder, what's the longest a family has gone without a vacation? To the best of my knowledge, we never had a summer without a vacation when I was growing up. Ocean City, Deep Creek Lake, Rehoboth Beach, Outer Banks. Most years we'd team-up with aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. Other years we'd bring a friend.

I have a greater appreciation for it all now. Good thing Ali's driving this ship. :-) To Lewes we go!

This was the first time Kinsley was old enough to play at the beach. She went head first into the sand fun but was understandably apprehensive about the water. It is October, after all.

Alex must have been feeling more adventurous: he was living it up in the water. All he needed was a shovel and bucket. After that, he was good to go. Eventually Kinsley's curiosity got the better of her and we ventured into the water together. She and I went in far enough that I could let her sit on my knee. The water was cold but she didn't mind; she blew bubbles and even splashed some waves over towards her mom and brother.

The highlight of Alex's trip was the Pirate Cruise. They really do a great job engaging the kiddos in pirate adventure. He's been keeping an extra close eye on his bounty but I'm willing to bet that his favorite part was defending the ship via water cannon during the pirate attack.

We lucked-out because there were only a few kids on the cruise. It gave us plenty of room to play and explore. 

While the kids are goin' bananas for beaches and the pirate life, Ali and I are judging a 4-day battle of the baristas. We tried a couple different coffees each morning in search of Lewes's best cup of joe. From Station of Kings to some other place that I don't recall, we both agreed that the First Cup bean at the Bake Shoppe was tops. Bake Shoppe's losing points for other things but they emerge victorious in Battle O' Coffee 2018!

One of the things that keeps us coming back to Lewes are our wonderful Aunt and Uncle. Google seems to think my Aunt/Uncle are Alex & Kinsley's great Aunt/Uncle but that makes my head hurt. So how's about we roll with Grand Aunt/Uncle? Either way, they make us feel welcome even when our circus-on-wheels is in tow!

Back to Boston

There’s no place I’ve been that’s quite like Fenway Park.  Each visit brings an intoxicating mixture of moments frozen in time, a century’s old lore, zealots united, traditions honored, and the promise of October baseball.

We were excited to be back in Boston for a couple days and even happier to have tickets for (likely) the last home series against the Yankees this season.  This is the second time that we’ve had seats atop the Green Monster and we’re fortunate to share the experience with Ali’s parents in celebration of their 40^th wedding anniversary(!).

One of this seasons little treasures is right to announce our disapproval of Alex Rodriquez with even more vitriol than usual.  By the way, he went 0 for 3.  The Boston faithful are somewhat of a spectacle to be observed.  I tried to record some of the fun but the audio didn’t do it justice.  I did, however, capture both the Boston accent and it's spirit in all it's glory.  This “offer” came from the gentleman behind us and was directed towards Red Sox left fielder Johnny Gomes (out of frame).

The Red Sox won and moved one step closer to clinching the top spot in the American League.  I wouldn’t be entirely honest if I didn't admit to the haunting memories of September 2011.  Fortunately, most of that team is long gone!  'Love That Dirty Water' is a little bit sweeter after the Sox beat the Yankees. 

Maui in a Minute

Volcano – How many people get to say that they biked down a volcano with their mom?  I do!  The group jumped on bikes shortly after sunrise at the top of Haleakala and down we went.  A couple of hours later we were in the little town of Paia enjoying a breakfast at Moana Café.

Waterfalls – The main attraction of the Road to Hanna are the waterfalls.  We saw no fewer than six waterfalls and loved each one of them.  The Maui waterfalls are one of those things that don’t photograph well.  Experiencing them in person does far more justice.

Beaches – At times it felt like there were more beaches than Banyan trees.  My favorite, Kalama Beach Park, was just a couple miles away from the condo and along the path that I would run.

Luau – Luaus are a Hawai’i must.  Ours was buffet style.  The pork and chicken was excellent.  I tried just about everything poi, lomi salmon, and all four deserts.

Sunrise – We were picked-up at 2AM for this little experience.  We drove for better than two hours to the top of Haleakala where we dawned winter gear to help protect us from the elements.  At 10k feet, the temps were in the 30’s and manageable by my standards.  The wind, however, had some bite.  It made me wish I had my ski goggles and an extra layer.

Shaved Ice – I wanted to have a shaved ice before I left the island.  When I did, I got it from Ululani’s Shaved Ice: mango, passion fruit, and coconut were my flavors.  They sell three different sizes: mini, small, regular.  I had to laugh because even the mini was too big for a normal human being.  Anyhow, I repeated this love affair for the next three days.

Vistas – Everywhere I looked was another unforgettable view.  It’s tough to go wrong with beaches, sun, volcano’s, and palm trees.  I have an odd compulsion that to name inanimate objects (like trees).  I named the palm tree off of our balcony “Georgina.”

Noteworthy – I had a difficult time getting out of SFO.  The Asiana plane crash happened while I was on my way to the airport.  My flight was delayed, delayed, delayed, and then finally cancelled.  I was fortunate to get out of San Francisco the following day.  During takeoff, I was on the east-facing side of the airplane and had a clear view of the wreckage.  …not exactly the thoughts I wanted going through my mind during takeoff!

To Jail (and Back)

One of the great things about playing host to family and friends is the opportunity to do the touristy things at which residents otherwise scoff.  Since Mom, Matthew, Hollie, and Mike were in town, Ali and I jumped at the chance to follow in Nick Cage’s footsteps by partaking in the night tour at Alcatraz.

Tickets are difficult to come by.  We, fortunately, secured our tickets several months ago.  My first impression of Alcatraz Island was: wow, this thing is much smaller than it looked in ‘The Rock.’  Measuring-in at a measly 12 acres makes Alcatraz about the size of 10 soccer fields.

The tour was a lot of fun.  The cells were truly tiny.  There was no room for claustrophobia within those walls.  Each one was mysterious and intriguing from a distance.  Standing inside of one evoked very different emotions though!  I posed for a picture from inside of “the hole” but got the heck out of there before anyone could make a prank out of it.

The cellblocks are the undisputed main attraction but the rest of the island shouldn’t be missed.  Even as a visitor, the kitchen and cafeteria didn’t feel safe.  It might have had something to do with the utensil outlines in the cupboards!  Back in the day, the prison guards made painted outlines of the kitchen utensils on the cupboards as a very quick way for taking inventory lest a prisoner smuggle a deadly weapon from the kitchen.

The infirmary was truly creepy.  We walked around the medical ward for a few minutes before promptly returning to the less medieval and rusty parts of the building.  The recreation yard wasn’t much to write home about but it was the site of, perhaps, the most accidentally artistic picture of me ever taken.  This is my best James Dean impression.

Thanksgiving 2012 - California Style

Living in California requires more than a little bit of adjusting.  Take holidays for example; flight costs go through the roof and, before you know it, a February trip Eastward starts sounding like a pretty good idea.  Both Ali and I were sad that we didn't venture to Maryland for Turkey but we resolved to make the best of it!

No goofin' around either!  Professional grade all the way - turkey, green bean casserole, stuffing...the works.  We were poised to deliver on our vision too until...

T'was the day before Turkey and all through the house, not a creature was thawed not even the bird...

We're happy Safeway.com customers.  We love the convenience of home delivery (especially considering the topographical variability of the seven San Francisco hills).  Part of the Safeway.com terms and conditions provide the shopper/driver the flexibility to substitute unavailable items with similar product(s).  In most cases, this certainly isn't a big deal.  ...until the delivery is scheduled for the day before Turkey and the unavailable item IS THE TURKEY.  It officially became a big deal at 6p on Wednesday when the replacement item proved to be a 14 lbs frozen turkey.  Rut-ro!

Fortunately, Safeway also prepares rotisserie turk's on Thanksgiving!  I'm happy to report that Thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch.

On Friday we drove up to Sonoma to further enjoy the holiday break.  One hour drive time to/from wine country makes for a convenient weekend escape.  ...it's a little bit lost on me though because I'm not a wine drinker.  Nonetheless we had a real nice Thanksgiving weekend.  Here we are at the Sunflower Caffe.

AND...

Once we arrived back in San Francisco, Ted (the 14-pounder) had thawed. I baked an extraordinary Sunday dinner and we'll be eating turkey for the foreseeable future.

Happy Turkey, everyone, happy turkey.  Let the Christmas holiday season begin!

That's a Big Apple

Ali and I headed south for a long weekend in New York City to celebrate our second wedding anniversary.  Ali lived in Manhattan for a few years and I've never been down (except for work).  Who needs a better reason than that?!

We had a packed schedule and were worried about checking everything off of our list.  The trip got off to a bad start when the four hour drive turned into seven and a half.  We rolled with the punches though.  Instead of a longer sit-down dinner, we cruised over to one of Ali's favorite NYC pubs: Plug Uglies.  It didn't take me long to understand why this was such a good place for a couple of girls to go:

1. male to female ratio HEAVILY favors the women
2. pool table, a juke box, and a shuffle board table
3. they don't serve food.  wait...what?

This is pretty common in NYC and it's kinda genius.  No kitchen means that the bar area is bigger and they can welcome more people.   Even better, the bartenders will give carry-out menus and call-in the order for you.  That's right, anyone who delivers is on the menu at Plug Uglies!  It's really pretty cool.

Saturday was packed with touristy activities.  We cruised from Liberty Island to Ellis Island, to the NYSE, to the Charging Bull, to the 9/11 Memorial.  My Ancestry.com interest made Ellis Island my favorite stop.  Obviously, they've done a lot of work to the island since Wasyl & Maria passed through in 1913 & 1914 but a remarkable amount of the main processing building has been restored and/or hasn't changed AT ALL.

As visitors, we're welcome to walk through the exact same rooms that Wasyl, Maria, and Ali's Great Great Grand Parents walked nearly 100 years ago.  During processing, migrants were required to walk up a long set of stairs to the second level.  The purpose of this was so that doctors could easily spot anyone with an injury or disability.  The point?  If you weren't of a physical condition suitable for work, America didn't want you.  In which case, you were in danger of being returned to your country of origin.  Ali and I walked up those same steps!  ...we didn't get deported.

There's another, slightly happier set of stars on the opposite side of the second floor.  These steps led to the train station, New York City...or the detention facility.  Being directed down the left or right sides of these stairs meant that you were permitted entry into America.  The stairs were the site of many goodbye's, hence their name, the Stairs of Separation.  Ali and I walked down those same steps too (we steared clear of the center staircase).

We really enjoyed the visit.  It made us think about generations gone by, their nightmare of a journey across the Atlantic, the prospects of a new life in a new country, and the movie "Hitch."

Click over to the NYC photo album to see more pictures and details from the trip.

Everyday I'm Puzzlin

I've been Puzzlin' of late.  It started in Nantucket where I tackled two.  The first puzzle was this evening seen at the North Pole.  This one only had a couple hundred pieces and was enough to stoke the fire.

After the warm-up puzzle, I started this far more complex 1000-piecer.  "For Ages 12+" my arse.  While I disagree, Ali insists that I bargained our way into an extra day in the house ONLY to get some extra time with the puzzle.  Was it needed?  Yes - I'll give her that.  BUT she was the one who wanted the extra day in the first place.  So what if we didn't do anything else with our time except work on the puzzle!?  Here I am placing the last piece.

I got another opportunity to stretch my puzzle legs in PA over Memorial Day.  This was a 500.  It was a team effort and only required a couple of hours (we took a lunch break in the middle).

In my opinion, the most difficult part of a puzzle is the act of breaking it down when you're done.  Goodbye's make me uncomfortable so I employ the practice of leaving the assembled puzzle as a gift to the homeowner.  You're welcome.

Editor's Note: The title of this post should be sung to the tune of the Party Rock Anthem.

World Championship of Bobsledding

Being a former Olympic host, Lake Placid has a unique capability to host winter sporting events.  On Saturday, I wanted to see some sort of competition.  No sooner did I voice the desire did we learn that the WORLD Bobsled and Skeleton Championship FINALS were scheduled to begin the following morning (Sunday).  Among our favorite Lake Placid 2012 surprises was the Bobsled & Skeleton World Championship.  We were stoked...

...but we didn't know what to expect.

For starters, don't expect to take an escalator, elevator, or shuttle to the top of the mountain.  No, sir.  There's only one way up and one way down the mountain: hoofin' it!  To make the climb more interesting, the terrain is steep, only lightly salted, and unforgiving.  I decided to increase the complexity by wearing my work shoes. Risky business!

In one regard, bobsled fans bare a striking similarity to NASCAR fans: they love sitting around and watching for the next wreck.  At Lake Placid, Turn 10 is the 'gotcha' turn. It even had a snack cart!  We watched The first few sleds from here before heading up to starting area.

The starting area is where the real action exists.  This is where the diehards gather to root on their teammates, friends, family, and country.  The US and Canada had the most fans but Germany had the loudest woman.  She was crazy.  And shouting in German.  It was like a scene out of SNL.  We laughed to one another but were far too uncomfortable to laugh out loud or capture the hilarity on video.  Ah, good times.

The first start that we saw was the British team.  It turns out that things didn't go so well for them.  They wrecked and caused a track shutdown while the crews cleaned up all of the broken plastic and fiberglass.  Here's their start.

We watched the rest of the races from here including the American team who won gold in the 2-man!  This was very cool.  We felt like we stumbled into a once in a lifetime experience. Let's hear it for Lake Placid!  Here's the video of the US team that finished 9th (Cunningham/Robinson).

Jay Peak, Vermont

As previously reported, I am certainly NOT a strong skier.  I am, however, working to take full advantage of the mountains around me.  This week, I spent a long guys weekend in Jay, VT.

I’m so new at this stuff that each new mountain that I ski is like its own little adventure.  Cheesy…I know.  It is though!  This one was cool because:

1. I was going with eight very strong skiers and/or snowboarders.  My buddy Kyle is the one that plugged me into this group.  Many of these guys even skied on their college teams. 
2. This was the furthest north that I’ve ever been without buying a plane ticket.  In fact, if someone were so brazen as to take the Tram to the top of the mountain, one could see all of the way to Montreal.  …too bad that only the most difficult trails are accessed by the tram.

This was a lonely day of skiing for this here rookie.  No one else was willing to ski the green trails with me.  I really don’t mind though.  Skiing alone relieves a lot of the pressure and I don’t feel as though I’m slowing down the stronger skiers.

I skied about a half dozen different trails at Jay.  We got over six inches of snow the night that I arrived.  As a result, these were, by far, the best ski conditions that I’ve ever had.  I also found a new favorite trail: Deer Run.  I think it’s funny that the double black diamonds bare names like Green Baret, Timbuktu, and Derick Hot Shot.  Meanwhile, my cruiser trails have names like Harmony Lane, Sweetheart, and Grammy Jay.  Here’s a picture of the top of Deer Run.  Awesome!

As always, I call it a successful day when I can come home bruiseless.  I rushed home on Sunday to watch the Super Bowl with Wifey.  Apparently, that was bad luck for the Pat’s.  It’s going to take a while for us New Englanders to get over this loss.  Be sure to check out a few of the other landscape pics that I took while on the slopes.

Bretton Woods II - Return of the Moose

It’s tough to know whether winter is going to happen this year (or not).  We headed for the North Country this weekend and didn’t see snow cover until we hit Franconia Notch (70 miles south of Canadia)!  Even then, there’s only 2-4 inches at the base of the mountains.  Onward!

By the time we got to the Mount Washington Hotel, the snow situation wasn’t much better.  The temperatures were low but there’s hardly any precipitation.  I love this hotel.  It’s one of my all-time favorites.  Snow or no snow, there’s tons to do.  On Friday night, we went out to the fire pit for s’mores.  I’m happy to have prepared Ali’s first EVER s’more.  She’s a fast learner and was dishing ‘em out as quickly as I could scarf them down.

On Saturday morning, I was off to fulfill my latest fascination: skiing.  Here’s the view from the top of the run that skied for most of the day.  Wifey and I have been here once before…this is the same Quad that we rode to get to the beginning of the zip-line course a year ago.  Our hotel is toward the lower left and Mount Washington is toward the upper right.

Since this is my third ever attempt to ski down a mountain, I feel conspicuously out of place at all times.  Stopping to snap pictures conceals that though, right?  …at least I didn’t fall this weekend!  My ski strategy is to find the path least traveled and then ski it over and over and over.  I highlighted “my” trails with yellow.  Even at this point in the season, they’re only operating ~30% of the trails because of the lack of snow.  All of the trails that were open were thanks to the maintenance, groomers, and snow making crews.

This was my first experience skiing by myself.  A bit nerve wracking to be honest; I was worrying about what would happen if I careened of the trail and into a tree.  I went early to avoid the crowds…would I ever be discovered??  Oh well, if I let the anxiety get ahold of me, I’ll never get off of the couch.  Fortunately, it all worked out in my favor.  I’m starting to wonder whether or not skiing will evolve into a more permanent fixture in my life.  I despise forking over $60-$70 to rent equipment each time I ski (3 times in the past 2 weeks - ugh).  But at the same time, I’d be even more upset if I bought skis…only to let them collect dust in the back of the storage unit.

I do, however, feel like a pro in the rentals room.  I cruise through there like a champion.  Once the crowds started to show up, it was time for me to hit the road.  Until tomorrow, Bretton Woods, until tomorrow.

We filled the rest of Saturday with mostly outdoor activities.  We contemplated cross country skiing until we agreed that it required too much effort.  We opted for snow tubing instead.  Here’s a pic of Ali cruisin’ down the hill.

There’s quite a bit of predictable chaos that occurs on a snow tube course.  For example, I towed Ali up to the top of the hill as she sit comfortable in her tube.  At which point, I took the liberty of propelling her down the hill against her will.  The only unpredictable element of our tomfoolery was the grandfather/grandson duo who had jumped onto the course at the midway point.  Sorry for the scare, guys!

I've uploaded some extra pictures from the trip here.