Weekend Escape

Ivy and I like to escape from our 'normal' or 'everyday' weekends to go on an adventure. This Saturday, after breakfast, Ivy and I headed to North Conway New Hampshire, which is in the White Mountains. We visited North Conway in September when we visited some friends up there vacationing and thought, we should come back up here sometime. North Conway has a nice downtown with many shops and cafes that are so welcoming and just relaxing. We stayed at a place called the Swiss Chalet Village Inn in Intervale, NH. It was okay but was better than driving home! We walked around, did a little shopping with lots of window shopping, and took in the fresh crisp air and beautiful scenery of the changing leaves and snowy-topped Mount Washington! Beautiful. I love seeing trees with yellow and red colors...it looks like they are on fire, exploding!

We had a very nice dinner at the Wine Thyme. So good and yet not expensive...looks expensive but not. Good wine too - says Ivy. I had a cranberry walnut chicken-salad spinach wrap - SO GOOD!! And Ivy had a pumpkin soup that was really good too...even Jon liked it! We are relaxed and had a good weekend. We also went to Peaches for breakfast. Very good too. We had a very peaceful and relaxing weekend. It's nice to escape from our business to be together and be outside in pure beauty!

On our way home, we drove through a Nor'easter. North Conway was cloudy but not raining or snowing, but the whole way home it was raining, sleeting, and, yes, snowing! It's October, it's not supposed to snow!! And right now it's snowing too. Craziness. Here's a photo from our window...it's dark out and hopefully you can see the snow.

Birthday Hike

For my 29th Birthday Ivy and I went hiking. I recently decided to hike all the 4000-footers in New Hampshire...there are 48 total. So we decided to hike Mount Hanock in the White Mountains, which has two peaks - north and south. The northern peak is 4420 feet and the southern peak is 4319 feet. Two down, 46 to go! It was a good, long day. We drove up to Lincoln, NH to the Kagamagus Highway to the hairpin turn and began an adventure at 10:29am. The trail was described as "Strenuous: With wooded and easy to follow trails, Mt. Hancock makes for a solid out-and-back day hike." We totally agree with the description! It was nice in the beginning...then it started to go up and get rocky. We paused a few times to breathe and drink some water from our 5 Nalgens! The views were beautiful. This was Ivy's first hike and trip to the White Mountains. We got to the summit of the northern peak and had lunch...the overlook was crowded with other hikers. We sat on some boulders and enjoyed the view. This view actually -->

There was a gray jay there too...many people were feeding it but not me! I don't feed the wildlife! It must have heard me because it was dive-bombing me a couple of times. Then we continued our hike to the southern peak of Mount Hancock. It was a nice hike beneath the stunted hemlock trees and sphagnum moss within the groundcover. The mossy ground looked welcoming for a nap, but there was no time for that! We got to the southern peak and nixed the overlook because it was small and down a little...we had a lot more down to go and we didn't want to waste our knees for an overlook! But the overlook looking back to where we had lunch was pretty sweet!

So we started to hike down. It was quite rocky and steep. We didn't take many breaks, other than Jon walking too fast and Ivy too slow. It was nice, and not too many people. There were some streams which the water was ice cold and refreshing! We made it back to the car in 6.5 hours, which is pretty good. The hiking book said it would take about 6 hours and 25 minutes...and we stopped a lot...especially on the way up. Then we stretched abit, got in the car, and drove home (2 hour drive).

When we got home, Ivy insisted on making me dinner - lobster ravoli! MMM, so good! Then we had dessert.

Awesome Birth-day!

The Giving Tree

The "Giving Tree." This tree is located at Salem Willows on the North Shore, and I call it the "Giving Tree" because last summer we spent a lot of time beneath this tree. We came here several times with Jen, Ehren, Ian, & Sally, and occassionally with others. We had lunch and snacks beneath it. We sat in our chairs or blankets, over looking the inlet towards Beverly. It kept us cool during the hot summer days. "And when they were tired, one or some would sleep in its shade." We played bauchi ball around it and sometimes on its trunk...but often the balls would bounce away. A lot of fun occurred beneath this tree. Hopefully this spring and summer will bring more joy to us beneath this magnificent tree! I look forward to it.

Best Superbowl Commercial

I think that careerbuilder.com's commerical was the best this Superbowl.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79tMMFja-Fw

Winter's Day Adventure

On Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009 some friends and I went birding in Newburyport. The Bald Eagles have returned to the area, and we were on a mission to spot at least one! We saw 2 bald eagles, and maybe another one...although we're not certain because it was so far away and even with the scope it was difficult to see. It was a good time though...a little on the chilly side. Here are some photos of our excursion:

Matt snappin' some photos and Ehren takin' a look.
there's a bald eagle in the tree, right of the evergreen tree...yeah, it's a speck.

Great Blue Heron chillin' out (litterally) on the bank of the Merrimac River.
Winter Sunset at Sandy Point on Plum Island.

I found a dollar!